I must say, it’s pretty cool to be able to include a Weather Report album in a thread of Afro-Caribbean music. Sportin’ Life is the band’s first album to feature Mino Cinelu. The Martinican percussionist started out with Gong, Lavilliers and Jef Gilson before moving to the United States in 1979. There, he was invited to play with Miles Davis, with whom he toured and was soon in great demand. When Joe Zawinul asked him to, he joined Weather Report. He contributed two compositions to the group, including Confians, which appeared on Sportin’ Life in 1985, and has since become a Caribbean standard covered by many artists. It’s not uncommon to hear him at jam sessions in the West Indies. Mino Cinelu has had and still has many prestigious jazz collaborations. He has been heard, for example, with Portal (Turbulence, 1987) and his latest album, Sulamadiana, released in 2020, was recorded with Nils Peter Molvær.
Sportin’ Life – Weather Report, 1985
