Jazz fusion fans unite heheheh......

[FluxUs]

cmon cmon lets talk abt all kinds of jazz rock fusion music here, from the classic 70s Miles Davis electric jazz, to ECM styles, to the smooth fusion type. Surely there must be some here to dig seriously this stuff? To kick off i wanna list some classic albums as follows:

late 60s-mid 70s classic jazz rock fusion:

Miles Davis - in a silent way / Bitches Brew / Tribute to Jack Johnson / Big Fun / Get up with It / Dark Magus
Weather Report - s/t / I sing the body electric / Mysterious Traveller
Return To Forever - Romantic Warrior
Mahavishnu Orchestra - the inner mounting flame / Birds of fire

ECM styles:

Terje Rypdal - s/t / Waves / Odyssey
Julian Priester - Love, love
Barre Phillips - Mountainscapes
David Torn - Cloud about Mercury / Prezens

smooth jazz fusion:

Spyro Gyra - s/t / Catching the Sun / Access All Areas
Rippingtons - Kilimanjaro
Special EFX - Masterpiece
Andy Summers - charming Snakes
Skywalk - The bohemians

 

[subversion]

according to Pat Metheny, there's no such thing as 'fusion'...

 

[PatheinRaindropMoe]

heh, no wonder his name wasnt mentioned in the list that bro fluxus mentioned.

 

[FluxUs]

heh, no wonder his name wasnt mentioned in the list that bro fluxus mentioned.

hahahah alamak i forgot abt PM's first album on ECM, and his awesome duo work with Lyle Mays on As Wichita Falls.........

he can deny what he wants but enuff ppl say so it shall be!!! consensus reality!!! lists please!!

 

[centralcatchment]

Jazz Fusion was great. It started off great, but then it tapered off. I attended John Scofield and Joe Lovano when they visited as part of Mosiac a few years ago. It was good.

Jazz fusion is actually an early version of hip hop. Just throw in all sorts of ingredients and make a rojak out of it. And when people say that "there's no such thing as jazz fusion", 20 years later other people have said "there's no such thing as trip hop". The real idea is that there are no boundaries, and you can mix and match anything you want. Dig up "Blue Lines" by Massive Attack and you will see that it sampled Mahavishnu quite a bit.

Those people interested in Jazz fusion should also listen to Jimi Hendrix, Sly Stone and James Brown, since these were Miles Davis' musical influences during his fusion period.

But the thing about traditional jazz, the Charlie Parker kind of jazz is that there were rules for people to follow. If you took those rules away, people are more free to experiment, and a lot of great music was created. But then people started playing junk, soloing for the sake of soloing, and the quality of the music went down.

I personally think that "Court and Spark", "Summer Lawns" and "Hejira" by Joni Mitchell should be consider part of the fusion canon. There is also Jaco Pastorius (RIP). "Caravanserai", "Welcome" and "Love Devotion Surrender" by Santana as well. Tony William's Lifetime, Larry Young's "Unity". "Innervisions" and "Songs in the Key of Life" are Stevie Wonder's jazziest stuff. "Histoire de Melody Nelson" by Serge Gainsbourg.

Chic. Don't forget Chic.

There are a few excellent pop groups which use a lot of jazz: Steely Dan, Prefab Sprout and Everything But the Girl. These people are great songwriters. It is not fusion, but also part of jazz crossover. There was acid jazz in the 90s: Brand New Heavies, Incognito, Jamiroquai, Young Disciples, Omar. In rap, a lot of jazz influence, like Gang Starr, A Tribe Called Quest, Pete Rock / CL Smooth, Digable Planets, Madlib, Quasimoto, Mobb Deep, Lupe Fiasco. Fusion has influenced a lot of DJ stuff, like drum and bass. Post rock groups like Talk Talk and Tortoise use a lot of jazz drumming. Air, DJ Shadow, Mu-Ziq, DJ Spooky....

Even in rock music, when the guitar player has a solo, it can be a bit like jazz. Think of Slash's solo on "Sweet Child of Mine". Does it remind your of bebop?

 

[FluxUs]

"Post rock groups like Talk Talk and Tortoise use a lot of jazz drumming"

woot!! you hit the spot there!! it was precisely because of Talk Talk and Tortoise (especially the latter) who got me interested in jazz rock fusion in the first place, like after you get such a massive kick you want more so you end up goin back to the source y'know 'cause there aint none like em out there?

 

[subversion]

Pat Metheny frowns upon the understanding of 'fusion' as a genre, that's about it. it's actually an amalgamation of jazz & other genres... i recall him telling of people who mentioned 'fusion' during his clinic here, quite hilarious actually

 

[centralcatchment]

Yeh, I was puzzled at Pat Metheny's comments, but I think he meant to say, "pay more attention to how jazz has influenced other forms of music, than to the particular way I did it."

Fusion is just the way that genre bending took place in the 70s. Like post punk in the 80s or hip hop / electronica in the 90s. I got to fusion through an entirely different route from FluxUs: through bebop / Massive Attack samples / Joni albums. Which just goes to show how fusion is basically related to everything else!

Anybody went to Tortoise concert last year? I got to shake hands with the whole band!

 

[zoyd_berg]

Here is some of my favorite:

Mike Stern - all albums
Greg Howe & Richie Kotzen - Tilt
Vital Tech Tones (Scott Henderson, Steve Smith, Victor Wooten)
Casiopea - too many albums to list

 

[FluxUs]

woot i was there and also back in 2005 when they first came, this time round i managed to get my cds signed at the autograph section i was trembling with adoration for the masters!!! i told John McEntire he looked like Stockhausen and he asked me if that was a good thing hahaha!!! the GODZZZZ!!! GRESTEST BAND IN THE UNIVERSE, NO TORTOISE NO FUSION!!!

 

[FluxUs]

Here is some of my favorite:

Mike Stern - all albums
Greg Howe & Richie Kotzen - Tilt
Vital Tech Tones (Scott Henderson, Steve Smith, Victor Wooten)
Casiopea - too many albums to list

Casiopea yeah!! i have Eyes of the mind and Make Up City, awesomeness you shld check out Tortoise you sure will rikes hahaha especially TNT and It's All Around You