Jazz & Jazz Fusion

[Menolly]

What I found said the LP Wizard Island was released in 1980.

[danlo]

Well somewhere around then--no need to be specific. Lorber was great in his day with the Fusion, but, predictably, especially with associations with Koz and Kenny G...his overall production and engineering contributions are credited as having a major role in the creation of the (puke) "smooth jazz" genre...I know even I enjoy some smooth, but ack...

[dANdeLION]

This thread will always seem incomplete to me until JazFusion posts in it....

[JazFusion]

Post.

[Menolly]

Indeed.
ask and you shall receive, dAN...

[dANdeLION]

Post.

I hereby proclaim this thread to be complete.

[danlo]

Here's another similar, but a little more varied sampler I prescribed at Ahira's Hangar two years ago-

Possibly, what I would do if I were you is to enter this genre on the "gentler"/historical side. Your might want to start with artists some of these guys played with before J,R/F started like 65-72 Miles Davis, Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd. Bitches Brew is the most important influence on the overall music, and especially if you want to trace John McGlaughlin's path (but remember that McGlaughlin becomes, arguably, the most intense and fastest individual sound).

The direct McGlaughin route would probably be:
Bitches Brew
Extrapolation
MO: The Inner Mounting Flame,
Birds of Fire,
& Between Nothingness and Eternity
Love, Devotion and Surrender-with Carlos Santana
A Friday Night In San Francisco (more acoustic & mellow) &
Passion, Grace and Fire-with Al DiMeola and Paco de Lucia.
>>>the reason these guys blend so well is that DiMeola is a cross of intensity/jazz and flamenco and de Lucia is stunning flamenco.

After Davis, Getz and Byrd the overall "mellow" route would probably be:
Extrapolation
Return To Forever's (self-titled)
& Romantic Warrior
Weather Report's (self-titled),
Mysterious Traveller
& Heavy Weather
Brand X's Morrocan Roll (Phil Collins is their drummer, btw)
both of Stanley Clarke's first solo albums
Billy's Cobham's Crosswinds
& Spectrum
Jen Luc Ponty's Imaginary Voyage,
Cosmic Messenger
& Enigmatic Ocean
The Jeff Lorber Fusion's Wizard's Island
and A Friday Night in San Francisco

and some other semi-related artists;
The Brecker Brothers, Stanley Turrentine, Herbie Hancock, Rashaan Roland Kirk, Sun Ra, Gato Barbeirri and, of course, most anything by The Rippingtons who essentially grew right out of the genre.

[lurch]

So..should there be a whole separate category for Charlie Mingus..?

I cannot argue that Bitches Brew is simply HUGE in its influence,,but look what Kinda Blue did for " cool jazz". Simply put,,Miles was HUGE.

[danlo]

And you know what? I always get nailed with the Mingus question at this point of the conversation. Perpetual deja vu? Mingus was a tremendous influence! I either leave the gaps, like the OPT, open, or omit them from some reason-the late 50s/60s Chicago jazz scene has to be intensely investigated!

Edit: Dam! I can't believe I left out Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams either-shame on me! Well, a combination of '50s cool jazz '60s soul (Mingus), hard bop (Davis), and Latin jazz (Mingus, Getz and Byrd), (well, christ, Davis played fricking Sergovia on Stetches From Spain!) combined with the new insane rock inovations of the day-and even intermixing classical elements.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s the hybrid form of jazz-rock fusion was developed by combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments, and the highly amplified stage sound of rock musicians such as Jimi Hendrix. Miles Davis made the breakthrough into fusion in 1970s with his album Bitches Brew, and by 1971, two influential fusion groups formed: Weather Report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Although jazz purists protested the blend of jazz and rock, some of jazz's significant innovators crossed over from the contemporary hard bop scene into fusion. Jazz fusion music often uses mixed meters, odd time signatures, syncopation, and complex chords and harmonies. In addition to using the electric instruments of rock, such as the electric guitar, electric bass, electric piano, and synthesizer keyboards, fusion also used the powerful amplification, "fuzz" pedals, wah-wah pedals, and other effects used by 1970s-era rock bands. Notable performers of jazz fusion included Miles Davis, keyboardists Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, vibraphonist Gary Burton, drummer Tony Williams, guitarists Larry Coryell and John McLaughlin, Frank Zappa, saxophonist Wayne Shorter, and bassists Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke.

[stonemaybe]

There's quite a big jazz festival here in Cheltenham every year. I normally meet up with some friends every year on the Sunday and go out to experience some. It's a way of reminding myself that, yes, I really do hate jazz more than any other style of music.

Now I have a problem. That once a year thing is tomorrow, but I went out tonight with some other friends and I'm ready to shoot the next jazz musician I see.

[danlo]

bumping for current interest.

[Cord Hurn]

Today, I felt like listening to some "Birdland" by Weather Report.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pqashW66D7o