What are your favorite fusion bands/albums/tunes?

[rlhubley]

I think you all know what the question is!

[rlhubley]

I'll start it off by saying Karizma, on the album Document, especially the songs, "Aliens (ripped my face off), and E Minor SHuffle. I'm also a big fan of the Bozzio Levin Stevens group. I love the tune "Duende"!

[sidereal]

Mr. Bungle

[BruBoz]

I also like Bozzio Levins Stevens. I have their "Situation Dangerous" CD.

 

Some of my other faves are:

 

Dave Weckl - Transition

 

Simon Phillips - Another Lifetime

 

Chad Wackerman - Scream

 

These probably aren't "the best," but they're some of the few fusion albums that I own, and they've got some great drumming on them.

[Gaddabout]

I first heard E-Minor Shuffle on James Newton Howard and Friends, from a disc in the late 80s. Jeff Porcaro played on that one, and he turned it into more of a 6/8 Afro-Cuban thing. Come to think of it, that's the most I ever heard Porcaro play. That disc was highly popular among car audio geeks. It was a very clean recording.

 

Greatest fusion album? I like to think of Carl Perkins as the first American fusion artist, and Elvis Presley as perhaps the greatest American fusion artist, with the Beatles being the best British fusion artists.

 

If you're strictly talking about the jazz-rock genre, my vote probably goes to the first Lifetime album with Tony Williams. Just about anything with Chick Corea is excellent, with my favorite being the first effort with Dave Weckl, although My Spanish Fantasy and The Leprechaun rate very, very high in my book. In terms of pure listenability (is that a word?), Mike Stern's albums are wonderful, as are the Brecker Brother's.

 

This message has been edited by Gaddabout on 08-15-2001 at 02:44 PM

[jmichael]

-Bill Bruford's "One of a Kind"

-Jean Luc Ponty - "Enigmatic Ocean" with Steve Smith

-Chick Corea - the first Elektric Band disc

-Return to Forever- "Romantic Warrier"

-Miles - "Live Evil"

[KikkyMonk]

What is fusion?

 

- please be nice

 

Dave

[DerekDrums]

Basically, fusion is mixed styles with jazz being the main. Almost like a heavy version of jazz, but I've heard some strange things be called fusion that only has a little jazz influence, but that's basically how I see fusion. I am a moron though, so I will step aside and let someone else give you a better description. We have a song called Groove on http://www.mp3.com/DustinDerek - Mp3.com puts it on their Featured Music(Recommendation Radio) for Jazz Fusion quite a bit. Check that out if you're bored, because it must qualify as Fusion. We just put it there because people thought it sounded jazzy...

 

Derek

 

http://www.mp3.com/DustinDerek

[Steve LeBlanc]

I was going to post a quite few albums but jmichael already covered some pretty heavy stuff.

 

I'd have to add Mahavishnu Orchestra - "Birds of Fire" (with Billy Cobham) and Al Dimeola - Land of the Midnight Sun (mostly for Jaco and Chick Corea's input).

 

oh and,

 

Frank Zappa's "We're Only in it for the Money" is a form of fusion.

 

and

 

any Brand X album that has Phil Collins on drums.

[midispaceho]

Chick Corea Got a match?

[DrummerCafe]

One of our new members at the Drum Ring International , John Favicchia, just completed a new fusion CD entitled DHARMA (see review on the Drum Ring website).

 

You can pick up a copy at the Drum Ring store and/or visit John's website at: http://members.aol.com/drummrfav/

 

If you are fusion fan, I highly recommend that you pick-up a copy for your library. Some wonderful playing!

[Gaddabout]

Originally posted by KikkyMonk:

What is fusion?

 

- please be nice

 

Dave

 

Dave, this is a very good question. The term gets thrown around a lot. Fusion is simply combining two types of styles to make one kind of music. For example, latin-jazz, jazz-rock and country-swing are three kinds of popular fusion.

 

In the late 60s and early 70s, jazz artists started exploring electronics -- I suggest primarily because of Jimi Hendrix -- and people like Miles Davis embraced rock rhythms to accompany jazz-type soloists. The result was a new jazz movement called jazz-rock. The resulting followers, many of whom first played the music with Miles Davis, gave the genre a large catalogue of albums. Among these pioneers were keyboardists Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock, guitarist John McLaughlin and drummer Billy Cobham.

 

Another type of popular fusion, jazz-funk, really started with 1950s New Orleans organ trios, but James Brown expanded on these rhythms with his band. Other bands followed, such as Tower of Power and Earth, Wind and Fire, once again providing a diverse catalogue with which to birth the genre.

 

I hope this explains it. Personally, I think *all* modern music is fusion, and it doesn't do any genre justice by calling it such.

[sidereal]

Mr. Bungle

[felix stein]

I hope I never understand what fusion is. To me, lots of those above albums sound dated-hmmm, probably because they are?

 

I'd say my band, Greazyspoon, is my favorite fusion band and I am my favorite as well as "the best" fusion drummer on the planet. Thank you.

 

I wish I worked in a record store sometimes and could just sample EVERYTHING. Download as much as I could off the web. I wish I could see what was in all the cracks- ya know? Spend hours a day just listening.