Mats Nermark Posted October 15, 2001 Posted October 15, 2001 Hi, My three favourite fusion records are: Mint Jam, superb live playing by japanese group Casiopea Playing for Time by Mezzoforte from Iceland. This was produced by Eric Persing of Spectrasonics fame. Tales From the Bulge, a really great guitar album that resided in the outer districts of fusion. Wonderful guitar by Michael Landau. Best regards, Mats Nermark
strat0124 Posted October 15, 2001 Posted October 15, 2001 how bout this late entry: Anything by Bela Fleck. Down like a dollar comin up against a yen, doin pretty good for the shape I'm in
mr. rob Posted October 16, 2001 Posted October 16, 2001 Herbie Hancock- Sextant Oh man, this album kicks as, and yes it was released before I was born:-)
Gulliver Posted October 16, 2001 Posted October 16, 2001 [quote]Originally posted by strat0124: [b]how bout this late entry: Anything by Bela Fleck.[/b][/quote] Oh yeah, Bela's cool! I saw him (with the band) performing in Tallinn a couple of years ago and the gig was just incredible. I am back.
meccajay Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 C'mon you guys left out the BEST fusion album of all...Stanley Clarke - School Days!! I also loved RTF, but Romantic Warrier gives me a headache these days lol dansouth. Ok, here are a few others... Billy Cobham- Spectrum George Duke - Reach For It...ever heard a more powerful bass solo like the 5 minute solo on the title track before...doubt it!! Gino Vanelli - Brother to Brother...Graham Lear on drums - damn!! George Duke and Billy Cobham Band-Live in Europe. . .Nasty! Lenny White - Adventures Of The Astral Pirates.....dont remember if the whole album was good, but Lenny played a drum solo that changed my life forever! TROLL . . . ish.
Curve Dominant Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 Fusion is alive and thriving in today's urban club scene, at least on the East Coast and in Euroland. Some of you old headz may not like it as much as you used to dig endless weedly-wee solos, or labrynthine time signature changes, because it's a groove thing now. But, today, underground house, lounge, future-jazz and new-jack soul are all about fusion. They are also all about 4/4 time signatures, but hey - folks wanna dance these daze... 1. Thievery Corporation, "Mirror Conspiracy" 2. dZihan & Kamien, "Freaks & Icons" 3. Bebel Gilberto, "Tanto Tempo" 4. DJ Fluid, "Future Tropic" 5. Jill Scott, "Who Is Jill Scott?" ...those should get you started if you are feeling adventurous. E [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] Eric Vincent (ASCAP) www.curvedominant.com
Hippie Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 meccajay wrote: > oh yea!! I forgot about that one, I have that on vinyl. The song "hello Jeff", is great!! I'll be dusting that one off tonight, for the first time in 20 years. -damn, I'm old! Thanks for the reminder, Hippie In two days, it won't matter.
AlChuck Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 [i]School Days[/i] is great, but I like [i]Journey To Love[/i] better... Beck's solo on that one tune, is it the title track? -- the slow one, with Stanley and George Duke singing bad lyrics badly? That solo is just fantastic...
meccajay Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 <> Yeah, some of the better solos were on Stanley's albums....do you remember that "laughing moog" solo on 'The Dancer' which was on School days I believe?? TROLL . . . ish.
Gabriel E. Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 I can't believe no one has mentioned "Spectrum" by Billy Cobham featuring Tommy Bolin and Jan Hammer. By far the coolest and funkiest fusion record ever. It's a really good example of why it was called "fusion" - it actually rocks! Later fusion seemed to all become easy listening crap. A lot of the drum stuff Cobham did was obviously a huge influence on drum n' bass music. I like that someone mentioned UZEB. I never really cared for them but I saw Michel Cuson and the Wild Unit and that was one of the greatest shows I've ever experienced. He's a monster. "You never can vouch for your own consciousness." - Norman Mailer
halljams Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 [quote]Originally posted by Lee Flier: [b] Wow, you took the words RIGHT out of my mouth. Picking the best fusion albums, for me, is kinda like choosing my favorite form of torture. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] I love rock and I love jazz but put 'em together and it just sucks, IMNSHO. The thing that makes rock great is the combination of its simplicity and its bombast. The things that make jazz great are its technical complexity and its subtlety. Fusion seems to have all the complexity of jazz with few of its subtleties, and all the bombast of rock without its simplicity and raw emotion. Yuck. --Lee [/b][/quote] Lee, i'm sorry to hear that you feel this way. You know there isn't always enought time to fully explore every genere, and we tend to be led deeper into those which immediately strike the deepest chord with us, but, there is all kinds of flavours of fusion, from very intricate and even delicate to the rawest rottenest shtuff around. The music that you like is fusion. It doen't matter what it is, all music is fusion. The label "Fusion" in this particular thread, i think, means that there are other, more advanced uses of harmony being incorporated with rythms and sounds that were only being used with rock previously. (Remember, rock was still quite new when fusion began. And rock was Fusion.) This was a good thing, expansion, and there were some aweful failures, but there were also some amazing victories, some of the music made though these fusions inspired people like myself to become musicians and to work at becoming quality musicans because we were exposed to really really good musicianship being utilized in a way that made us "FEEL" great.Like rock and roll did. Not that Hendrix wasn't great, i think people, when they were exposed to that world that he opened up, wanted to incorporate that feeling into other kinds of music. Sometimes it was forced too hard, i think, but shit will fit together, if persistence prevails, in some new and beautiful ways, and i think that you are missing out on some really amazing music by writing fusion off. My too sense JH Check out SUPERVIBE
conceptDIGITAL Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 Jeff Beck "Blow by Blow", "Wired" Weather Report "Black Market", "Mysterious Traveller", "Heavy Weather", "Mr. Gone" Jean Luc Ponty "Cosmic Messenger" Jan Hammer "First Seven Days" Pat Metheny Group - ALL Stanley Clarke "School Days" Steely Dan "Aja"
Lee Flier Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 halljams, Sure, all music is "fusion". And I've got nothing against the merging of different styles in general. The fusion of jazz and rock specifically is what has come to be called "fusion" and I just don't happen to think those two fuse well. And it's not for lack of really listening. Fusion was extraordinarily popular among most of the musicians my age when I was a teenager. Many of my friends tried to turn me on to it. If anything I heard too much of it. It just never did float my boat, a few individual bits here and there notwithstanding. Or sometimes I'll like one song but if I listen to a fusion album for more than 10 minutes I usually get bored. And I am not easily bored. More often though, it just plain sets my teeth on edge. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] --Lee
halljams Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 [quote]Originally posted by Lee Flier: [b]halljams, Sure, all music is "fusion". And I've got nothing against the merging of different styles in general. The fusion of jazz and rock specifically is what has come to be called "fusion" and I just don't happen to think those two fuse well. And it's not for lack of really listening. Fusion was extraordinarily popular among most of the musicians my age when I was a teenager. Many of my friends tried to turn me on to it. If anything I heard too much of it. It just never did float my boat, a few individual bits here and there notwithstanding. Or sometimes I'll like one song but if I listen to a fusion album for more than 10 minutes I usually get bored. And I am not easily bored. More often though, it just plain sets my teeth on edge. [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] --Lee[/b][/quote] Ok, can i ask... do you listen to any music without vocals? If so, what? Check out SUPERVIBE
meccajay Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 [QUOTE]Originally posted by Gabriel E.: [B]I can't believe no one has mentioned "Spectrum" by Billy Cobham featuring Tommy Bolin and Jan Hammer Mr Happy did mention Spectrum as well as me, but you're right Spectrum is a masterwork! I probably play it every 2 weeks or so when my music starts sounding a bit too electronic or too clean... TROLL . . . ish.
BP3 Posted October 17, 2001 Posted October 17, 2001 Shame that Tommy Bolin didn't live much longer after Spectrum was recorded. He was truly a great player. Some of David Sancious' stuff was really good. He made excellent contributions to albums by Narada Michael Walden, Lenny White, Stanley Clarke, Sting, Jack Bruce, Jon Anderson and others. One of my favorite players.
dansouth Posted October 18, 2001 Author Posted October 18, 2001 [quote]Originally posted by meccajay: [b] Gino Vanelli - Brother to Brother...Graham Lear on drums - damn!![/b][/quote] And Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets) on bass on three cuts - HOT damn!!
dansouth Posted October 18, 2001 Author Posted October 18, 2001 [quote]Originally posted by Lee Flier: [b] The thing that makes rock great is the combination of its simplicity and its bombast. The things that make jazz great are its technical complexity and its subtlety. Fusion seems to have all the complexity of jazz with few of its subtleties, and all the bombast of rock without its simplicity and raw emotion. Yuck. [/b][/quote] I'm not sure where anyone got the idea that "fusion" is a combination of jazz and rock. It's a unique idiom that draws elements from multiple sources - rock, jazz, bluegrass, R&B, blues, classical (including twentieth century), funk, swing, bebop, as well as from the ethnic music of Africa, Cuba, Brazil, India, the Middle and Far East, and Eastern Europe. Rock is not always "simple." Quadrophenia, Tommy, Electric Ladyland, Pet Sounds, Sgt. Pepper, So, et al. feature brilliantly complex arrangements.
PlugHead Posted October 19, 2001 Posted October 19, 2001 A few of my faves the past 15-20 yrs: Chick Corea - Electric Band UZEB - ALL Henry Threadgill - Too Much Sugar .... Material - Laswell, Shorter - beats the hell out of most HipHop, Groove Dixie Dregs - ALL RTF - Almost all Brecker Bros.- Live Jean Luc Ponty - New Country, Mysterious Traveler Zappa - you name it! Guess thats a start - haven't listened to much fusion in yrs., but had a San Diego musician, Mike Keneally and "Beer For Dolphins" CD given to me by him, and I have to say - check it out!!! Makes a new music form I call Pop-Fusion: All the elements of fusion, with lyrics and odd turns and twists - kinda XTC meets Zappa (whom he played guitar for prior to his untimely death [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/frown.gif[/img] ) He has a brand spankin new one out as well, so people into further listening adventures, stay tuned [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/biggrin.gif[/img] Jay Plughead Productions Jay PlugHead Productions
RobT Posted October 19, 2001 Posted October 19, 2001 Cool thread. Here's my .02 Heavy Weather - Weather Report School Days - Stanley Clarke Blue Matter/Pick Hits Live - John Scofield The Royal Scam - Steely Dan Night of the Living Dregs - Dixie Dregs Enigmatic Ocean - Jon Luc Ponty Steps Ahead - Steps Ahead (best one of their output I think) We Live Here - Pat Metheny (hard to list just one) Bitches Brew - Miles Davis (along with most of his 80's stuff) King Crimson - Just about anything. Interesting that some nominated P-Funk. I think if you can fuse rock and jazz why not funk and rock. Not fusion in the classic sense. I always thought that Stevie Wonder's Songs In The Key Of Life was a good mix of his musicianship and musical influences (RnB, funk and jazz). Once again not fusion in the classic sense. Had to keep it short to conserve some bandwidth. RobT Famous Musical Quotes: "I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve" - Xavier Cugat
Gulliver Posted October 19, 2001 Posted October 19, 2001 [quote]Originally posted by RobT: [b]Cool thread. Here's my .02 Heavy Weather - Weather Report School Days - Stanley Clarke Blue Matter/Pick Hits Live - John Scofield The Royal Scam - Steely Dan Night of the Living Dregs - Dixie Dregs Enigmatic Ocean - Jon Luc Ponty Steps Ahead - Steps Ahead (best one of their output I think) We Live Here - Pat Metheny (hard to list just one) Bitches Brew - Miles Davis (along with most of his 80's stuff) King Crimson - Just about anything. [/b][/quote] King Crimson and fusion?? [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/eek.gif[/img] That's something new for me! [img]http://www.musicplayer.com/ubb/smile.gif[/img] I always thought they play a kind of prog... I am back.
conceptDIGITAL Posted October 19, 2001 Posted October 19, 2001 How about Bruce Hornsby? I think some of his stuff rivals some of the old fusion stuff, when he's not getting repetitive. Harbor Lights, for example, is a great album. Pat Metheny's solo on the song "Harbor Lights" still gives me chill bumps. I think what makes some artists interesting to me in my old age is not being able to tell where a solo is going, or how it's going to come back. Pat rarely disappoints on that count.
meccajay Posted October 19, 2001 Posted October 19, 2001 <> Very interesting RobT, I think you may be onto something about PFunk, especially if you think about the musicians in that camp....anyone remember Micheal Hampton's guitar solo on Maggot Brain or Freak of the Week?? How about Bernie Worrell's Synthesizer genious-to this day we play bass synth on our songs because of Bernie's vision!! The Horney Horns-Fred, Maceo etc. Truly a band that could hang with any in history, man for man, or as a collective!!! TROLL . . . ish.
AlChuck Posted October 19, 2001 Posted October 19, 2001 PlugHead: You listed [i]Mysterious Traveler[/i] under Jean-Luc Ponty's name. As far as I know he had no recording of that title... Weather Report did, though. Which is it? and Gulliver: [quote][b]King Crimson and fusion?? That's something new for me! I always thought they play a kind of prog...[/b][/quote] Sure, I'd call King Crimson fusion... maybe not from a jazz direction, but it's definitely as experimental and adventurous as the best "fusion" groups.
PlugHead Posted October 19, 2001 Posted October 19, 2001 AlChuck: You are correct - Mysterious Traveler is Weather Report's title, but JLP had an album with a similar title - can't recall: think it's "Mysterious VOYAGE", or something like that: Darryl Stuermer (SP?) on guitar, etc. Thanks for the correction! Jay PlugHead Productions Jay PlugHead Productions
RobT Posted October 19, 2001 Posted October 19, 2001 "Sure, I'd call King Crimson fusion... maybe not from a jazz direction, but it's definitely as experimental and adventurous as the best "fusion" groups." That's what I say AlChuck. I think Fripp could hang with any fusion guitarist you could name. I feel the same about the PFunk crew. Some of that stuff Hampton did on the Funkadelic songs still smokes. It ain't always the quantity of notes but the quality. "Think, It ain't illegal yet" ... RobT Famous Musical Quotes: "I would rather play Chiquita Banana and have my swimming pool than play Bach and starve" - Xavier Cugat
Steve LeBlanc Posted October 19, 2001 Posted October 19, 2001 [quote]You are correct - Mysterious Traveler is Weather Report's title, but JLP had an album with a similar title - can't recall: think it's "Mysterious VOYAGE", or something like that: Darryl Stuermer (SP?) on guitar, etc.[/quote] That would be [b]"Imaginary Voyage"[/b]...I wore the grooves out on my LP of that. Mark Craney on drums, Allan Zavod on Keys...LOVE IT! http://www.youtube.com/notesleb
AlChuck Posted October 20, 2001 Posted October 20, 2001 [i]Imaginary Voyage[/i] -- yes, an excellent recording... haven't pulled that one out for a spin in a long time...
BP3 Posted October 20, 2001 Posted October 20, 2001 How about [b]Group 87[/b]? Mark Isham, Terry Bozzio, Peter Mannu, Patrick O'Hearn. Nice ensemble recording. One of Bozzio's better sounding records.
AlChuck Posted October 21, 2001 Posted October 21, 2001 Group 87 was great! Wish that lineup did more than the recording they did (there's a second in Group 87's dicsography but it didn't have Bozzio or O'Hearn aboard -- Peter Van Hooke played drums and percussion. (One correction, the guitarist's name is spelled [i]Maunu[/i].) Bozzio was also great with Jeff Beck, David Torn, and the trio Bozzio Levin Stevens (with Tony Levin and Steve Stevens)... This message has been edited by AlChuck on 10-21-2001 at 11:01 AM
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