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Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
harmony and improvisation with
rock music Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as " rock and roll" in the United States in the late 1940s and early 1950s, developing into a range of different styles in the mid-1960s and later, particularly in the United States a ...
, funk, and
rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
. Electric guitars, amplifiers, and keyboards that were popular in
rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm ...
started to be used by jazz musicians, particularly those who had grown up listening to rock and roll. Jazz fusion arrangements vary in complexity. Some employ groove-based vamps fixed to a single key or a single chord with a simple, repeated melody. Others use elaborate chord progressions, unconventional time signatures, or melodies with counter-melodies. These arrangements, whether simple or complex, typically include improvised sections that can vary in length, much like in other forms of jazz. As with jazz, jazz fusion can employ brass and woodwind instruments such as trumpet and saxophone, but other instruments often substitute for these. A jazz fusion band is less likely to use piano and double bass, and more likely to use electric guitar, synthesizers, and bass guitar. The term "jazz rock" is sometimes used as a synonym for "jazz fusion" and for music performed by late 1960s and 1970s-era rock bands that added jazz elements to their music. After a decade of popularity during the 1970s, fusion expanded its improvisatory and experimental approaches through the 1980s in parallel with the development of a radio-friendly style called
smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the ...
. Experimentation continued in the 1990s and 2000s. Fusion albums, even those that are made by the same group or artist, may include a variety of musical styles. Rather than being a codified musical style, fusion can be viewed as a musical tradition or approach.


History


Coryell and two worlds

When John Coltrane died in 1967, rock was the most popular music in America, and ''
DownBeat ' (styled in all caps) is an American music magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond", the last word indicating its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Ch ...
'' magazine went so far as to declare in a headline that: "Jazz as We Know It Is Dead". Guitarist
Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. Early life Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He ...
, sometimes called the godfather of fusion, referred to a generation of musicians who had grown up on rock and roll when he said, "We loved Miles but we also loved the Rolling Stones." In 1966 he started the band the Free Spirits with
Bob Moses Robert Moses (1888–1981) was an American city planner. Robert Moses may also refer to: * Bob Moses (activist) (1935–2021), American educator and civil rights activist * Bob Moses, American football player in the 1962 Cotton Bowl Classic * Bob M ...
on drums and recorded the band's first album, ''Out of Sight and Sound'', in 1967. That same year ''DownBeat'' began to report on rock music. After the Free Spirits, Coryell was part of a quartet led by vibraphonist
Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused him to be h ...
, releasing the album '' Duster'' with its rock guitar influence. Burton produced the album ''Tomorrow Never Knows'' for Count's Jam Band, which included Coryell, Mike Nock, and
Steve Marcus Steve Marcus (September 18, 1939 – September 25, 2005) was an American jazz saxophonist. Biography Marcus was born in The Bronx, New York, United States. He studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, between 1959 and 1961 ...
, all of them former students at Berklee College in Boston. The pioneers of fusion emphasized exploration, energy, electricity, intensity, virtuosity, and volume. Charles Lloyd played a combination of rock and jazz at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966 with a quartet that included Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette. Lloyd adopted the trappings of the California psychedelic rock scene by playing at the rock venue the
Fillmore West The Fillmore West was a historic rock and roll music venue in San Francisco, California, US which became famous under the direction of concert promoter Bill Graham from 1968 to 1971. Named after The Fillmore at the intersection of Fillmore Str ...
, wearing colorful clothes, and giving his albums titles like ''Dream Weaver'' and ''Forest Flower'', which were bestselling jazz albums in 1967. Flautist Jeremy Steig experimented with jazz in his band Jeremy & the Satyrs with vibraphonist Mike Mainieri. The jazz label Verve released the first album (''Freak Out'') by rock guitarist
Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...
in 1966. Rahsaan Roland Kirk performed with Jimi Hendrix at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London.
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...
states that "until around 1967, the worlds of jazz and rock were nearly completely separate".


Miles Davis plugs in

As members of Miles Davis's band, Chick Corea and
Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he hel ...
played electric piano on ''
Filles de Kilimanjaro ' ( French for ''Girls of Kilimanjaro'') is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis. It was recorded in June and September 1968, and released on Columbia Records. It was released in the United Kingdom by the company's subsidiary Colu ...
''. Davis wrote in his autobiography that in 1968 he had been listening to Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, and Sly and the Family Stone. When Davis recorded ''
Bitches Brew ''Bitches Brew'' is a studio album by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was recorded from August 19 to 21, 1969, at Columbia's Studio B in New York City and released on March 30, 1970 by Columbia Records. It mark ...
'' in 1969, he mostly abandoned the swing beat in favor of a rock and roll backbeat and bass guitar grooves. The album "mixed free jazz blowing by a large ensemble with electronic keyboards and guitar, plus a dense mix of percussion." Davis played his trumpet like an electric guitar—plugged in to electronic effects and pedals. By the end of the first year, ''Bitches Brew'' sold 400,000 copies, four times the average for a Miles Davis album. Over the next two years the aloof Davis recorded more often, worked with many sidemen, appeared on television, and performed at rock venues. Just as quickly, Davis tested the loyalty of rock fans by continuing to experiment. His producer,
Teo Macero Attilio Joseph "Teo" Macero (October 30, 1925 – February 19, 2008) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, and record producer. He was a producer at Columbia Records for twenty years. Macero produced Miles Davis' ''Bitches Brew'', and ...
, inserted previously recorded material into the ''Jack Johnson'' soundtrack, '' Live-Evil'', and '' On the Corner''. Although ''Bitches Brew'' gave him a gold record, the use of electric instruments and rock beats created consternation among some jazz critics, who accused Davis of betraying the essence of jazz. Music critic Kevin Fellezs commented that some members of the jazz community regarded rock music as less sophisticated and more commercial than jazz. Davis's 1969 album '' In a Silent Way'' is considered his first fusion album.Southall, Nick
Review: ''In a Silent Way''
'' Stylus Magazine''. Retrieved on April 1, 2010.
Composed of two side-long improvised suites edited heavily by Teo Macero, the album was made by pioneers of jazz fusion: Corea, Hancock, Tony Williams,
Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (born August 25, 1933) is an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Shorter came to prominence in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles D ...
, Joe Zawinul, and John McLaughlin. ''
A Tribute to Jack Johnson ''Jack Johnson'' (also known as ''A Tribute to Jack Johnson'' on reissues) is a studio album and soundtrack by American jazz trumpeter, composer, and bandleader Miles Davis. It was released on February 24, 1971, by Columbia Records. The album w ...
'' (1971) has been cited as "the purest electric jazz record ever made" and "one of the most remarkable jazz rock discs of the era". According to music journalist Zaid Mudhaffer, the term "jazz fusion" was coined in a review of ''
Song of Innocence ''Song of Innocence'' is the debut album by American composer and producer David Axelrod. It was released in October 1968 by Capitol Records. In an effort to capitalize on the experimental climate of popular music at the time, Axelrod composed ...
'' by David Axelrod when it was released in 1968. Axelrod said Davis had played the album before conceiving ''Bitches Brew''.


Davis sidemen branch out

Miles Davis was one of the first jazz musicians to incorporate jazz fusion into his material. His guitar player John McLaughlin branched out, forming his own fusion group Mahavishnu Orchestra. Blending Indian classical music, jazz, and psychedelic rock, they created a whole new style just as Davis had. Davis's live albums during this period, including '' Live-Evil'' and ''
Miles Davis at Fillmore ''Miles Davis at Fillmore'' is a 1970 live album by jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and band, recorded at the Fillmore East, New York City on four consecutive days, June 17 through June 20, 1970, originally released as a double vinyl LP. The performanc ...
'', featured McLaughlin. Davis dropped out of music in 1975 because of problems with drugs and alcohol, but his sidemen took advantage of the creative and financial vistas that had been opened. Herbie Hancock brought elements of funk, disco, and electronic music into commercially successful albums such as '' Head Hunters'' (1973) and '' Feets, Don't Fail Me Now'' (1979). Several years after recording '' Miles in the Sky'' with Davis, guitarist George Benson became a vocalist with enough pop hits to overshadow his earlier career in jazz. While Davis was sidelined, Chick Corea gained prominence. In the early 1970s Corea combined jazz, rock, pop, and Brazilian music in Return to Forever, a band which included Stanley Clarke on bass guitar and Al DiMeola on electric guitar. Corea divided the rest of his career between acoustic and electric music, non-commercial and commercial, jazz and pop rock, with a band for each: the Akoustic Band and the Elektric Band. Tony Williams was a member of Davis's band since 1963. Williams reflected, "I wanted to create a different atmosphere from the one I had been in...What better way to do it than to go electric?" He left Davis to form the Tony Williams Lifetime with English guitarist John McLaughlin and organist Larry Young. The band combined rock intensity and loudness with jazz spontaneity. The debut album ''Emergency!'' was recorded three months before ''Bitches Brew''. Although McLaughlin had worked with Miles Davis, he was influenced more by Jimi Hendrix and had played with English rock musicians Eric Clapton and
Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
before creating the Mahavishnu Orchestra around the same time that Corea started Return to Forever. McLaughlin had been a member of Tony Williams's Lifetime. He brought to his music many of the elements which interested other musicians in the 1960s and early 1970s: counterculture, rock and roll, electronic instruments, solo virtuosity, experimentation, the blending of genres, and an interest in the exotic, such as Indian music. He formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra with drummer Billy Cobham, violinist Jerry Goodman, bassist
Rick Laird Richard Quentin Laird (February 5, 1941 – July 4, 2021) was an Irish musician, photographer, teacher, and author best known as the bassist and a founding member of the jazz fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra, with which he performed from 1971 to ...
, and keyboardist Jan Hammer. The band released its first album, '' The Inner Mounting Flame'', in 1971. Hammer pioneered the use of the Minimoog synthesizer with distortion effects. His use of the pitch bend wheel made a keyboard sound like an electric guitar. The Mahavishnu Orchestra was influenced by both psychedelic rock and Indian classical music. The band's first lineup broke up after two studio albums and one live album, but McLaughlin formed another group in 1974 under the same name with jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, one of the first electric violinists. During the late '70s, Lee Ritenour, Stuff, George Benson, Spyro Gyra, the Crusaders, and Larry Carlton released fusion albums.


Inspirations

Jazz fusion formed in the late 1960s when musicians combined styles such as
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
, funk, rock, and R&B (rhythm and blues). It has been popularized by artists like
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea,
Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progr ...
, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Allan Holdsworth, Billy Cobham and John McLaughlin along with many other legends in the jazz world. Jazz and rock music have played an integral part in society throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Jazz populated the airwaves throughout the 1940s and 1950s with artists like
Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
, Dizzy Gillespie, and Thelonious Monk. Jazz of the 1940s was commonly referred to as bebop, which is characterized by fast tempo, complex chord progressions, and numerous key changes. In 1959 the breakthrough jazz record '' Kind of Blue'' was recorded by the great Miles Davis. This record has been described as the "one of the greatest jazz records of all time". Davis recorded it with pianist
Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...
, saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, bassist Paul Chambers, and drummer
Jimmy Cobb Wilbur James "Jimmy" Cobb (January 20, 1929May 24, 2020) was an American jazz drummer. He was part of Miles Davis's First Great Sextet. At the time of his death, he had been the band's last surviving member for nearly thirty years. He was ...
. This was the first modal jazz record and shaped the sound for jazz of the 1960s and 1970s. For this record Miles Davis brought sketches to the studio with no sheet music, just telling the musicians to play what they feel and listen to each other. While the record was improvised and loosely sketched, it has sold millions of copies and has become a remarkable staple in the jazz community. Some modal jazz and/or jazz fusion records that followed were ''Bitches Brew'', ''Head Hunters'', '' Birds of Fire'', and '' In a Silent Way''.


Jazz rock

The term "jazz-rock" (or "jazz/rock") is sometimes used as a synonym for "jazz fusion". The Free Spirits have sometimes been cited as the earliest jazz rock band. Rock bands such as IF,
Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world ...
,
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Soft Machine,
Nucleus Nucleus ( : nuclei) is a Latin word for the seed inside a fruit. It most often refers to: * Atomic nucleus, the very dense central region of an atom *Cell nucleus, a central organelle of a eukaryotic cell, containing most of the cell's DNA Nucl ...
, Brand X, and
the Mothers of Invention The Mothers of Invention (also known as The Mothers) was an American rock band from California. Formed in 1964, their work is marked by the use of sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Originally an R&B ban ...
blended jazz and rock with electric instruments. Davis' fusion jazz was "pure melody and tonal color", while Frank Zappa's music was more "complex" and "unpredictable". Zappa released the solo album ''
Hot Rats ''Hot Rats'' is the second solo album by Frank Zappa, released in October 1969. It was Zappa's first recording project after the dissolution of the original version of the Mothers of Invention. Five of the six songs are instrumental; while "Wil ...
'' in 1969. The album contained long instrumental pieces with a jazz influence.Miles, 2004, ''Frank Zappa'', p. 194. Zappa released two albums, '' The Grand Wazoo'' and ''
Waka/Jawaka ''Waka/Jawaka'' (also known as ''Waka/Jawaka — Hot Rats'') is the fourth solo album by Frank Zappa, released in July 1972. The album is the jazz-influenced precursor to ''The Grand Wazoo'' (November 1972), and as the front cover indicates, a seq ...
'', in 1972 which were influenced by jazz.
George Duke George M. Duke (January 12, 1946 – August 5, 2013) was an American keyboardist, composer, singer-songwriter and record producer. He worked with numerous artists as arranger, music director, writer and co-writer, record producer and as a pr ...
and
Aynsley Dunbar Aynsley Thomas Dunbar (born 10 January 1946) is an English drummer. He has worked with John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck, Journey, Jefferson Starship, Nils Lofgren, Eric Burdon, Shuggie Otis, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, David Bowie, Mick Ronso ...
played on both. 1970s band
Steely Dan Steely Dan is an American rock band founded in 1971 in New York by Walter Becker (guitars, bass, backing vocals) and Donald Fagen (keyboards, lead vocals). Initially the band had a stable lineup, but in 1974, Becker and Fagen retired from liv ...
has been lauded by music critic
Neil McCormick Neil McCormick (born 31 March 1961) is a British music journalist, author and broadcaster. He has been Chief Music Critic for '' The Daily Telegraph'' since 1996, and presented a music interview show for Vintage TV in the UK, Neil McCormick's Ne ...
for their "smooth, smart jazz-rock fusion." The jazz artists of the 1960s and 1970s had a large impact on many rock groups of that era such as Santana and Frank Zappa. They took jazz phrasing and harmony and incorporated it into modern rock music, significantly changing music history and paving the way for artists that would follow in their footsteps. Carlos Santana in particular has given much credit towards Miles Davis and the influence he had on his music. While Miles Davis combined jazz with modal and rock influences, Carlos Santana combined these along with Latin rhythms and feel, shaping a whole new genre,
Latin rock Latin rock is a term to describe a subgenre blending traditional sounds and elements of Latin American and Hispanic Caribbean folk with rock music. However, it is widely used in the English-language media to refer any kind of rock music featurin ...
. Other rock artists such as
Led Zeppelin Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are ...
, Gary Moore, The Grateful Dead, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, and The Allman Brothers Band have taken influences from jazz and jazz fusion and incorporated it into their own music, taking various rhythms, instrumentation, musical theory, and soundscapes from the jazz realm and bringing it into rock music and all that it had to offer. According to AllMusic, the term jazz rock "may refer to the loudest, wildest, most electrified fusion bands from the jazz camp, but most often it describes performers coming from the rock side of the equation...jazz rock first emerged during the late '60s as an attempt to fuse the visceral power of rock with the musical complexity and improvisational fireworks of jazz. Since rock often emphasized directness and simplicity over virtuosity, jazz rock generally grew out of the most artistically ambitious rock subgenres of the late '60s and early '70s: psychedelia,
progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. I ...
, and the singer-songwriter movement." According to jazz writer Stuart Nicholson, jazz rock paralleled
free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...
by being "on the verge of creating a whole new musical language in the 1960s". He said the albums ''Emergency!'' (1969) by the Tony Williams Lifetime and '' Agharta'' (1975) by Miles Davis "suggested the potential of evolving into something that might eventually define itself as a wholly independent genre quite apart from the sound and conventions of anything that had gone before." This development was stifled by commercialism, Nicholson said, as the genre "mutated into a peculiar species of jazz-inflected pop music that eventually took up residence on FM radio" at the end of the 1970s. In the 1970s, American fusion was being combined in the U.K. with progressive rock and psychedelic music. Bands who were part of this movement included Brand X (with Phil Collins of Genesis), Bruford ( Bill Bruford of Yes), Nucleus (led by Ian Carr), and Soft Machine. Throughout Europe and the world this movement grew due to bands like
Magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natura ...
in France,
Passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...
in Germany, Leb i Sol and September in Yugoslavia, and guitarists
Jan Akkerman Jan Akkerman (born 24 December 1946) is a Dutch guitarist. He first found international commercial success with the band Focus, which he co-founded with Thijs van Leer. After leaving Focus, he continued as a solo musician, adding jazz fusion infl ...
(The Netherlands), Volker Kriegel (Germany), Terje Rypdal (Norway),
Jukka Tolonen Jukka Jorma Tolonen (born 16 April 1952) is a Finnish jazz guitarist.Lönnqvist, Niclas.Jukka Tolonen är musikern av Guds nåde (in Swedish), Hufvudstadsbladet, August 3, 2018. Tolonen became famous as guitarist for the progressive rock band Ta ...
(Finland), Ryo Kawasaki (Japan), and Kazumi Watanabe (Japan).


Jazz metal

Jazz metal is the fusion of jazz fusion and jazz rock with heavy metal. The genre is closely related to mathcore, progressive metal, and punk jazz, as well as its microgenres. Rollins Band has been known to combine heavy metal with jazz, and starting in the late 1990s, King Crimson began to explore industrial metal, blended with their progressive rock sound. Similarly, Animals as Leaders' albums '' The Joy of Motion'' (2014) and '' The Madness of Many'' (2016) have been described as progressive metal combined with jazz fusion.


Smooth jazz

By the early 1980s, much of the original fusion genre was subsumed into other branches of jazz and rock, especially
smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the ...
, a radio-friendly subgenre of fusion which is influenced by R&B, funk, and pop music. Smooth jazz can be traced to at least the late 1960s, when producer Creed Taylor worked with guitarist Wes Montgomery on three popular music-oriented albums. Taylor founded CTI Records and many established jazz performers recorded for CTI, including Freddie Hubbard, Chet Baker, George Benson, and Stanley Turrentine. Albums under Taylor's guidance were aimed at both pop and jazz fans. The merging of jazz and pop/rock music took a more commercial direction in the late 1970s and early 1980s, in the form of compositions with a softer sound palette that could fit comfortably in a soft rock radio playlist. The AllMusic guide's article on fusion states that "unfortunately, as it became a money-maker and as rock declined artistically from the mid-'70s on, much of what was labeled fusion was actually a combination of jazz with easy-listening pop music and lightweight R&B."
Michael Michael may refer to: People * Michael (given name), a given name * Michael (surname), including a list of people with the surname Michael Given name "Michael" * Michael (archangel), ''first'' of God's archangels in the Jewish, Christian and ...
and Randy Brecker produced funk-influenced jazz with soloists. David Sanborn was considered a "soulful" and "influential" voice. However, Kenny G was criticized by both fusion and jazz fans, and some musicians, while having become a huge commercial success. Music reviewer George Graham argues that the "so-called 'smooth jazz' sound of people like Kenny G has none of the fire and creativity that marked the best of the fusion scene during its heyday in the 1970s."


Other styles

In the 1990s, another kind of fusion took a more hardcore approach. Bill Laswell produced many albums in this movement, such as ''Ask the Ages'' by avant-garde guitarist Sonny Sharrock and ''
Arc of the Testimony ''Arc of the Testimony'' is the second and final album by the American jazz fusion band Arcana. It was released on bassist Bill Laswell's Axiom label on October 14, 1997. Unlike the trio configuration on the first album, this project features a sp ...
'' with Laswell's band Arcana.
Niacin (band) William Sheehan (born March 19, 1953) is an American musician. He is best known for playing the bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playin ...
was formed by rock bassist Billy Sheehan, drummer Dennis Chambers, and organist John Novello. In London, The Pop Group began to mix free jazz and reggae into their form of punk rock. In New York City, no wave was inspired by free jazz and punk. Examples of this style include Lydia Lunch's ''Queen of Siam'', James Chance and the Contortions, who mixed soul music with free jazz and punk rock, and the
Lounge Lizards The Lounge Lizards were an eclectic musical group founded by saxophonist John Lurie and his brother, pianist Evan Lurie, in 1978. Initially known for their ironic, tongue-in-cheek take on jazz, The Lounge Lizards eventually became a showcase fo ...
, the first group to call themselves punk jazz.
John Zorn John Zorn (born September 2, 1953) is an American composer, conductor, saxophonist, arranger and producer who "deliberately resists category". Zorn's avant-garde and experimental approaches to composition and improvisation are inclusive of j ...
took note of the emphasis on speed and dissonance that was becoming prevalent in punk rock and incorporated them into free jazz with the release of the ''
Spy vs Spy ''Spy vs. Spy'' is a pantomime comics, wordless comic strip published in ''Mad (magazine), Mad'' magazine. It features two agents involved in stereotypical and comical espionage activities. One is dressed in white, and the other in black, but t ...
'' album in 1986. The album was a collection of Ornette Coleman tunes played in the
thrashcore Thrashcore (also known as fastcore) is a fast- tempo subgenre of hardcore punk that emerged in the early 1980s. Thrashcore is essentially sped-up hardcore, often using blast beats. Songs can be very brief, and thrashcore is in many ways a less ...
style. In the same year, Sonny Sharrock,
Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus move ...
, Bill Laswell, and Ronald Shannon Jackson recorded the first album under the name Last Exit, a blend of thrash and free jazz. M-Base ("macro-basic array of structured extemporization") centers on a movement started in the 1980s. It started as a group of young African-American musicians in New York which included Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, and Gary Thomas developing a complex but grooving sound. In the 1990s most M-Base participants turned to more conventional music, but Coleman, the most active participant, continued developing his music in accordance with the M-Base concept. M-Base changed from a loose collective to an informal "school". Afro-Cuban jazz, one of the earliest forms of Latin jazz, is a fusion of Afro-Cuban clave-based rhythms with jazz harmonies and techniques of improvisation. Afro-Cuban jazz emerged in the early 1940s with the Cuban musicians
Mario Bauza is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the '' Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his c ...
and Frank Grillo "Machito" in the band Machito and his Afro-Cubans in New York City. In 1947 the collaborations of bebop innovator Dizzy Gillespie with Cuban percussionist Chano Pozo brought Afro-Cuban rhythms and instruments, most notably the congas and the bongos, into the East Coast jazz scene. Early combinations of jazz with Cuban music, such as Gillespie's and Pozo's "Manteca" and Charlie Parker's and Machito's "Mangó Mangüé", were commonly referred to as "Cubop", short for Cuban bebop. During its first decades, the Afro-Cuban jazz movement was stronger in the United States than in Cuba.


Influence on rock music

According to bassist
Randy Jackson Randall Darius Jackson (born June 23, 1956) is an American record executive and television presenter, perhaps best known as a judge on ''American Idol'' from 2002 to 2013. Jackson began his career in the 1980s as a session musician playing ba ...
, jazz fusion is a difficult genre to play. "I...picked jazz fusion because I was trying to become the ultimate technical musician—able to play anything. Jazz fusion to me is the hardest music to play. You have to be so proficient on your instrument. Playing five tempos at the same time, for instance. I wanted to try the toughest music because I knew if I could do that, I could do anything." Jazz rock fusion's technically challenging guitar solos, bass solos, and odd-metered, syncopated drumming started to be incorporated in the technically focused progressive metal genre in the early 1990s. Progressive rock, with its affinity for long solos, diverse influences, non-standard time signatures, and complex music had very similar musical values as jazz fusion. Some prominent examples of progressive rock mixed with elements of fusion is the music of Gong, King Crimson, Ozric Tentacles, and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. The death metal band
Atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
produced albums ''
Unquestionable Presence ''Unquestionable Presence'' is the second album by the death metal band Atheist. It was released in 1991 and added a new sound by using jazz-like harmonies, subtle Latin rhythms and unusual time signatures. Content It is considered a landmark alb ...
'' in 1991 and '' Elements'' in 1993 containing heavily syncopated drumming, changing time signatures, instrumental parts, acoustic interludes, and Latin rhythms. Meshuggah first attracted international attention with the 1995 release ''
Destroy Erase Improve ''Destroy Erase Improve'' is the second studio album by Swedish metal band Meshuggah. It was released on 12 May 1995 by Nuclear Blast. This is the first studio album to feature rhythm guitarist Mårten Hagström and the final to feature bassist ...
'' for its fusion of fast-tempo death metal, thrash metal, and progressive metal with jazz fusion elements. Cynic recorded a complex, unorthodox form of jazz fusion influenced experimental death metal with their 1993 album '' Focus''. In 1997, Guitar Institute of Technology guitarist
Jennifer Batten Jennifer Batten (born November 29, 1957) is an American guitarist who has worked as a session musician and solo artist. From 1987 to 1997 she played on all three of Michael Jackson's world tours, and from 1999 to 2001 she toured and recorded wit ...
under the name of Jennifer Batten's Tribal Rage: Momentum released ''Momentum'' – an instrumental hybrid of rock, fusion, and exotic sounds. Mudvayne is heavily influenced by jazz, especially in bassist Ryan Martinie's playing.Jon Wiederhorn, "Hellyeah: Night Riders", '' Revolver'', March 2007, p. 60-64
link to ''Revolver'' back issues
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Puya Puya may refer to: * ''Puya'' (plant), in the family Bromeliaceae * Puya (river), in Russia * Puya, a variety of Guajillo chili * ''Puya'' (Meitei texts), traditional or mythological texts of the Meetei people * '' Culoepuya'' or ''Culo'e Puya'' ...
frequently incorporates influences from American and Latin jazz music. Another, more cerebral, all-instrumental progressive jazz fusion-metal band
Planet X Following the discovery of the planet Neptune in 1846, there was considerable speculation that another planet might exist beyond its orbit. The search began in the mid-19th century and continued at the start of the 20th with Percival Lowell's ...
released ''
Universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the univers ...
'' in 2000 with Tony MacAlpine, Derek Sherinian (ex- Dream Theater), and Virgil Donati (who has played with Scott Henderson from Tribal Tech). The band blends fusion-style guitar solos and syncopated odd-metered drumming with the heaviness of metal. Tech-prog-fusion metal band
Aghora Aghora may refer to: *The Hindu god Bhairava, a form of Shiva *Aghori, a particular school of Hindu Tantra *Aghor Yoga, subsect of the Aghora lineage *Aghora (band) Aghora is a progressive metal band formed in 1995 by guitarist Santiago Dobles. ...
formed in 1995 and released their first album, self-titled ''
Aghora Aghora may refer to: *The Hindu god Bhairava, a form of Shiva *Aghori, a particular school of Hindu Tantra *Aghor Yoga, subsect of the Aghora lineage *Aghora (band) Aghora is a progressive metal band formed in 1995 by guitarist Santiago Dobles. ...
'', recorded in 1999 with Sean Malone and
Sean Reinert Sean Reinert (May 27, 1971 – January 24, 2020) was an American musician. He was the drummer for the rock band Æon Spoke and the drummer and founding member of the progressive metal band Cynic until leaving the band in September 2015. Rei ...
, both former members of Cynic. Gordian Knot, another Cynic-linked experimental progressive metal band, released its debut album in 1999 which explored a range of styles from jazz fusion to metal. The Mars Volta is extremely influenced by jazz fusion, using progressive, unexpected turns in the drum patterns and instrumental lines. The style of Uzbek prog band
Fromuz Fromuz (also known briefly as ‘’’FROM.UZ’’’) is an Uzbek progressive rock band founded in 2004 in Tashkent by guitarist Vitaly Popeloff, bassist Andrew Mara-Novik, drummer Vladimir Badirov, and keyboard player Albert Khalmurzaev. They ...
is described as "prog fusion". In lengthy instrumental jams, the band transitions from fusion of rock and ambient world music to jazz and progressive hard rock tones.


See also

*
List of jazz fusion musicians The following are notable jazz fusion performers or bands. For performers of smooth jazz, a more radio-friendly, pop-infused variant of fusion, see List of smooth jazz performers. Bassists * Steve Bailey * Victor Bailey * Jeff Berlin * ...
*
Jazz fusion ensembles Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
* Progressive soul


References


Further reading

* Coryell, Julie, and Friedman, Laura. ''Jazz-rock Fusion: The People, The Music''. Delacorte Press: New York, 1978. * Delbrouck, Christophe. ''Weather Report: Une histoire du jazz électrique''. Mot et le reste: Marseille, 2007. * Fellezs, Kevin. ''Birds of Fire: Jazz, Rock, Funk, and the Creation of Fusion''. Duke University Press: Durham, North Carolina, 2011. * Hjort, Christopher, and Hinman, Doug. ''Jeff's Book: A Chronology of Jeff Beck's Career, 1965–1980, from The Yardbirds to Jazz-rock''. Rock 'n' Roll Research Press: Rumford, R.I., 2000. * Kolosky, Walter. ''Power, Passion and Beauty: The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Greatest Band That Ever Was''. Abstract Logix Books: Cary, North Carolina, 2006. * Milkowski, Bill. ''Jaco: The Extraordinary and Tragic Life of Jaco Pastorius''. Backbeat Books: San Francisco, 2005. * Nicholson, Stuart. ''Jazz-rock: A History''. Schirmer Books: New York, 1998. * Renard, Guy. ''Fusion''. Editions de l'Instant: Paris, 1990.


External links


Jazzfusion.tv
non-commercially released jazz fusion audio recordings, circa 1970s–1980s

by Al Garcia
''BendingCorners''
a monthly non-profit podcast {{Authority control Jazz genres Fusion music genres Rock music genres
Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
1960s in music