Best Fusion Music

It is a good listen.

Weather Report, who almost everyone on ILM seems to hate has a few AMAZING funky, free albums. the first s/t, i sing the body electric, sweetnighter, mysterious traveler. all fucking great albums. sort of in the In A Silent Way mold, but freer and heavier. i know that the soprano sax takes a second to get used to (for me at least), but it's not just for smooth jazz. i haven't heard any of the later albums, and i'm sure they're just way too sweet, but seriously check out the early albums.

the first Mahavishnu Orchestra, The Inner Mounting Flame, album rocks my socks off - as do a bunch of the Tony Williams albums. heavy metal jazz.

Alice Coltrane made an album w/Santana called Illuminations that's pretty fusiony

Michal Urbaniak has put out a few freaky albums playing the electric violin and his wife Urszula sings.

and Zappa's Hot Rats (probably the only zappa record i'll ever own) is pretty fusiony

NB I have a feeling that most fusion-haters aren't big prog fans either.

probably right, but there really is a hipster love of prog, but not of fusion
(i'm not necessarily saying there's a racial aspect to this, but....)

You would have to define fusion a little more rigorously first - or is it nebulous a term as "prog"?

Jimpster's "Domestic Science" is simply brilliant and an often overlooked homage to WR. His "Messages From The Hub" ain't too shabby neither.

Someone should reissue the first Wolfgang Dauner/Et Cetera record.

That's why Massive Attack nicked one of them for Safe From Harm :)

Weather Report were rather hit-and-miss, but their song "Black Market" is one of my favorite jams ever.

I mostly came into this thread though to hype up The Tony Williams Lifetime, though. They're hella awesome. Their first album Emergency came out a couple months before Bitches Brew, which is widely credited as the first fusion album. It's not though.

That's why Massive Attack nicked one of them for Safe From Harm :)

That's why I mentioned in my post.

(/asshole)

Personally, Live-Evil is my fave piece of jazz/rock fusion.

"Zawinful" features different versions of 'In A Silent Way' and 'Double Image' both of which were recorded by Miles. The band is great including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Huburt Law and Jack DeJohnette.

"Infinite Search" which was recorded in 1970 features a band that has John McLaughlin, Hancock, Joe Henderson and DeJohnette. Vitous plays acoustic bass, so there is a nice mix of acoustic/electric sounds and reminds me a bit of McLaughlin's first album "Extrapolation" in this way.

OTM. Let's declare it NO LONGER HIP to hate on Fusion! The revolution begins here!

And there's no "f" in Zawinul, earlnash.

*shame*

On the Corner is fantastic. It will make you wreck your car if played at the proper volume.

True story: Chick Corea made this "soundtrack" album for L. Ron Hubbard's "Battlefield Earth", called Space Jazz. Somehow, the Jazz Record Mart in Chicago -- this awesome, massive record store -- acquired a few remaindered boxes of the thing. Well, they just put them out there in the store with a "Free - Take One!" sign on 'em! And I think it still took 'em at least a year get rid of the suckers. It was hilarious.

Incidentally, if you type L. Ron Hubbard into AMG it says Followers: Chick Corea. No joke.

That is SO unfair to Edgar Winter and Chick Corea.

Jack Johnson and Pangaea are my favourite Miles at the moment.

What about recent jazz/electronica/non-Western music syntheses (Freak In being an obvious example)? Are those still considered fusion?

Also, check out Fiuczynski's Headless Torsos' Amandala - post-Hendrix/Hazel effects-drenched guitar with impeccable chops both with the melodi lines and with the noise, good grooves, Latin percussion.

Miles Davis: "In a Silent Way" (is this fusion yet?)
Herbie Hancock: "Crossings" & "Sextant"
Return to Forever: "Musicmagic"
Billy Cobham: "Spectrum" & "The Funky Thide of Sings"
Idris Muhammad: "Black Rhythm Revolution" & "Peace and Rhythm"
Flora Purim: "500 Miles High"
Eddie Henderson: "Sunburst"
Jamaaladeen Tacuma: "Renaissance Man"
Lalo Schifrin: "Black Widow"
Jaco Pastorius: "Jaco Pastorius" & "Word of Mouth"
Ray Barretto: "La Cuna"
Stanley Turrentine: "Salt Song"

I've been on a Freddie Hubbard kick.

For me, Brand X has the greatest rhythm section of any fusion band I've heard. Phil Collins and Percy Jones...man.

Most OTM sentence ever written on ILM.

Has anyone heard Burton's late 60s records with Larry Coryell like Duster or Lofty Fake Anagram? They are pretty hard to find these days, but I have been curious about them for awhile.

There is also an article in the current edition of Perfect Sound Forever that has me interested in hearing some Eddie Henderson. I've seen his name mentioned a few times, but have never come across the LPs. I may have to search some out.

http://www.furious.com/Perfect/herbiehancock.html

I also did pick up Ring and Pendulum both. Eberhard Weber is great. The group on Ring is unique if nothing for the instrumentation with two guitarists (one on electric 12 string), two bassists, a vibes player and drummer. I've been on a Gary Burton kick for the last year and have liked every record but one. I could not get into A Genuine Tong Funeral even after a couple of listens, which is Burton doing some Carla Bley jazz opera or something.

I don't hear that much of a similarity between electric miles and most other fusion myself.

I went out looking for some background on Henderson and came across this article. It is an interesting read. The guy was also a physician.

http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=573

felt the urge to pick up one of the early John Abercrombie albums in a store today but I behaved myself. should I go back?

the stuff i've heard is kinda spacey and forgettable but maybe the early stuff is good

General Motors pays for a short film about the economics of running a band. The band is Tide, a forgotten 70s fusion/prog/jam band. their drummer was sick. great live footage. The whole thing is basically about Capitalism! It doesn't have a happy ending.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ySTmnmpOpU

incredible find!

That's rad.

I love hearing drummers rip with, like, a 4-piece kit. From old Genesis to Tony Williams' Lifetime, it's wild what these guys could get out of relatively modest sets. Like, check out this Weather Report performance from 1971:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7hIPu0Cusg

Alphonse Mouzon on drums. 4-piece kit!