More good jazz fusion.?

[Samelot]

hi guys. i like jazz fusion because im really into weather report and pat metheney. But i would like to know the next step to opening up to more jazz similar to that (less traditional i guess). Can u guys help a bass playa out?

[Joe Garage]

You could check out Chick Corea, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck.

[jerry]

Get any of the Jonas Helborg, Jeff Sipe and the late great Swawn Lane albums, those guys had a fusion mind meld that was just awesome!!!

[Blackbird]

Check out Bruford's Gradually Going Tornado with Jeff Berlin on bass. More on the Rock/King Crimson vein, but it's still fusion.

Also, try Jean-Luc Ponty's Cosmic Messenger, with Ralphe Armstrong on bass.

[Bernie Connors]

Mike Stern "Play" or Bill Connors "Return" have some fusion going on.

[jmarcus2]

Ralphe Armstrong... wow, long time, wonder what he's doing lately?

[Matt Till]

Originally Posted by Joe Garage

Mahavishnu Orchestra...

I'm listening to these guys right now, I was like, "I'm sure someone beat me to it, but I should go in and recommend these guys."

Well, another standard: Stanley Clarke. His early stuff at least.

[The Owl]

Some other fusion recommendations from The Owl:

Bill Bruford's Earthworks -anything

Brand X: Moroccan Roll, Masques, Livestock

Isotope: Ilusion

Stanley Clarke: Stanley Clarke, Journey to Love, School Days

Allan Holdsworth: IOU, Secrets

Wayne Johnson Trio: Arrowhead, Grasshopper, Everybody's Painting Pictures, Spirit of a Dancer, Keeping the Dream Alive


Larry Coryell's 11th House: Introducing the Eleventh House, Level One, Live @ Montreux

Scott Henderson/Tribal Tech: everything

Wayne Peet's Doppler Funk: BLASTO (featuring Steuart Liebig on bass)

Steve Khan/Eyewitness: Eyewitness, Casa Loco, Modern Times/Blades

David Torn: Cloud About Mercury

Everyman Band (featuring David Torn): Everyman Band, Wihout Warning

[Alan Vorse]

Originally Posted by jmarcus2

Ralphe Armstrong... wow, long time, wonder what he's doing lately?

He was in the Motown movie. I heard he actually does a number of sym-phonic double bass dates.

[MikeyFingers]

Al Dimeola's "Land of the Midnight Sun". GREAT album, and Jaco even does a guest appearance on one track.

Stanley Clarke's "School Days". Another amazing album, tons of awesome bass work, both electric and upright.

[peteroberts]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Yellowjackets! Jimmy Haslip is my personal fave right now (along w/Oteil)

I second the Bruford, but my favorite is 'One of a Kind'.

Check out Jeff Beck - Wired and Blow by Blow

[JimK]

Sam-
If you're looking for some 'current' Fusion-
Tribal Tech-Thick...the title tune sounds a little like Weather Report. Also, TT's Rocket Science + Gary Willis' 2 solo discs(No Sweat & [/i]Bent[/i]).

Terri Lynn Carrington-Structure w/ Jimmy Haslip, Adam Rogers, & Greg Osby. M-BASE meets the Yellowjackets.

Hasidic New Wave-Kabalogy or Psycho-Semetic.
...Klezmer Funk-Jazz played in a vibe that sometimes sounds like a mishmash of Bitches Brew-era Miles + pre-Jaco Weather Report + Hendrix.

[relayer66]

Some good recommendations above.
Let's see...who invented this "jazz fusion"? OH YEAH, it was Miles Davis...
Bitches' Brew, Live/Evil, A Tribute to Jack Johnson are a few of his albums not to miss. There are many others. The musicians on his early fusion albums (Zawinul, Hancock, Corea, Shorter, McLaughlin) are the ones that went on to form the classic fusion bands.
You've already checked out Weather Report. Now go listen to:
Return to Forever...Romantic Warrior
Herbie Hancock...Headhunters
Mahavishnu Orchestra...Birds of Fire;
You can't neglect Blood Sweat and Tears, who did a kind of reverse fusion (rock-jazz as opposed to jazz-rock).
Also, there are some really good Italian fusion groups from the '70's. If you can find them, check out Perigeo (Geneologia or Azimut), Arti+Mestieri (Giro di Valzer per Domani, Tilt) and Area (Maladetti, Arbeit Macht Frei). Some of these border on progressive rock, fusion's hot little cousin.

[JimK]

Originally Posted by relayer66

Let's see...who invented this "jazz fusion"? OH YEAH, it was Miles Davis...
Bitches' Brew, Live/Evil, A Tribute to Jack Johnson are a few of his albums not to miss.

I just got hit with a reminder that the Live/Evil Complete box set from Columbia is due out...bye-bye Ben Franklin.

Originally Posted by relayer66

There are many others. The musicians on his early fusion albums (Zawinul, Hancock, Corea, Shorter, McLaughlin) are the ones that went on to form the classic fusion bands.

And Tony Williams...and Tony Williams Lifetime.

Originally Posted by relayer66

You can't neglect Blood Sweat and Tears, who did a kind of reverse fusion (rock-jazz as opposed to jazz-rock).

A great book, IMO, that deals with this entire movement is Stuart Nicholson's Jazz-Rock: A History...B&N usually stocks it, so thumb thru it on your next visit.
Be warned, though, that you'll be plunking down even more $ for albums/groups that you may have forgotten about...like The Electric Flag(I didn't know Miles dug those guys!)

[dougjwray]

My favorite fusion album of all time is "The Inner Mounting Flame" by John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. It is pure passion, all the way through. No cutesy noodling. "The Dance of Maya" is a very cool composition in 13/8, I believe. The basic theme, based on some forboding and evil sounding arpeggios, gives way to a section with a blues shuffle feel, then a wild guitar solo, then the blues shuffle feel returns, and then, in a stroke of genius, there's a cross fade where the blues thing recedes and the original theme returns, and you realize that Billy Cobham has been playing the same pattern under both. Anyway, you've got to hear it.
But the entire album is essential. It has blazing chops, stunning band interplay and cohesion, lots of diverse influences (Hendrix, Coltrane, Indian ragas, etc.) and, most important of all, lots of soul.

[The Owl]

Originally Posted by dougjwray

My favorite fusion album of all time is "The Inner Mounting Flame" by John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. It is pure passion, all the way through. No cutesy noodling. "The Dance of Maya" is a very cool composition in 13/8, I believe. The basic theme, based on some forboding and evil sounding arpeggios, gives way to a section with a blues shuffle feel, then a wild guitar solo, then the blues shuffle feel returns, and then, in a stroke of genius, there's a cross fade where the blues thing recedes and the original theme returns, and you realize that Billy Cobham has been playing the same pattern under both. Anyway, you've got to hear it.
But the entire album is essential. It has blazing chops, stunning band interplay and cohesion, lots of diverse influences (Hendrix, Coltrane, Indian ragas, etc.) and, most important of all, lots of soul.

My feelings exactly!!!

[mike sancho]

some more music from around the same time;
Larry Coryell and 11th House
BrandX
Lenny White Voyage of the Astral Pirates/with Alex Blake on bass
newer CDs
Cavemen
Karizma
Bill Conners

[jmarcus2]

Originally Posted by dougjwray

My favorite fusion album of all time is "The Inner Mounting Flame" by John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. It is pure passion, all the way through. No cutesy noodling. "The Dance of Maya" is a very cool composition in 13/8, I believe. The basic theme, based on some forboding and evil sounding arpeggios, gives way to a section with a blues shuffle feel, then a wild guitar solo, then the blues shuffle feel returns, and then, in a stroke of genius, there's a cross fade where the blues thing recedes and the original theme returns, and you realize that Billy Cobham has been playing the same pattern under both. Anyway, you've got to hear it.
But the entire album is essential. It has blazing chops, stunning band interplay and cohesion, lots of diverse influences (Hendrix, Coltrane, Indian ragas, etc.) and, most important of all, lots of soul.

I was never the same after hearing that...

[relayer66]

Originally Posted by JimK

And Tony Williams...and Tony Williams Lifetime.

Damn, how did I forget that guy? Turn it Over, with Jack Bruce on bass, is spectacular. Jack goes off on several tracks, much like he did on Zappa's Apostrophe. Emergency is ok, but no bass. Ego is also good, with Ron Carter on upright. Not to mention the stuff Holdsworth did with him.
Tony Williams, RIP...

[dougjwray]

"Emergency" has no bass, but it's still fantastic. (Larry Young, the organist, does quite well with the pedals!) I especially love the track called "Spectrum." Lifetime had the rough edges and ugliness so essential to great art and so missing in later fusion groups like, say, Spyro Gyra.