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Best Fusion Albums?

#43
Really too bad no one has mentioned Jean Luc Pnty or Miles Davis or Brand X yet

Also...
Gong is a great band, not sure I'd consider them fusion, more prog but close enough I guess, spiritual brothers anyway.

I much prefer the jazzier side of fusion, Mahavishnu, old Spyro Gyra, Ponty, Return to Forever, etc, but there is a lot on the rockier/prog side of things that probably qualifies, King Crimson, Adrian Belew, Niacin, etc.

The 70's and 80's was a gold mine for this kind of music. Despite occasional attempts at rebirth it's not at all common anymore. Niacin has a new album out that is pretty good.
 
#44
I know many people like John Scofield. He is not really my style. I saw him live at The Toronto Jazz Festival and he was putting people to sleep with his overused effects laden slow fusion tunes at the time. I understand his earlier music was different but he was not playing it when I saw him.
 
#46
dougjwray said:
These aren't exactly fusion albums, but they were also "in the air" in the early '70s, and are worth a listen if your ears are tuned that way:

Band of Gypsys by Jimi Hendrix

At Fillmore East by the Allman Brothers Band

Both are live albums which feature long, coherent, riveting soloing and, in the Allmans' case, brilliantly "psychic" group interplay. The Hendrix album had an enormous effect on Miles Davis, and the Allmans' soloing on At Fillmore East was influenced in turn by Miles' earlier modal album Kind of Blue.

Both albums are known as indispensable rock classics, but back then I listened to them for the same reasons I was listening to more "proper" fusion.
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I agree.
Just bought/read a book on the ABB (One Way Out)...they do not like the "jam band" or Southern Rock labels applied to their stuff. They say they are an "improvising Blues-Rock band from the South". As a result, I have been re-visiting At Fillmore East & the live Eat A Peach tracks...and have just bought Atanta Pop Festival + some of their archived Live things. They kick ass...making me think they are/were the best US band.
 
#49
JimK said:
I agree.
Just bought/read a book on the ABB (One Way Out)...they do not like the "jam band" or Southern Rock labels applied to their stuff. They say they are an "improvising Blues-Rock band from the South". As a result, I have been re-visiting At Fillmore East & the live Eat A Peach tracks...and have just bought Atanta Pop Festival + some of their archived Live things. They kick ass...making me think they are/were the best US band.
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I plan to read that book, too, as well as Duane Allman's daughter's new book about him.
Interesting how they see themselves. "Blues-rock" is a bit limited, I think. There is lots of jazz in there, and even some classical influence. The latter is hard to pin down, but I think it's in their attention to dynamics, their dividing of long jams into movements, and in Dickey Betts' very melodic and "vocal" soloing, which can sound like he's singing an aria at times. The "Whipping Post" on the Fillmore album gets into areas which remind me of tragic opera in their bleakness and despair.
Best American band? I would agree.
 
#54
Hmmm. I can't rank them, but here are a few of my favorites, (off the top of my head):

Moonshadows - Alphonso Johnson
Venusian Summer - Lenny White
Jaco Pastorius - Self Titled
Inner Mounting Flame - Mahavishnu Orchestra
Thrust - Herbie Hancock
Black Market, Heavy Weather - Weather Report
Allan Holdsworth - Velvet Darkness
Stanley Clarke - Self Titled
Stanley Clarke - School Days
David Sancious - Forest of Feelings
Return To Forever - Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery, Romantic Warrior
Narada Michael Walden - Garden of Love Light
Brecker Brothers - Self Titled (1975)
Michal Urbaniak - Fusion III
Urszula Dudziak - Future Talk
Billy Cobham - Spectrum, Crosswinds, Total Eclipse, A Funky Thide of Sings, Life and Times
John McLaughlin - Electric Guitarist
Chick Corea - The Leprechaun
Introducing Eleventh House with Larry Coryell (1974)
Al DiMeola - Land of the Midnight Sun
Jean-Luc Ponty - Imaginary Voyage, Enigmatic Ocean
Flora Purim - Nothing Will Be As It Was....Tomorrow
Miroslav Vitous - Magical Shepherd
Tony Williams - Believe It, Million Dollar Legs
 
#55
dougjwray said:
I plan to read that book, too, as well as Duane Allman's daughter's new book about him.
Interesting how they see themselves. "Blues-rock" is a bit limited, I think. There is lots of jazz in there, and even some classical influence.
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I agree; early on, I guess, it was their love of Blues which then morphed into something else...Jazz/Coltrane/Miles? Yeah, they loved those guys.
"Rambling Man" was almost not recorded because it was 'too Country'....it became their biggest seller. Go figure. :)
I have Galadrielle's book in My Wish List, too.
Best American band? I would agree.
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A friend swears it's Aerosmith...I stand by the ABB & early Santana.

bkbirge said:
And also Ponty, Davis, and Brand X. :hiding:
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You're killing me...
:)
 
#56
BlountEdge said:
John McLaughlin - Electric Guitarist
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Yes! So much ^^^this! Just when you thought fusion had jumped the shark (album was released in 1977 iirc) Johnny M releases this smörgåsbord of awesomeness, with an all-star cast, completely different bands on every cut, and enough mind-blowing playing to keep your jaw pinned to the floor for 40 solid minutes. A real sleeper, but one of my favorite fusion albums ever.

A lot of the other albums I'd cite have already been mentioned: Birds Of Fire, Romantic Warrior, Black Market, One Of A Kind, Believe It, Velvet Darkness, Spectrum, Thrust, Bitches Brew...

Here's three I haven't seen anyone mention, that I think belong up there with the greatest fusion ever recorded:

Pat Martino - Joyous Lake
Shadowfax - Watercourse Way
Mike Gibbs - The Only Chrome Waterfall Orchestra
 
#57
dougjwray said:
Still waiting for a Jean Luc Ponty reference. C'mon, people!!! :p
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OK, I'll admit it-
Loved '70s Fusion (way beyond whatever skill set I had)...did NOT like Jazz violin, though.
For that reason, I did not buy any Ponty albums in the day.
Recently, though, I picked up King Kong...Ponty's "Zappa" album. It's pretty damn bad, though, probably not as intense as his '70s-era Fusion albums.
 

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