Fusion favourites

[Bob_Ross]

This one held a special place in my heart.
Saying goodbye to Illinois and hello to California.
Larry Carlton's guitar solo sums up the feeling well.

The Crusaders' version of "So Far Away" was one of the gateway drugs to jazz and jazz/rock fusion for me when I first heard that cut on the radio as a wee teen in the 1970s. Larry Carlton's guitar solo on that track has to be one of the most awesome improvised statements ever to come out of the instrument.

 

[Bob_Ross]

A little more of Fernando with Johnny...

^^^That may just be one of my favorite tunes of all time. Love that cut!!!

 

[Bob_Ross]

fwiw, some of my favorite recent fusion -- as opposed to "classic fusion" from the 1970s -- has come from keyboardist George Whitty. Excellent integration of multi-keys without succumbing to Rick Wakeman-esque gear overload. He tends to play with killer rhythm sections bassists Ric Fierabracci or Janek Gwizdala, and drummers Tom Brechtlein or Dave Weckl.

 

[The Owl]

 

[Yonni]

My favorite little known fusion album is this:

View attachment 4045068

Cryptic!

Took me a while but I found it: Mingo Lewis - Flight Never Ending (1976). Big thanks to the Discogs website for that!

 

[Yonni]

TL;DR?

Honourable mentions so far:

1 Adam Nitti
2 Airto Moreira
3 Al Di Meola
4 Alain Caron
5 Alan Holdsworth
6 Alphonse Mouzon
7 Alphonso Johnson
8 Anders Johansson
9 Andrea Marcelli
10 Andy Milne
11 Andy Narell
12 Anika Nilles
13 Anthony Jackson
14 Automatic Man
15 Azimuth
16 Azteca
17 Back Door
18 Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
19 Ben Monder
20 Bill Bruford
21 Bill Connors
22 Bill Frisell
23 Bill Laswel
24 Bill Laurence
25 Billy Cobham
26 Bob James
27 Bobbi Humphrey
28 Bobby Lyle
29 Bokanté
30 Boney James
31 Brad Mehldau
32 Brand X
33 Brecker Brothers
34 Brian Auger
35 Brian Bromberg
36 Bunny Brunel
37 Caldera
38 Captain Beefheart
39 Carlos Santana
40 Casiopea
41 CAST (Coryell Auger Sample Trio)
42 Chad Wackerman
43 Chick Corea
44 Chlorine Free
45 Club d'Elf
46 Colosseum II
47 Consider the Source
48 Crack Sabbath
49 Crimson Jazz Trio
50 Cuong Vu
51 Curlew
52 Current Events
53 Damien Erskine
54 Danny Gottleib
55 Dapp Theory
56 Dave Sanborn
57 Dave Weckl
58 David Pritchard
59 David Sancious
60 David Torn
61 Dennis Chambers
62 Dog Cheese
63 Don Gusin
64 Donald Byrd
65 Dreams
66 East Bay Rhythm
67 Eberhard Weber
68 Eddie clean head
69 Eddie Henderson
70 Eero Koivistoinen Music Society
71 Elements
72 Enrico Rava
73 Eric johnson
74 Erik Truffaz
75 FAT
76 Finely Tuned Elephant
77 Flim and the BB's
78 Flora Purim
79 Focus
80 Focus 3
81 Frank Gambale
82 Frank Zappa
83 Friendship
84 Gamalon
85 Garaj A Trois
86 Garaj Mahal
87 Gary Burton
88 Gary Willis
89 Gateway Trio
90 George Duke
91 George Whitty
92 Gil Scott Heron
93 Gilad Hekselman
94 Ginger Baker Trio
95 Gino Vannelli
96 Go
97 Gong
98 Greg Howe
99 Greg Koch
100 Grover Washington Jr
101 Happy The Man
102 Harvey Mason
103 Hellborg Lane Sipe
104 Henry Cow
105 Herbie Hancock
106 Hiatus Kaiyote
107 Hiromasa Suzuki
108 Hiroshima
109 If
110 Inagaki & Soul Media
111 Isotope 217
112 Jack DeJohnette
113 Jaco
114 Jan Garbarek
115 Jan Hammer
116 Jane Getter Premonition
117 Japan
118 Jay Oliver/Ton Kennedy/Dave Weckl trio
119 Jazz Pistols
120 Jean Luc Ponty
121 Jeff Andrews
122 Jeff Beal
123 Jeff Beck
124 Jeff Berlin
125 Jeff Lorber
126 Jens Johansson
127 Jimi Tunnell
128 Jimmy Haslip
129 Jiro
130 Joe Sample
131 John Abercrombie
132 John McLaughlin
133 John Patitucci
134 John Scofield
135 John Zorn
136 Jon Hassell
137 Jonas Hellborg
138 Joni Mitchell
139 Kazumi Watanabe
140 Keiko Matsui
141 Kilimanjaro
142 Kittyhawk
143 Larry Carlton
144 Larry Coryell
145 Larry Klein
146 Last Exit
147 Lee Ritenour
148 Lenny White
149 Living Colour
150 Lonely Universe
151 Lonnie Liston Smith
152 Lounge Lizards
153 Mahavishnu Orchestra
154 Mark Egan
155 Mark Isham
156 Masada
157 McCoy Tyner
158 McTuff
159 Melvin Davis
160 Mezzoforte
161 Michael Landau
162 Michal Urbaniak
163 Michel Cusson
164 Mike Stern
165 Miles Davis
166 Mindi Abair
167 Mingo Lewis
168 Miroslav Vitous
169 Montreux
170 Morglbl
171 Mr. Bungle
172 Naked City
173 Neil Larsen
174 Niacin
175 Oblivion Express
176 Ohm
177 Opeth
178 Oregon
179 Oz Noy
180 Passport
181 Pat Martino
182 Pat Metheny
183 Patrice Rushen
184 Patrick Moraz
185 Paul Jackson
186 Paul Winter Consort
187 PFM
188 Philip Catherine
189 Planet X
190 Plini
191 Prince
192 Randy Brecker
193 Randy Coven
194 Rare Blend
195 Return to Forever
196 Ritchie Kotzen
197 Robben Ford
198 Ronnie Laws
199 Roy Ayers
200 Roy Hargrove
201 Scott Henderson
202 Screaming Headless Torsos
203 Secret Chiefs 3
204 Shadowfax
205 Shawn Lane
206 Simon Phillips
207 Sixun
208 Skerik Band
209 Snarky Puppy
210 Solstice
211 Sonny Sharrock
212 Special EFX
213 Spyro Gyra
214 Squarepusher
215 Stanley Clarke
216 Steve Khan
217 Steve Morse Band
218 Steve Tavaglione
219 Sun Ra
220 T Lavitz
221 T Square
222 Tania Maria
223 Terje Gewelt
224 Terje Rypdal
225 Tetsuo Sakurai
226 The (Dixie) Dregs
227 The 4 Korners
228 The Aristocrats
229 The Blackbyrds
230 The Brooklyn Funk Essentials
231 The Crusaders
232 The Decoding Society
233 The Eleventh House
234 The Fents
235 The Headhunters
236 The Trio Project
237 Third Rail
238 Thomas Stanko
239 Tigran Hymasyan
240 Tim Miller
241 Tone
242 Tony Williams
243 Travis Larson Band
244 Tribal tech
245 Tunnels
246 Ursula Dudziak
247 US3
248 UZEB
249 Valeriy Stepanov
250 Vinnie Colaiuta
251 Vital information
252 Vital Tech Tones
253 Vulfpeck
254 Wallace Roney
255 Wayne Krantz
256 Wayne Shorter
257 Weather Report
258 Yellowjackets
259 Zappa Plays Zappa
260 Zony Mash

 

[Jeff Scott]

Nice list, so far.

The + indicates the ones I have seem at shows, some multiple times:

1 Adam Nitti
2 Airto Moreira ++++++++++
3 Al Di Meola
4 Alain Caron +
5 Alan Holdsworth +
6 Alphonse Mouzon
7 Alphonso Johnson +
8 Anders Johansson
9 Andrea Marcelli
10 Andy Milne
11 Andy Narell +++
12 Anika Nilles
13 Anthony Jackson
14 Automatic Man
15 Azimuth
16 Azteca
17 Back Door
18 Bela Fleck and the Flecktones ++++++
19 Ben Monder
20 Bill Bruford +
21 Bill Connors
22 Bill Frisell
23 Bill Laswel
24 Bill Laurence
25 Billy Cobham +
26 Bob James +
27 Bobbi Humphrey
28 Bobby Lyle
29 Bokanté
30 Boney James
31 Brad Mehldau
32 Brand X +++
33 Brecker Brothers
34 Brian Auger ++++++++++++++++
35 Brian Bromberg +++
36 Bunny Brunel +
37 Caldera
38 Captain Beefheart
39 Carlos Santana +
40 Casiopea
41 CAST (Coryell Auger Sample Trio) ++
42 Chad Wackerman
43 Chick Corea +++
44 Chlorine Free
45 Club d'Elf
46 Colosseum II
47 Consider the Source
48 Crack Sabbath
49 Crimson Jazz Trio
50 Cuong Vu
51 Curlew
52 Current Events
53 Damien Erskine
54 Danny Gottleib +
55 Dapp Theory
56 Dave Sanborn
57 Dave Weckl +
58 David Pritchard
59 David Sancious
60 David Torn
61 Dennis Chambers
62 Dog Cheese +
63 Don Gusin
64 Donald Byrd
65 Dreams
66 East Bay Rhythm
67 Eberhard Weber
68 Eddie clean head
69 Eddie Henderson
70 Eero Koivistoinen Music Society
71 Elements
72 Enrico Rava
73 Eric johnson
74 Erik Truffaz
75 FAT
76 Finely Tuned Elephant
77 Flim and the BB's +
78 Flora Purim +++++++++
79 Focus
80 Focus 3
81 Frank Gambale +
82 Frank Zappa +
83 Friendship
84 Gamalon
85 Garaj A Trois
86 Garaj Mahal
87 Gary Burton
88 Gary Willis ++
89 Gateway Trio
90 George Duke +
91 George Whitty
92 Gil Scott Heron
93 Gilad Hekselman
94 Ginger Baker Trio
95 Gino Vannelli
96 Go
97 Gong
98 Greg Howe
99 Greg Koch
100 Grover Washington Jr
101 Happy The Man
102 Harvey Mason +
103 Hellborg Lane Sipe
104 Henry Cow
105 Herbie Hancock
106 Hiatus Kaiyote
107 Hiromasa Suzuki
108 Hiroshima
109 If
110 Inagaki & Soul Media
111 Isotope 217
112 Jack DeJohnette
113 Jaco +
114 Jan Garbarek
115 Jan Hammer ++
116 Jane Getter Premonition +
117 Japan
118 Jay Oliver/Ton Kennedy/Dave Weckl trio +
119 Jazz Pistols
120 Jean Luc Ponty +++++
121 Jeff Andrews
122 Jeff Beal
123 Jeff Beck
124 Jeff Berlin +
125 Jeff Lorber
126 Jens Johansson
127 Jimi Tunnell
128 Jimmy Haslip ++
129 Jiro
130 Joe Sample +
131 John Abercrombie
132 John McLaughlin +
133 John Patitucci
134 John Scofield +++
135 John Zorn
136 Jon Hassell
137 Jonas Hellborg
138 Joni Mitchell ++
139 Kazumi Watanabe
140 Keiko Matsui +
141 Kilimanjaro
142 Kittyhawk +
143 Larry Carlton
144 Larry Coryell +
145 Larry Klein +
146 Last Exit
147 Lee Ritenour
148 Lenny White +
149 Living Colour
150 Lonely Universe
151 Lonnie Liston Smith
152 Lounge Lizards
153 Mahavishnu Orchestra +
154 Mark Egan +
155 Mark Isham
156 Masada
157 McCoy Tyner
158 McTuff
159 Melvin Davis
160 Mezzoforte
161 Michael Landau
162 Michal Urbaniak +
163 Michel Cusson
164 Mike Stern
165 Miles Davis
166 Mindi Abair
167 Mingo Lewis
168 Miroslav Vitous
169 Montreux +
170 Morglbl
171 Mr. Bungle
172 Naked City
173 Neil Larsen
174 Niacin
175 Oblivion Express ++++++++++++++++
176 Ohm
177 Opeth
178 Oregon
179 Oz Noy
180 Passport
181 Pat Martino
182 Pat Metheny +++
183 Patrice Rushen
184 Patrick Moraz ++++
185 Paul Jackson
186 Paul Winter Consort
187 PFM
188 Philip Catherine
189 Planet X
190 Plini
191 Prince
192 Randy Brecker
193 Randy Coven
194 Rare Blend ∞
195 Return to Forever +
196 Ritchie Kotzen
197 Robben Ford +
198 Ronnie Laws
199 Roy Ayers
200 Roy Hargrove
201 Scott Henderson ++
202 Screaming Headless Torsos
203 Secret Chiefs 3
204 Shadowfax ++
205 Shawn Lane
206 Simon Phillips
207 Sixun
208 Skerik Band
209 Snarky Puppy
210 Solstice
211 Sonny Sharrock
212 Special EFX +++++
213 Spyro Gyra +
214 Squarepusher
215 Stanley Clarke +++
216 Steve Khan
217 Steve Morse Band ++
218 Steve Tavaglione
219 Sun Ra +
220 T Lavitz
221 T Square
222 Tania Maria
223 Terje Gewelt
224 Terje Rypdal
225 Tetsuo Sakurai
226 The (Dixie) Dregs
227 The 4 Korners
228 The Aristocrats
229 The Blackbyrds
230 The Brooklyn Funk Essentials
231 The Crusaders
232 The Decoding Society
233 The Eleventh House
234 The Fents +
235 The Headhunters
236 The Trio Project
237 Third Rail
238 Thomas Stanko
239 Tigran Hymasyan
240 Tim Miller
241 Tone
242 Tony Williams
243 Travis Larson Band
244 Tribal Tech ++
245 Tunnels ++++++++
246 Ursula Dudziak +
247 US3
248 UZEB
249 Valeriy Stepanov
250 Vinnie Colaiuta
251 Vital information
252 Vital Tech Tones
253 Vulfpeck
254 Wallace Roney
255 Wayne Krantz
256 Wayne Shorter
257 Weather Report
258 Yellowjackets ++
259 Zappa Plays Zappa +
260 Zony Mash

Most of the others I have on LP/CD if I have not seen them perform.

 

[ritz]

Impact Fuze (bass: Anton Davidyants).

 

[The Owl]

 

[StereoPlayer]

I have all three of those...

 

[StereoPlayer]

Billy Cobham, Spectrum. Jan Hammer, Tommy Bolin rocks on this. I think this is the song where he breaks a string and keeps on playing.
Jan Hammer opened with this song at the Oh Yea! concert I saw.

Tommy Bolin

 

[The Owl]

Wayne Peet's Doppler Funk

 

[Bob_Ross]

Wayne Peet's Doppler Funk

Wayne is way under most folks' radar, but everything I've heard from him has been impressively engaging and enjoyable.

That's TB member @steubig playing bass on ^^^that album.

 

[LBS-bass]

Are you guys including fusion that's heavy on the funk side? Because I would definitely include Ghost-note in there if you are.

 

[Jeff Scott]

 

[ejaggers]

We can't forget about the 1969 classic, "Compared To What",
from the Swiss Movement album by Les McCan & Eddie Harris.

I guess this could be considered fusion from looking at others on your list.
Regardless, it's a sweet album anyway....057912

 

[ejaggers]

OMG!!!
One of my favorite jams of all times is by Passport,
but I don't remember the name or album.

I own the album but because of renovation,
my albums are unsorted (damn contractor).

Thanks for reminding me, and now I have to sort all of my albums,
just to find this one (and I have hundreds).
And the bad part is, I haven't played an album in years
(make that decades).

Help me out here, what are you favs?....057912

@MIMike and @jamro217,
I didn’t find my album, but I found my all-time favorite Passport jam on youtube.
I haven't heard gem this in years.

Thanks for posting “Passport”, and thanks @Yonni for such a great Thread:

057912

 

[Yonni]

I think I going to have to take a punt and just order some Passport vinyl online. What’s the most instrumental/fusion album by them?

 

[ejaggers]

I think I going to have to take a punt and just order some Passport vinyl online. What’s the most instrumental/fusion album by them?

Ocean Liner is the only one I remember because I haven't listen to Passport in years.
It's different from the earlier LP's because it's a disco era recording,
and is not as "hard hitting" as Infinity Machine or Cross Collateral.

It's not disco by any means, but from that era,
so it's more for a generic fusion crowd,
kind of like Spyro Gyra.

The only vocal I recall on it is Uptown Rendezous,
which I would've played for my (now called) classic rock crowd.
(It wasn't "Classic" back then, just rock)....057912

 

[Yonni]

Just picked this up in a secondhand record store. Dirt cheap. I’m working on a spread sheet with bands and artists cross referenced. Not sure I can pull off the Fusion Flavour map. Seems like a lot of work but I’ll keep picking away at it to see what I can come up with.