Reddit mentions: The best jazz fusion music

Have you ever listened to the Jazz Violin Summit featuring Jean-Luc Ponty and Stephan Grappelli? If you are interested in hearing a founding father of gypsy jazz (Grappelli of the Hot Club) collaborate in a fusion setting, I highly recommend those works. Specifically this record.

Another fusion artist of similar era is Al Di Meola and his record Land of the Midnight Sun. His guitar work was unconventional at the time, using solid body guitar (les paul) with overdrive playing rock phrases inspired by distinctly South-American styles of guitar. A real treat. This record also features Jaco Pastorious on bass guitar.

It would be impossible for me to navigate through a fusion conversation without mentioning Chuck Mangione, but I'll cut straight to the point and say "Feels So Good is the record you've probably heard, but Fun and Games is the one that fusion cats acknowledge". This is probably due to the stellar bassline of "Give it All You Got" (theme of the 1980 Winter Olympics)

Moving into 80's/90's fusion, I have to recommend The Brecker Brothers' "Heavy Metal Be-Bop". It contains some notable tracks like "Some Skunk Funk" and "East River".

Maynard Furgeson's M.F. Horn 3 is a masterclass in ascendancy in brass ensemble composition and unrivaled experimental expression.

Some stuff from the recent era I have been digging is Trioscapes' "Separate Realities". This is a sick trio featuring the bassist of Between the Buried and Me. " Trioscapes started in the summer of 2011 when Dan Briggs contacted Walter Fancourt and Matt Lynch about working up a rendition of the Mahavishnu Orchestra classic Celestial Terrestrial Commuters and messing around with a few original ideas with the intent of playing a one-off s how. After rehearsing the material and playing the show through the group decided the music was so demanding and fun to perform that there should be more of a future for it. A few more songs were written near the end of the summer and a full length album recorded the first week of October with Jamie King in Winston-Salem, NC. " My band got to open for them in Arkansas a few years back, was such a great time.

Nearly anything by Louis Cole. More specifically, the album "Life" by his duo, Knower, is absolute gold and has inspired me to reach new levels in my own work. Absolutely answering with confidence the modern question of "what is jazz right now?"

Shameless band plug: If you're into heavier fusion, check out Becoming Elephants' "Volume 1". Instrumental fusion with extended range guitars and saxophone features.

I hope you enjoy any of these records you get a chance to listen to!

Older dude here (52) - I've been playing since I was 12 and gigging since about 18. I've played in countless bands over the years and sometimes not. What you've described seems normal to me. The Muse comes and goes. I'll go through a couple years of obsession and then loose all motivation to play for months at a time. Typically what happens is I get a string of gigs or someone will ask me to do a recording project and I need to "get my hands back." It forces me to get it together and before I know it I'm obsessed again.

I've found that if I need to get my hands back in shape after a period of weeks or months - sometimes many months - I use the Frank Gambale Chopbuilder DVD. The production is loaded with 80's cheese. And the exercises are not harmonically complex. But it's an incredibly useful workout. About an hour long and it's modeled like an exercise class, you just play along. It's a "workout video." Getting the exercises down and memorized took a bit of work. That was a fun challenge unto itself. But once I got them under my hands I could play along from beginning to end. Now I pull it out once or twice a year. Whenever I need to get my chops back up. It's a well rounded routine that builds strength and dexterity in a hurry. I play along once a day for 4 or 5 days and I'm good to go. Highly recommended.

http://www.amazon.com/Chop-Builder-Frank-Gambale/dp/B00007CWI9

| | |
|-:|:-|
|name|Weather Report|
|about artist|Weather Report was an influential jazz fusion band of the 1970s and 1980s, one of the bands that defined the genre. Their initial style was collectively improvised free jazz with a strong rhythmic pulse and latin influences; moving into more funk-oriented rhythms. The sound also developed from an acoustic lineup to increasingly synthesised textures as keyboardist Joe Zawinul embraced successive generations of technology. ([more on last.fm](http://www.last.fm/music/Weather Report))|
|album|Heavy Weather, released Nov 2001|
|track|A Remark You Made|
|about track|This mellow track is taken from the 1977 album 'Heavy Weather', featuring the group's most successful line-up, including the immortal Jaco Pastorius on bass.|
|images|album image, artist image|
|links|track on amazon, album on amazon|
|tags|jazz, jazzfusion|
|similar|Jaco Pastorius, Return to Forever, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham, Joe Zawinul|
|metrics|lastfm listeners: 305,838, lastfm plays: 3,401,006, youtube plays: 18,278, radd.it score: 6.75|


Please downvote this comment if this data is incorrect!
I am a bot by radd.it data services. I have been requested to post these reports.

I didn't really appreciate Kind of Blue the first time I heard it, though I did grow to like it later. Both Kind of Blue and Time Out are good albums, but the artist who actualy got me into jazz is Artie Shaw. Based on that, I would recommend big band swing. Bug Music by Don Byron could be a good one. It includes contemporary recordings of works by Raymond Scott, Duke Ellington, and some others.

If you know something about what music the people in question are already into, you could choose jazz that appeals to that musical interest.

For classical, Foxie by Bob James or nearly anything by Opera Swing Quartet or Jacques Loussier would be good.

For new age, nearly anything by Keiko Matsui. I started with No Borders.

For rock, I Got No Kick Against Modern Jazz: A GRP Artist's Celebration of the Songs of the Beatles.

Trane, has been with me since early days of my life, Love Supreme, Crescent (Wise one), Blue Train (I'm old fashioned).... eh a lot of favorite material. For what its worth, Trane was the one got me into the dope and prob saved me from going full retard.

Than, I have to mention Miles, cuz fuck why not? For Miles its really weird, I used to hate Kind of Blue and it wasn't really my favorite work by Miles, for me for the most of my Miles life Sketches of Spain was #1, but then something clicked and I can't deny the OPness of Kind of Blue anymore, eh other than that I like all Gil Evans albums (and Gil himself, Out of the Cool, Priestess) and later fusion stuff, if you dig it go for this DVD.

Then, I dig King Curtis, Billy Harper, Stitt, Jamal and co, Mingus... eh idk, plenty of artists.

laaaaaast.fm Let's make a group?

I love hip hop and I agree completely, that dude rapping on "Doo Bop Song" kills a great song. Seek out the ["Doo Bop Song" single] (http://www.amazon.com/Doo-Bop-Song-Chocolate-Miles-Davis/dp/B00000DDR0/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1406910946&sr=8-4&keywords=doo+bop+song) and check out the "Doo-Bop Song [Edit Without Rap]". Without the rap, I think it's one of Miles' top 5 best songs from the 80s.

Artist: Miles Davis

Album: Isle of Wight Concert

Date: August 29, 1970

Ok, I cheated slightly for mine since this material was only bootlegged for a long time, but I didn't want to do Bitches Brew as it's been done everywhere else. If you haven't heard that, get on it. This shorter statement might work as a gateway, especially since there is video so you can see where the sounds come from.

This set captures Miles' band at the Isle of Wight Music Festival, 1970, which featured a long list of incredible rock artists (Miles played between Tiny Tim and Ten Years After). He expanded his band for this show to include Keith Jarrett and Airto, adding to his usual touring band of Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette, Chick Corea and Gary Bartz (who had replaced Wayne Shorter). This results in a live show more in kind with the studio album Bitches Brew than other shows at the time, thanks to the frantic percussion and the dual keyboards. The set-list is still typical of early electric miles, with possibly the best released live versions of Bitches Brew and Spanish Key, mostly thanks to the demonstration of pure power provided by Holland and DeJohnette, the former giving a ridiculous performance throughout. Bartz and Miles blowing through the head of Directions makes the initial statement of intent, and the intensity never drops over the following 35 minutes. If it's possible, this set is even further out there than the studio album, with a more menacing, dark edge. Sure there are longer 'official bootleg'-type shows (this one is ~35 min) and some with notable performances of pieces from this set or performances of pieces not played here (e.g. Masqualero, Miles Runs the Voodoo Down), but for me this really captures everything incredible about live Miles from this period, before Holland was replaced and the guitars appeared.

The set has been released in a few places, MoV put it out with other material from the previous year, there's a Vinyl Passion version (which is the copy I own) and it was also filmed, and released on DVD as Miles Electric. The complete footage is on youtube.

tl;dr - Jazz band makes incredible music at giant rock festival.

Not sure that’s exactly what you are interested in, but here are my suggestions:

1. Chick Corea Elektric Band
   
2. “Up with Donald Byrd” - includes Herbie Hancock piano and Kenny Burrell guitar.
   
3. Although just a trio, I recently listened again and enjoyed it a lot:
   Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian :
   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000GNOSCC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_YepFAbD90XYRH
   
   Edit: another popular choice. John McLaughlin and his 4th dimension group:
   Black Light https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0125P2R5I/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_BOpFAb0RP9QPG
   
   The weather report - “Heavy Weather”
   Joe Zawinul on keyboard and Jaco Pastorius - guitar (and of course Wayne Shorter)

Tribute To Jack Johnson

Definitely in my top five favorite Miles Davis albums

Two collections worth getting are:

Miami Vice: Complete Collection (2 CDs - 42 songs & a 12-page booklet. 22 tracks previously unreleased)

https://www.amazon.com/Miami-Vice-Collection-Jan-Hammer/dp/B00005YORR

Another good one:

Escape From Television (1 CD - 15 tracks)

https://www.amazon.com/Escape-Television-JAN-HAMMER/dp/B000026E1Y/ref=ntt_mus_dp_dpt_3

That one does include a remixed Crockett's Theme - called the 9mm mix. The album cover on the youtube video you've linked does show that it came from "Escape from Television" so that may be at least 1 of the ones you are looking for.

Soulive - Soulive
http://www.amazon.com/Soulive/dp/B000098ZU6/ref=ntt_mus_ep_dpi_lnk

You're welcome. :)

Here’s my list for guitar fusion enthusiasts:

• Alex Machacek - 24 Tales Back story: Austrian guitarist Alex Machacek composed the 24 tracks of this disc around a 51-minute drum solo recorded by German drummer phenom, Marco Minneman. With the exception of the Minneman drum track and trombone solos on 3 tracks, Machacek plays all the instrumentation on this disc.
  
  
• Jazz Pistols - Superstring
  
  
• John McLaughlin - To The One
  
  
• Lenny White - Anamoly
  
  
• Allan Holdsworth - Blues for Tony Tirbute to drummer, Tony Williams
  
  
• Wayne Krantz, Keith Carlock, Tim Lefebvre Krantz Carlock Lefebvre
  

Frank Gambale's Chopbuilder

It's a play-along, sort of like an aerobics DVD for guitar. Very high quality instruction, despite the dated 80's vibe.

He goes through a bunch of stuff, including regular diatonic modes, melodic minor, and harmonic minor. Plus, he hired dancing ladies and he's got a sense of humor.

Chuck Mangione - Feels So Good
http://www.amazon.com/Feels-So-Good-Chuck-Mangione/dp/B000002GB6

Thank me later