Need forum wisdom (fusion "standards")

Zero Mercury Drummer

Senior Member
What would you consider the standard Fusion classics? I am working on a project. Artists I am thinking of would be:

Billy Cobham
Chick Corea
Miles Davis
Bill Connors
Bill Bruford
Mike Stern
Weather Report
Mahavishnu
Pat Metheny
Jeff Beck
Vital Information


But what songs are their classics?
 
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I loved the fusion movement and your list of key figures is great. I'm not sure that the fusion movement has "standards" in the same way other musical movements do. There are ground breaking albums from that period of course but due perhaps to the short flowering life of fusion and limited market appeal I not sure a consensus on the standards was ever reached. It seemed to be about technical virtuousity and trying to creat a musical vocabulary that was unique to the performers - but if I had to pick one it would be the album - the inner mounting flame. When I first heard it I thought music had changed forever, at least it did for me. I also think retun to forevers romantic warrior really captured some of the essenes of that wonderful time.
 
If you're talking Billy Cobham, arguably most of his debut album Spectrum makes the list. Quadrant 4, Stratus, and Red Baron are all pretty iconic fusion pieces. By extension, his stuff with early Mahavishnu stands out too (Inner Mounting Flame has classics like Meeting of the Spirits and Bird of Fire's title cut is notable as well).
 
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I loved the fusion movement and your list of key figures is great. I'm not sure that the fusion movement has "standards" in the same way other musical movements do. There are ground breaking albums from that period of course but due perhaps to the short flowering life of fusion and limited market appeal I not sure a consensus on the standards was ever reached. It seemed to be about technical virtuousity and trying to creat a musical vocabulary that was unique to the performers - but if I had to pick one it would be the album - the inner mounting flame. When I first heard it I thought music had changed forever, at least it did for me. I also think retun to forevers romantic warrior really captured some of the essenes of that wonderful time.

Good point, although I assume Jazz standards didn't start out that way. There seem to be certain Fusion classics.
Romantic Warrior is a good one.

Hewitt: Stratus and Red Baron are on my list.
 
You have to include Jean-Luc Ponty. "Enigmatic Ocean" is my favorite album.
 
I loved the fusion movement and your list of key figures is great. I'm not sure that the fusion movement has "standards" in the same way other musical movements do. There are ground breaking albums from that period of course but due perhaps to the short flowering life of fusion and limited market appeal I not sure a consensus on the standards was ever reached. ....

I agree with you on this.

So many artists began to fuse jazz / rock and some other stuff together back in the 70's and 80's.

Some other artists who were involved and produced stuff that could be labeled "Fusion": Stanley Clarke, Jeff Berlin, Al Dimeola, Lee Ritenour, Sanborn, Grusin, Grover Washington, Steps Ahead, Bob James, Steve Khan, Larry Coryell , Alan Holdsworth, Brecker Brothers, etc...

Some of this was enjoyable to listen to when it came out but no longer has any appeal to me personally to listen to at this point.
 
It's funny, when I do a search on bandmix.com for "fusion"-- it returns a bunch of drummer, but far fewer of other instruments.
Maybe drummers like fusion more than other instrumentalists, because it allows you to stretch out so much. And in rock we are often told to "keep it simple, play for the vocalist etc."
 
I just looked being curious and Chick Corea has 86 albums. It may be hard to find a classic from those.
 
What would you consider the standard Fusion classics? I am working on a project. Artists I am thinking of would be:

Billy Cobham
Chick Corea
Miles Davis
Bill Connors
Bill Bruford
Mike Stern
Weather Report
Mahavishnu
Pat Metheny
Jeff Beck
Vital Information


But what songs are their classics?
Don't forget Jean-Luc Ponty- Anything from Enigmatic Ocean is tops!
 
I just looked being curious and Chick Corea has 86 albums. It may be hard to find a classic from those.

Try Spain, or for the truly gifted, Got A Match.

Stratus and Red Baron are a couple more standards most fusion oriented players know. Maybe you can call Jaco's "The Chicken" fusion.

Fusion seems to split off into two camps for me. The open jams of Bitches Brew and the highly arranged RTF kind of thing. Folks tend to go more in one direction than the other.
 
"Oops" from Steps Ahead's 1984 album "Modern Times". It's been 30 years and I still haven't figured it out... But it's an awesome tune from a classic album.

Dutch
 
What would you consider the standard Fusion classics? I am working on a project. Artists I am thinking of would be:

Billy Cobham
Chick Corea
Miles Davis
Bill Connors
Bill Bruford
Mike Stern
Weather Report
Mahavishnu
Pat Metheny
Jeff Beck
Vital Information


But what songs are their classics?

I would think Weckl needs to be in that list.

He is on the list.

But really, if you're talking classic fusion, Weckl didn't come on to the scene until later.
 
What would you consider the standard Fusion classics? I am working on a project. Artists I am thinking of would be:

Billy Cobham
Chick Corea
Miles Davis
Bill Connors
Bill Bruford
Mike Stern
Weather Report
Mahavishnu
Pat Metheny
Jeff Beck
Vital Information


But what songs are their classics?

not sure how you could leave out Tony Williams who pretty much helped create what people call "fusion" with Lifetime

1969 Emergency!

and if you listen to the Miles records Filles De Kilimanjaro and Miles in the Sky you will hear Tony playing a complete "fusion" style on what are pretty much straight jazz records from 1968
 
"Fred" from Tony Williams Lifetime really stood out for me, also "Vital Transformation" from Mahavisnhu Orchestra. But I'm not sure how they rate as "standards" among fusion gurus.
 
It's funny, when I do a search on bandmix.com for "fusion"-- it returns a bunch of drummer, but far fewer of other instruments.
Maybe drummers like fusion more than other instrumentalists, because it allows you to stretch out so much. And in rock we are often told to "keep it simple, play for the vocalist etc."

I think you nailed it! Fusion consistently demands so much of drummers from technique to multiple grooves in a single song, creativity, and athleticly demanding as well. No wonder I was the only one of my teenage musical pals who loved or even liked it. It made everything else seem boring for me at the time to me, Bohnam and Blakey seemed just like boring timekeepers to my underdeveloped teenage brain after hearing Cobhan and later Weckl.
 
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