Jazz fusion music

It ain't rock n roll.

It ain't jazz.

It ain't R&B.

It aint funk.

So what is it, exactly?

Most people who like it- call it FUSION.

It may surprise you to know many many different musical genres call themselves 'fusion'...

There's combinations of rap and funk, ambient and house, punk and ska.....

But the one I wanna talk about is a little more hard to synthesize --

(if you'll pardon the pun)
----- some people call it jazz-rock, but that seems a weak misonomer at best.

Most people who love it call it Jazz-Fusion.



I'm sure you've heard examples of Fusion on the radio......

The band Chicago, with over 30 albums to their credit, is a popular example of the style.

These guys were also very typical of the fusion attitude - that every song on an album doesn't have to be a single, and 3 minutes long.

Particularly in the 70's, their albums displayed an amazing range of musical ideas and outstanding musicianship.

If you listen to their best album of this period, Chicago VII, you will hear it in every cut - harmonies spot on, arrangements tight and exciting- this is fun music.

After this album, their label put increasing pressure on them to produce more 'commercial' music,,, this, and the loss of guitar virtuoso Terry Kath, ended up making the group's work sound less original and interesting.

Chicago is still together today - and their music has slowly returned to the earlier emphasis on creativity and craft -

One thing is for sure-- these guys know their art.



The Chicago area (Berwyn, Illinois) was also home to another, perhaps less well known, but still iconic fusion band - The Ides Of March.

This band was partly the brainchild of one Jim Peterik - a guy who had influence on a lot of musicians, then and now.

The Ides had a huge hit in 1969 with "Vehicle" ... a power ballad that stills sends me into fits of pleasure when I hear it.

These guys were good.... really good.

Why they didnt catch on bigtime, I have no idea.

Peterik is back playing with the Ides, but in the 80's he formed the band "Survivor", which had another big power ballad hit - "Eye of the Tiger".





Another popular group out of the late 60's was N.Y.City-based Blood Sweat and Tears.

They were fond of brassing up more classical themes, and so their work had more appeal to the college crowd - but they had several pop hits, including Laura Nero's "When I Die", and the band's own "Spinning Wheel"

Originally, the band included some very heavy hitters - Al Kooper, Bobby Colomby, Randy Brecker and Steve Katz... and a gravelly-voiced lead singer in David Clayton Thomas.

This band produced four excellent albums before the whole thing just went stale.

After that, the band was plagued with personnel changes, several changes in musical direction, and a loss of the kind of creative energy that had made their work interesting.




Many top quality studio musicians lived in New York, and the availability of good players spawned several NY based groups... like Genya Ravan and Ten Wheel Drive.

Genya was constantly being compared to Janis Joplin, as their vocal deliveries were similar, (especially if you heard Janis's work with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band), but Genya was much more gregarious on stage.

Genya was best known for appearing semi-nude, her top-half clothed only in body paint.

The band was brassy.. the lineup included Tom (Bones) Malone and Bill Watrous,... , and very percussion oriented. In addition, Daryl Hall and John Oates were the backup singers for the band.

Out of their four albums, their best albums were "Construction", released in 1969, and "Peculiar Friends" in 1972.




The West Coast had it's share of fusion bands during this era as well, especially the Bay Area... Lydia Pense and Cold Blood were a band out of San Francisco - Tower of Power were from Oakland... the Sons of Champlin from Santa Cruz.

Cold Blood Vocalist Lydia Pense had an excellent range, terrific stage presence, and a bluesy vocal delivery that made a terrific counterpoint to a very muscley brass sound,... the band included Mic Gillette, Raul Matute, and several others who would play off and on with that band, as well as with Tower of Power.

Of their ten albums, and 1 radio hit ("You got me hummin") the best and most innovative was 1972's "First Taste Of Sin".

Lydia Pense and Cold Blood are still touring... their new album is due out Spring, 2010.




Tower of Power was more funk oriented.. they called their music "Oakland Soul", although the style was definitely well within the fusion genre.

That fat Tower section has been heard, not only on 19 of their own albums, but those of many other artists/genres, ranging from fellow Bay Areans Jefferson Starship and Santana, to Elton John and Spyro Gyra.

Their third album produced their biggest hit "So Hard To Go" in 1973, although they have had several radio hits along the way before and after.

Their double compilation album, "What is Hip", is a great way to hear an overview of their entire career as a band.

They are still touring, armed with some of the best musical talents of the genre.




The commercial success of groups like BS&T and Chicago had also encouraged other groups to take up the genre.


"CHASE" was an example of this.

For years, Bill Chase had played trumpet with some of Jazz's biggest names - Maynard Ferguson, Stan Kenton, and Woody Herman ....

Now, encouraged by success of other bands in the jazz-rock genre, he put together his own band - "Chase".

This group featured a powerful brass section, of course.

"Downbeat" Magazine described Chase's music as: "a literal waterfall of trumpet timbre and technique."

Their first album, released in 1971, yielded a single "Get It On" , and demonstrated the viability of Chase's vision,

A sceond album Ennea was not well received, partly due to the second side being a themed extended suite with obscure lyrics,

Many personnel changes later, their third album "Pure Music" was released in 1974- and it was their best effort to date.

Bill Chase was a perfectionist, and such a terrific musician himself, that he naturally attracted outstanding talent to his projects... for instance, on "Pure Music", the Ides of March's Jim Peterik sat in, and contributed both material, and vocals.

This album really showed how far a group of talented musicians could go within the fusion genre, and it remains today as a singular work of skill and imagination.

"Run Back to Mama", "Love Is On The Way", and the last cut, the hauntingly prophetically titled "Close Up Tight" (the first cut on their first album was called "Open Up Wide") are must-hear cuts from this LP. ( I've still got the Epic Quadrophonic LP -- it blew my socks off in quad!!)

Unfortunately, this same year, a plane crash ended the lives of Bill Chase and some members of the band.

A great loss - for I always thought that band was on the verge of doing some really great things.

One of the key people on that third album, Dartanyan Brown, the bassist and vocalist- is still alive and kicking... check out his site at :
http://www.dartanyan.com/BillChase/chasetribute.html




I got an email from a reader after posting this, asking about "Lighthouse".

Lighthouse was a Canadian band with a definite fusion bent - the reason I remember them is because Howard Shore, the one time leader of the Saturday Nite Live band was in this group..... and because of one very big hit that I absolutely loved (and still do) --
1971's "One Fine Morning".

Their catalog is now available digitally, and from my viewpoint, for an overview of their best work, the casual curious should download their "One Fine Morning" LP, and not the horribly re-mixed "Sunny Days Again" greatest hits compilation.


Got a favorite I didnt mention?

Drop me a line , or leave a comment, and I'll add em if I can.