The Supernova that was Jazz-Rock Fusion

Trombonist Julian Priester spent two-years with Herbie Hancock as part of the lineup of musicians that produced the three ground-breaking "Mwandishi" albums and concert tours. Herbie's own patience and enjoyment of the Mwandishi lineup and style had waned; he was ready to make people happy--to make fun, enjoyable music; he wanted to start a funk band. Thus, the Mwandishi lineup was disbanded in the Spring of 1973 and Julian, like his bandmates, found himself without a band and without a job. But he was riding enough inspiration from the Mwandishi gigs to want to make a studio album of his own--the result being the Love, Love  album--an album made up of his own compositions and involving the participation of several of his collaborators from the Mwandishi lineups. Several of these other Mwandishi band members had already begun to produce "solo" albums--a couple of them even being blessed with the presence of not only many of the Mwandishi lineup but even the fear...

Dieter Dierks was a studio owner who hosted, recorded, and produced many important German bands from both the Progressive Rock and Jazz-Rock Fusion as well as Krautrock veins of music. Dieter was the owner of Dierks Studio and Dierks Productions , which started in the attic of his parents home in Stommeln , a suburb village outside of Köln. Two years after starting his recording studio, he had become popular (and successful enough) to build a self-contained studio in his parents' backyard. He also purchased the apartment building next door to use as a lodging residence for visiting musicians and their families and entourages. The studio became quite famous (and sought after) for its less-hectic, rural pace and serenity. As the pastoral setting became known and sought after, the name Stommeln became a desirable haven for many recording artists--thanks in no small part to the legendary cooking and care of  Dieter's mother, "Mother Dierks," who had stepped in to start a ...

A band that is often maligned for A) not fitting easily into any one category of musical style and/or B) helping to launch the adult-friendly musical niches that have become known as "Adult Contemporary," "Smooth Jazz," and (the worst), "Yacht Rock." Also, since the band did little touring after the Pretzel Logic album when they became less of a band and more of a duo of precision songwriters: makers of hyper-polished studio music, accomplished through the employment of a revolving door of highly-skilled sessions musicians for the "perfect" fit to create the sounds the songwriting duo of Donald Fagen and Dan Becker envisioned. Despite their skill--and the high quality of their products--Becker and Fagen (and, to a lesser extent, producer Gary Katz) became known as very tough employers.   Can't Buy a Thrill   (1972) Recorded in Los Angeles at the the Village Recorder in August of 1972, the album was released in November by ABC Records. Line-u...

  Another fairly recent discovery--an artist I'd heard of but never heard before 2024--and I am in love with his 1970s discography.  Micha ł  definitely represents some of the  most consistently  high quality Jazz-Rock Fusion of the decade. He dabbled in both Smooth Jazz and Funk R&B music, but really remained fairly loyal to the serious composition and musicianship that defined the peak years of Jazz-Rock Fusion (73-76) for the entire decade! Extraordinary! Not only do you have the employ of a list of extraordinary musicians on every single album he produced, you have peak Jean-Luc Ponty music and sound before Jean-Luc Ponty ever made the switch to this style of lush electrified jazz-rock fusion! And then you get to hear the once in a generational talents of  Micha ł  's partner and wife, vocalist extraordinaire Urszula Dudziak in the mix! MICHAL URBANIAK   GROUP  Paratyphus B   (1971) Virtuoso violinist  and  award-winnin...