The Supernova that Was Jazz-Rock Fusion

I come from the world, from a perspective, of Progressive Rock Music. In 2007, I was as surprised as many people are upon discovering that many Prog Lovers have space in their beloved world for a sub-genre that is precariously labeled either "Fusion" or "Jazz-Rock Fusion." What is even more confounding is the fact that most Jazz-Rock Fusion lovers have a list of hundreds of bands and albums that they openly welcome into their den of iniquity whereas most loyal Progheads have room for about three or four fusion bands in their world: a list that usually consists of Return To Forever, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, Al Di Meola, sometimes Weather Report. Rarely--and I mean scarcely ever--a proghead will deign to mention Larry Coryell, Tony Williams, Billy Cobham or Pat Metheny. Any artist who associated with or even guested with one of the above bands will sometimes be reluctantly allowed. Guilt by association, of course.       If we bounce back to the Fusionists we often co...

  Percussionists: - Zakir Hussein / tablas /  Shakti,  John Handy,  Mickey Hart - Bill Summers / Eddie Henderson, Herbie Hancock, Johnny "Hammond" Smith, Summers Heat - Airto Moreira / percussion for Hermeto Pascal, Joe Zawinul, Mile Davis, Weather Report, Return to Forever, Deodato, Mickey Hart - Armando Peraza / George Shearing, Cal Tjader, Santana - Jose 'Chepito'  Areas / Santana,  Herbie Hancock - Don Alias / Nina Simone, Miles Davis, Jeremy Steig, Joni Mitchell, Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius -  Trilok Gurtu  / tablas, drums, percussion / Charlie Mariano, Terje Rypdal, Don Cherry, John Tchacai -  Nana Vasconcelos  / Milton Nascimento, Gato Barbieri, Don Cherry, CoDoNa, Jon Hassell, Egberto Gismonti, Pat Metheny - Ralph MacDonald / Roberta Flack, Peter Allen, Bette Midler, Hubert Laws, Gabor Szabo, Grover Washington Jr., Ron Carter, Margie Joseph, Garland Jeffreys, Bob James, Average White Band, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Mann, ...

The brief but revolutionary association between guitar legend John McLaughlin and the precocious talent of young drumming phenom Billy Cobham lasted only three years but their meeting and collaboration represents an event similar yo that of finding the "God particle" in the CERN Large Hadron Supercollider: It produced the paradigm-shattering and new-paradigm defining phenomenon that was The Mahavishnu Orchestra--which was, in my opinion, the most influential single album to the realization of the peak manifestations of Jazz-Rock Fusion as well as a huge influencer to the future choices of Progressive Rock artists.  - February 18, 1969 : Two weeks in the United States and John is wrangled into the February 18 recording sessions for the material that would become Miles Davis' In a Silent Way .     John had only come to the U.S. at the request of drummer Tony Williams--to join his "Lifetime" power trio--but, despite his commitment to performing and practicing with...

The mysterious and ethereal sound of Eberhard Weber's "underwater" bass playing first came to my attention in 1978 when a local radio station in my university town kept playing songs from The Following Morning on their late night programming. Afraid that nothing could ever compare to the transportive music of Side One of that album, I was very hesitant to make any further purchases into his burgeoning catalogue of music, but I could not help but notice his presence on several other non-Weber albums that I purchased (Pat Metheny, Gary Burton). Also, I was inhibited by the illusion that Eberhard's magic could only happen in the company/collaboration of another sensitive pianist like Rainer Brüninghaus. Plus, I had tried a few other ECM records and had less success connecting with those albums than I wanted or expected. (The Manfred Eicher touch seemed to provide starkly spacious music of impeccable sound clarity and musicianship but at compositional sophistication leve...