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The Best-Selling Jazz/Jazz-Rock Fusion Albums of All-Time: Worldwide

This is a rather challenging topic to write about because the upkeep of sales statistics is incredibly inconsistent from country to country, even continent to continent. Most often it is easy to find numbers for sales in the USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and Japan. As an exemplary demonstration of this fact, the world's third largest music record buying population is in Germany. According to the statistical accounts of the two largest statistic houses in the German nation, GfK Entertainment and Bundesverband Musikinsdustrie, no Jazz or Jazz-Rock Fusion much less Jazz-Rock, Jazz-Funk, Hip Hop, or World Music album has ever achieved one million units of sales in their country. Therefore, the list that follows is flawed but may still represent a somewhat accurate snapshot of the rough numbers and rankings. Unfortunately, the dominance of radio-friendly Jazz-Pop and Smooth Jazz albums (e.g. Nora Jones, Kenny G, and Diana Krall) far outshines the presence of "true" Jazz and/or J...

The Mizell Brothers, "Fonce" and Larry

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Born a year apart in Englewood, New Jersey, the boys grew up playing a variety of horns to their parents' music. While attending Howard University in the late 1960s, both brothers Alphonso ("Fonce" b. 1943) and Larry Mizell (b. 1944) found themselves under the tutelage of professor Donald Byrd, himself a celebrated Jazz trumpeter. The boys found themselves participating in Donald Byrd's newly established Black Music Department before graduating, Fonce with a music degree, Larry with a degree in engineering. Fonce and Howard classmate Freddie Perren were recruited by Motown Records executive Deke Richards to help with songwriting duties at the Detroit hit-machine. There the two became part of music history as part of "The Corporation": a legendary writing-production team that included Motown founder Barry Gordy, Deke, Fonce, and Freddie. Together The Corporation wrote and produced a string of songs and albums for the Jackson 5 and its individual members' ...