My Favorite Jazz-Rock Fusion Musicians from the "Classic Era": The Percussionists

 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, Ashford & Simpson, John Lucien, Esther Phillips, The Brecker Brothers, Bill Withers, The Brothers Johnson, Phoebe Snow, George Benson, Art Garfunkle, Billy Joel, David Sanborn, Patti Austin, Paul Simon, Michael Franks, Teddy Pendergrass
- Mingo Lewis / Santana, Al Di Meola, The Tubes
- Alejandro "Alex" Acuña / Weather Report, very busy as a California session work 
- Mongo Santamaria 
- Idris Mohammad / Lou Donaldson, Walter Bishop, Jr., George Benson, Harold Maybern, Gene Ammons, Melvin Sparks, Sonny Stitt, Stanley Turrentine, Bob James, Etta Jones, David "Fathead" Newman, Pharoah Sanders
- Urszula Dudziak
- Manolo Badreno / Weather Report


Tuned Percussionists:
- Gary Burton
- Pierre Moerlen / Gong
- Bobby Hutcherson
- Roy Ayers
- Mireille Bauer / Gong, Édition Spécial
- Victor Feldmann  
- Dave Samuels / Frank Zappa, Hermann Szobel
- Ruth Underwood / Frank Zappa/The Mothers of Invention
- Benoît Moerlen / Gong
- Mike Manieri

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet

Image
In 1963 Miles began a search for a new group of young musicians to work with (he always received quite a boost in inspiration with the new ideas the young bloods would bring in.) 22-year old Herbie Hancock was a shoe-in due to his rocket rise to fame with the 1962 monster hit, "Watermelon Man" from his debut album, Takin' Off .  25-year old Ron Carter had been making a mark while gigging during his formal training from the Eastman School of Music (graduating in 1959) and the Manhattan School of Music (1961). 17-year old drumming phenom Anthony "Tony" Williams III was a lesser known quantity, thus his use on only half the tracks on Seven Steps to Heaven.  Miles first attempt also tested out drummer Frank Butler, tenor saxophonist George Coleman, and multi-instrumental phenom, Victor Feldman (then 29-years old). This is the quintet that toured extensively in 1963, covering many of Davis' classic tunes with a fresh, new, highly kinetic approach. It is also the ...
Read more

Herbie Hancock

Image
Herbie Hancock is without a doubt one music's most intrepid pioneers. He had a very  significant role in expanding the boundaries of Jazz, Jazz-Rock Fusion, and music in general. His name is deserving of being mentioned among the greatest artists in music like Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Shostakovich, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and Michael Jackson. Without Herbie leading the way (and, to a great degree, also Tony Williams), there would have been no "Second Great Quintet." Without Herbie (and  Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin, and Chick Corea), I do not believe that the  breakout of that which would become called "Jazz-Rock Fusion"  would have been as successful and certainly not as popular. (Pressures from inside the staunch old-school mainstream of jazz would have squelched it as they did with other avant-garde modalities like "free jazz.") Herbie was popular! He sold albums! (Herbie has four of the biggest selling jazz al...
Read more

Ian Carr (Nucleus)

Image
Scottish trumpeter Ian Carr had been working with saxophonist Don Rendell in the mid- and late-1960s, The Ian Carr-Don Rendell Quintet , when he got the idea for moving his jazz music into a more rock-infused direction. The result became his "Nucleus" project with experimental electric guitarist Chris Spedding, diverse keyboardist Karl Jenkins, bass player Jeff Clyne, drummer-extraordinaire John Marshall, and long-time collaborator, saxophonist Brian Smith. From 1969 to 1972 the original Nucleus lineup was able to pump out four stellar, trend-setting and standard-setting albums before things fell apart. Other than Brian Smith, Ian Carr was able to attract amazing musicians to his project for successive tours and studio sessions but, for whatever reason, he was unable (or unwilling?) to retain them for (usually) more than one album. Still, the number of Ian Carr/Nucleus albums churned out during the 1970s is at the absolute highest level of quality and marksmanship for that wh...
Read more