Re: Fusion albums on par with dark magus, but not from Miles?
I am currently in the midst of exploring all of the old fusion albums of the seventies. And while some of the playing on groups such as Weather report, and return to forever is great, the production values, and the synthesizer have made the overall effect a bit too plastic sounding for my taste (far outwieghing my apreciation for the talent). anyone have any suggestions for wading through the fusion material around this time, i.e. how best to wade around the more dated sounding records? what do people think of Circle? Tony Williams Lifetime? Also, has anyone attempted to redo any of these songs with more of an edge? nathan
on 3/10/03 5:46 PM, ericksna@umich.edu at ericksna@umich.edu wrote:
Tony Williams Lifetime?
the first edition of that group (with john mclaughlin and larry young) rules. also, it's the only mclaughlin stuff i've ever enjoyed fully. sh http://www.skipheller.com (the new and improved website)
Some of my very favorite fusion of this vintage remains the three Herbie Hancock Sextet discs that immediately predate his turn to more "professional, polished" funk with the Headhunters (not that I'm dissing the Headhunters, mind you, but it was a different thing and sounds like what you're trying to avoid). That sextet, with Dr. Eddie Henderson, Bennie Maupin, Julius Priester, Buster Willims and Billy Hart (along with Patrick Gleason on ancient analogue synths) is to me one of the most successful blends of fusion groove with outside playing and sheer ambience. Long, complex, atmospheric and soulful. The first two discs by the group, 'Mwandishi' and 'Crossings,' were fairly recently paired on a 2CD set called 'Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings' on Warner Archives, which also included the more conventional jazz-funk album that preceded them, 'Fat Albert Rotunda.' (I've also seen those three available on individual import CDs, not badly priced but certainly less cost-effective. The third, 'Sextant,' was remastered and reissued by Columbia Legacy in '98. Two Eddie Henderson albums from the same period and featuring most of the same musicians have just been reissued on a single import CD. I've read good things about that on another forum, but it's still pricey anywhere I've managed to find it, and this month's Wire was lukewarm on it. Anyone here have a firsthand opinion. Other than those, Larry Young's 'Lawrence of Newark,' recently discussed here, is worth acquiring for its insane blend of ethnic trance, Sun Ra space dust and stomping proto-fusion. It's been unavailable for ages and the current CD version on Castle probably won't be around forever. Circle is great, but it's not fusion by a long shot; it's the early, experimental Chick Corea trio mixing it up with Braxton in pretty avant-garde territory. West coast keyboardist Wayne Peet has made some pretty stomping recent forays into this territory - well, recent as in within the last ten years. His album 'Blasto!' on 9 Winds is terrific fun and features great contributions by Vinny Golia, Bruce Fowler, John Fumo, Steubig, and Nels and Alex Cline. Never made it to CD, but I bet you can still score the LP from Vinny's 9 Winds site. Peet also did a burning trio session with guitarist G.E. Stinson and a drummer whose name escapes me at the moment, very reminiscent of Tony Williams' first Lifetime but much better recorded. And while we're on the subject of the Clines, both are featured in percussionist Gregg Bendian's band Interzone (with Bendian mostly on vibraphone and a rotating cast of bass players). That band plays new music that seems directly derived from classic fusion and even prog-rock. Bendian has another band, the Mahavishnu Project, that (obviously) plays music of the classic-period Mahavishnu Orchestra well enough to earn McLaughlin's blessing. You'd never know it from his work with Cecil Taylor and Peter Brotzmann, but Bendian, it seems, was born to channel Billy Cobham's thundrous sextuplets. The current issue of Jazziz has a decent history by Bill Milkowski, along with a fairly ghastly overview of the genre (Frank Zappa listed as a Miles disciple for the most specious of reasons; Zorn listed as a fusion mainstay as well), but you might glean a few decent leads from browsing it and checking out the cover CD. Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com P.S. John Schuller's 'Lesser Angel of Misery' is a work of sheer demented genius, one of the most organic and inevitable slices of weird I've come upon lately, while dinting not at all on the actual performance end. Well done, sir, well done. Now I need to hear his new one, which opens with the brilliantly titled "Han Bennink Can Take the Night Off," if I remember correctly.
At 11:38 PM -0500 3/10/03, Steve Smith wrote:
Some of my very favorite fusion of this vintage remains the three Herbie Hancock Sextet discs that immediately predate his turn to more "professional, polished" funk with the Headhunters (not that I'm dissing the Headhunters, mind you, but it was a different thing and sounds like what you're trying to avoid). That sextet, with Dr. Eddie Henderson, Bennie Maupin, Julius Priester, Buster Willims and Billy Hart (along with Patrick Gleason on ancient analogue synths) is to me one of the most successful blends of fusion groove with outside playing and sheer ambience. Long, complex, atmospheric and soulful.
Damn, Steve beat me to it.:-) But, yeah, the Mwandishi band is some amazing stuff.
Two Eddie Henderson albums from the same period and featuring most of the same musicians have just been reissued on a single import CD. I've read good things about that on another forum, but it's still pricey anywhere I've managed to find it, and this month's Wire was lukewarm on it. Anyone here have a firsthand opinion.
I will soon, just ordered the new reissue from Dusty Groove.
Other than those, Larry Young's 'Lawrence of Newark,' recently discussed here, is worth acquiring for its insane blend of ethnic trance, Sun Ra space dust and stomping proto-fusion. It's been unavailable for ages and the current CD version on Castle probably won't be around forever. Circle is great, but it's not fusion by a long shot; it's the early, experimental Chick Corea trio mixing it up with Braxton in pretty avant-garde territory.
Another great Larry Young disc, on par with "Lawrence of Newark", at least for me, is Love, Cry, Want's only release. it's a quartet with Joe Gallivan on drums, steel guitar, moog and percussion, Jimmy Molineiri on drums and percussion, Young on organ, and guitarist known only as Nicholas, credited with "prototype guitar synthesizer, ring modulator, wind, rain, thunder, lightning, water, hi-tension wires abd wailing dervish." Evidently recorded in 1972 (the notes aren't real clear on this), but not issued until 1997 on New Jazz (www.newjazz.com). Amazing record, not well recorded, but some very heavy stuff.
West coast keyboardist Wayne Peet has made some pretty stomping recent forays into this territory - well, recent as in within the last ten years. His album 'Blasto!' on 9 Winds is terrific fun and features great contributions by Vinny Golia, Bruce Fowler, John Fumo, Steubig, and Nels and Alex Cline. Never made it to CD, but I bet you can still score the LP from Vinny's 9 Winds site. Peet also did a burning trio session with guitarist G.E. Stinson and a drummer whose name escapes me at the moment, very reminiscent of Tony Williams' first Lifetime but much better recorded.
Lance Lee, on the disc "Fully Engulfed". Oddly enough, I was just listening to this today, for the first time in about a decade.
Just a quick rec (and let me second all the aforementioned recordings: Mwandishi, Emergency [I'm w/Skip and Steve on this one - absolutely essential - although I like McLaughlin's "Extrapolation" and "Where Fortune Smiles," as well], Lawrence of Newark, etc. - and, of course, MO's "Inner Mounting Flame" - but I'm surprised no one's mentioned Larry Coryell [with or without Eleventh House], Gateway, J-L Ponty...): Fourth Way Less heavy, perhaps, than all the other groups but they represent another side of the fusion coin. On that (lighter) tack, I'd also recommend Gary Burton's work w/Coryell, Bob Moses, as well as Keith Jarrett's early albums w/Jerry Hahn, etc. And I don't know whether anyone besides me is willing to call Oregon fusion but their albums are certainly worth checking out. (And what about the "rock" side of this equation? Brand X, anyone? 'Course, talk about dated production...)
----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin Fellezs" <kevin@fjaz.com>
J-L Ponty...):
Ah...one of the fathers of happy jazz! * David Beardsley * microtonal guitar * http://biink.com/db
Absolutely agree with your opinion about the Mwandishi trilogy. Dark spiritual Afro-Groove Space Age masterpieces. The two Eddie Henderson titles from the same era are essential works that you should definitely get a hold of. They are available at a reasonable price from Dusty Groove (both in one CD: "Eddie Henderson Anthology Vol.2: the Capricon Years"). Not as epic as the Mwandishi Three, but still loaded with a combination of monster grooves and deep abstractions. Sheer beauty all the way through. My reverence also goes to Larry Young's "Lawrence of Newark". Another dark soulful beauty. Should be taken as an example and inspiration by all current jazz groovers (MMW,etc). Young on Lifetime's "Emergency" also destroys. Early Mahavishnu of course, upto "Visions of an Emerald Beyond". Moving on to the early Eighties, Ornette's harmalodic legacy should be underlined: from Prime Time's "Body Meta" to all of James Blood Ulmer's early titles and the magnificent Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society. His albums such as "Street Priest", "Mandance" and especially "Barbeque Dogs" resonate with a deep spiritual energy hardly felt in electric Jazz. I should underline the double bass attack of Melvin Gibbs and Reverend Bruce Johnson as well as the thunderous guitar interventions of Vernon Reid over Shannon Jackson's incessant power drumming. The last Jazz/Rock masterpiece I'll like to mention is Sonny Sharrock's "Seize the Rainbow". Always blown away by them at the Old Knit. Kept a collection of Sonny Sharrock guitar picks that would constantly come flying down to those of us sitting in the front row. Anyone has or knows of any video footage of Sharrock, Ulmer or Shannon Jackson? Schuller's Postscript: "Creepy Little Anthems" is another mighty powerful release by John Schuller this time accompanied by Phil Petrocelli's drums of thunder. Bringing their devotion for the Melvins into the world of free improv, electric blues, dark magick. Haunting piano atmospheres and guitar scorcher's that just fry you up. Beautiful flow. Creepy indeed. Send him an e-mail, buy it from him NOW! Steve Smith <ssmith36@sprynet.com> wrote: Some of my very favorite fusion of this vintage remains the three Herbie Hancock Sextet discs that immediately predate his turn to more "professional, polished" funk with the Headhunters (not that I'm dissing the Headhunters, mind you, but it was a different thing and sounds like what you're trying to avoid). That sextet, with Dr. Eddie Henderson, Bennie Maupin, Julius Priester, Buster Willims and Billy Hart (along with Patrick Gleason on ancient analogue synths) is to me one of the most successful blends of fusion groove with outside playing and sheer ambience. Long, complex, atmospheric and soulful. The first two discs by the group, 'Mwandishi' and 'Crossings,' were fairly recently paired on a 2CD set called 'Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings' on Warner Archives, which also included the more conventional jazz-funk album that preceded them, 'Fat Albert Rotunda.' (I've also seen those three available on individual import CDs, not badly priced but certainly less cost-effective. The third, 'Sextant,' was remastered and reissued by Columbia Legacy in '98. Two Eddie Henderson albums from the same period and featuring most of the same musicians have just been reissued on a single import CD. I've read good things about that on another forum, but it's still pricey anywhere I've managed to find it, and this month's Wire was lukewarm on it. Anyone here have a firsthand opinion. Other than those, Larry Young's 'Lawrence of Newark,' recently discussed here, is worth acquiring for its insane blend of ethnic trance, Sun Ra space dust and stomping proto-fusion. It's been unavailable for ages and the current CD version on Castle probably won't be around forever. Circle is great, but it's not fusion by a long shot; it's the early, experimental Chick Corea trio mixing it up with Braxton in pretty avant-garde territory. West coast keyboardist Wayne Peet has made some pretty stomping recent forays into this territory - well, recent as in within the last ten years. His album 'Blasto!' on 9 Winds is terrific fun and features great contributions by Vinny Golia, Bruce Fowler, John Fumo, Steubig, and Nels and Alex Cline. Never made it to CD, but I bet you can still score the LP from Vinny's 9 Winds site. Peet also did a burning trio session with guitarist G.E. Stinson and a drummer whose name escapes me at the moment, very reminiscent of Tony Williams' first Lifetime but much better recorded. And while we're on the subject of the Clines, both are featured in percussionist Gregg Bendian's band Interzone (with Bendian mostly on vibraphone and a rotating cast of bass players). That band plays new music that seems directly derived from classic fusion and even prog-rock. Bendian has another band, the Mahavishnu Project, that (obviously) plays music of the classic-period Mahavishnu Orchestra well enough to earn McLaughlin's blessing. You'd never know it from his work with Cecil Taylor and Peter Brotzmann, but Bendian, it seems, was born to channel Billy Cobham's thundrous sextuplets. The current issue of Jazziz has a decent history by Bill Milkowski, along with a fairly ghastly overview of the genre (Frank Zappa listed as a Miles disciple for the most specious of reasons; Zorn listed as a fusion mainstay as well), but you might glean a few decent leads from browsing it and checking out the cover CD. Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com P.S. John Schuller's 'Lesser Angel of Misery' is a work of sheer demented genius, one of the most organic and inevitable slices of weird I've come upon lately, while dinting not at all on the actual performance end. Well done, sir, well done. Now I need to hear his new one, which opens with the brilliantly titled "Han Bennink Can Take the Night Off," if I remember correctly. _______________________________________________ zorn-list mailing list zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com To UNSUBSCRIBE or Change Your Subscription Options, go to the webpage below http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/zorn-list --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Web Hosting - establish your business online
I didn't see Joe Henderson's 'Multiple' mentioned yet - so consider this a mention; It's a fusion album roughly in the vein of 70s era miles, and I always find myself coming back to it... -whit On Mon, 10 Mar 2003 ericksna@umich.edu wrote:
I am currently in the midst of exploring all of the old fusion albums of the seventies. And while some of the playing on groups such as Weather report, and return to forever is great, the production values, and the synthesizer have made the overall effect a bit too plastic sounding for my taste (far outwieghing my apreciation for the talent). anyone have any suggestions for wading through the fusion material around this time, i.e. how best to wade around the more dated sounding records? what do people think of Circle? Tony Williams Lifetime? Also, has anyone attempted to redo any of these songs with more of an edge?
nathan
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---------------------------------------------------------------------- Whit Schonbein Department of Philosophy Philosophy - Neuroscience - Psychology Program Washington University St. Louis, Missouri, USA wwschonb@artsci.wustl.edu http://artsci.wustl.edu/~wwschonb/ *** contact me for mailing address *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------
"Tress-Cun-Deo-La," baby! Including one of James Blood Ulmer's earliest appearances on record, plus that hot Holland/DeJohnette rhythm team... Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com -----Original Message----- From: zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of William W. Schonbein Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 1:02 AM I didn't see Joe Henderson's 'Multiple' mentioned yet - so consider this a mention; It's a fusion album roughly in the vein of 70s era miles, and I always find myself coming back to it...
theres also a great joe henderson record called "black is the color" that is really spaced out and kind of fusiony. On Wed, 12 Mar 2003, William W. Schonbein wrote:
I didn't see Joe Henderson's 'Multiple' mentioned yet - so consider this a mention; It's a fusion album roughly in the vein of 70s era miles, and I always find myself coming back to it...
-whit
On Mon, 10 Mar 2003 ericksna@umich.edu wrote:
I am currently in the midst of exploring all of the old fusion albums of the seventies. And while some of the playing on groups such as Weather report, and return to forever is great, the production values, and the synthesizer have made the overall effect a bit too plastic sounding for my taste (far outwieghing my apreciation for the talent). anyone have any suggestions for wading through the fusion material around this time, i.e. how best to wade around the more dated sounding records? what do people think of Circle? Tony Williams Lifetime? Also, has anyone attempted to redo any of these songs with more of an edge?
nathan
_______________________________________________ zorn-list mailing list zorn-list@mailman.xmission.com To UNSUBSCRIBE or Change Your Subscription Options, go to the webpage below http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/zorn-list
---------------------------------------------------------------------- Whit Schonbein Department of Philosophy Philosophy - Neuroscience - Psychology Program Washington University St. Louis, Missouri, USA
wwschonb@artsci.wustl.edu http://artsci.wustl.edu/~wwschonb/ *** contact me for mailing address *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------
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participants (9)
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Chad Stockdale -
Dave Trenkel -
David Beardsley -
ericksna＠umich.edu -
Jorge Gallegos -
Kevin Fellezs -
skip Heller -
Steve Smith -
William W. Schonbein