JAZZ ROCK FUSION

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JAZZ ROCK FUSION
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Jazz/Rock Fusion

• Miles Daviss third period is called the Electric
  Period because of the radical change in the
  instrumentation of the band
• Miles Davis, electrically amplified and altered
  trumpet
• Wayne Shorter, soprano sax
• Lenny White, Jack DeJohnette, and Charles Alias,
  drums
• Bennie Maupin, bass clarinet
• Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, and Larry Young,
  electric keyboards
• Harvey Brooks, Fender bass
• Dave Holland, bass
• John McLaughlin, electric guitar
• Jim Riley, percussion
• The use of electric and amplified instruments
  allowed the players to play faster, play more
  complex lines, and use electronic effects.

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Miles Davis and Bitches Brew

• In 1985 Miles Davis surrounded himself with
  electronic sounds and became a leader in the
  avant-guarde
• Bitches Brew, recorded in 1969-70 for Columbia
  Records, shows Miles Davis early use of
  electronic instruments (electronic piano, Fender
  bass, and electric guitar). The album sold
  400,000 copies
• Bitches Brew was the starting point for jazz-rock
• Electronic instruments and synthesizers
• Collective improvisation
• Free forms and rhythms
• Unaccompanied solos on wind instruments

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New Groups

• Members of the Miles Davis band in Bitches Brew
  who formed their own bands
• Chick Corea (Return to Forever)
• Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter (Weather Report)
• John McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra)
• Miles Davis electronically amplified the trumpet
  to produce echo-plex, reverb, phase
  shifting
• Miles Davis believed he was carrying the entire
  burden for innovation in jazz
• With Bitches Brew, Miles cast off all ties with
  the past and stopped listening to his old records

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John McLaughlin

• Listen to his guitar playing on Bitches Brew
• A creation of the 1970s, McLaughlin formed the
  Mahavishnu Orchestra after his stint with Miles
  Davis
• Added some Indian flavor to his recordings
• Virtuoso, energetic, among the first to use the
  volume and metallic timbre typical or rock bands
• Stacks of equipment on the stage - PAIN
• Phase shifter, wah-wah, distortions, speed
• Listen to Best of Mahavishnu

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Chick Corea b. 1941

• b. 1941, Chelsea, MA
• Chick (Armando) Corea, son of a professional
  musician
• played with Latin bands of Willie Bobo and Mongo
  Santamaria in the 1960s
• worked with trumpeter Blue Mitchell 1964-66
• Miles Davis 1968-1970
• 1970 formed an avant-garde trio Circle with
  Dave Holland, bass and Barry Altschul

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Chick Corea

• 1972 Anthony Braxton joined Circle
• 1972 formed Return to Forever
• a synthesis of jazz and Brazilian music
• electric jazz-rock fusion
• dual career - electric and acoustic groups
• acoustic Matrix recorded 2/26/68 Solid State
  SS 18039 (Miroslav Vitous, badd Roy Haynes,
  drums
• blues form
• melody built of broken intervals
• controlled intensity

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Chick Corea

• electric Spain (by Chick Corea) Chick Corea
  and Return to Forever - Light as a Feather -
  Polydor P2 27148
• Chick Corea, electric piano Joe Farrell, tenor
  sax, flute Stanly Clarke, bass Airto Moreira,
  drums, percussion Flora Purim, vocals,
  percussion
• Video Chick Corea - Electric Workshop

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Joe Zawinul b. 1932

• Hungarian, Czech and - as he himself insists -
  Sinti origins.
• He began playing Austrian folk music, "gypsy
  tunes" and anything else he came across on the
  accordion or violin at the age of six.
• Won a scholarship to Berklee but left after a few
  days to play with Canadian trumpet-player Maynard
  Ferguson's band.

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Joe Zawinul

• organized in 1971 after Zawinul left Cannonball
  and Shorter left Miles
• original members were
• Joe Zawinul, k Wayne Shorter, ts Miroslav
  Vitous, b Alphonse Muzon and Airto Moreira, p
• Zwinul and Shorter had worked together in
  Fergusons band
• Weather Reports style grew from 1971-1973 when
  rock rhythms, electric bass, and synth moved the
  group to a true fusion concept

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Weather Report

• The first ensemble that mastered synthetic sound
  for jazz
• Led by keyboardist Joe Zawinul
• First album 1971 - Weather Report
• combination of technology and virtuosity
• European electronic music studios
• associations with Cannonball Adderley, Maynard
  Ferguson, Miles Davis
• Trying to reestablish an audience
• Discarded improvisation in the traditional sense

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Weather Report

• Album - Weather Report
• Joe Zawinul, Keyboards
• Wayne Shorter, Soprano Sax
• Miroslav Vitous, Bass
• Airto Moreira, Percussion
• Alphonse Mouzon, Drums
• Eurydice (Wayne Shorter)
• The group lasted 15 years and was voted number
  one 15 time in a row in Down Beat.

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Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter

• Both worked with Miles Davis when Bitches Brew
  was recorded
• Zawinul credits the Miles Davis recording Birth
  of the Cool as having a great impact on him
• A majority of Weather Reports music was written
  by Zawinul
• Zawinul and Shorters last recording together as
  Weather Report was This is This (1986)
• Zawinul did a solo album in 1986 called
  Dialects (4 synths and 4 drum machines)

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Wayne Shorter b. 1933

• b. Newark, 1933
• studied Music Education at New York University
• enlisted in the army and played with Horace
  Silver
• after army played with Maynard Ferguson
• 1959 joined Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers
• 1964 joined Miles Davis
• became a jazz composer E.S.P., Footprints,
  Nefertiti
• 1971 joined Joe Zawinul and formed Weather Report

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Wayne Shorter

• The personnel varied except for Zawinul and
  Shorter
• Weather Report Harlequin (Tirro CD 2.12)
• slow beat
• short series of repeated chords
• no tune
• five players in picture
• Wayne Shorter, saxophone
• Alejandro Acuna, percussion
• Jaco Pastorius, electric bass
• Joe Zawinul, keyboards
• Chester Thompson, drums

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Michael Brecker

• Saxophonist
• Demonstrated that the electronic wind instrument
  (EWI) could be a real jazz instrument
• Albums
• Michael Brecker (1987)
• Dont Try This At Home

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Michael Brecker

• Dont Try This at Home (Tirro CD 3.2) Michael
  Brecker Quintet
• Opening sounds like muted trumpet and strings -
  but isnt
• Brecker and MillerTenor, sax and EWI (Akai)
• Brecker becomes a one-man sax section
• Jack DeJohnette, jazz/rock drummer - light touch
• Brecker plays melodies with the EWI which have
  several tones at once moving in parallel
• Brecker has his tenor sax connected to a
  synthesizer
• Herbie Hancock plays a great piano solo
• Itsbynne Reel (TMG CD 2.9)

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Stanley Jordan b. 1959

• Unique way of playing
• Touch technique
• Uses both hands to press the strings to the
  keyboard
• Classical piano training
• Graduated from Princeton with honors
• CD The Best of Stanley Jordan
• Jumpin Jack

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David Sanborn b. 1945

• Studied sax at Northwestern and U. of Iowa
• Played with
• Stevie Wonder
• Gil Evans
• The Rolling Stones
• Brecker Bros
• Al Jerreau
• Bob James
• Paul Shaffer
• Smoke Gets in Your EyesJazziz CD June 1995
  track 3

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Pat Metheny b. 1954

• Taught at the University of Miami and Berklee
• Metheny is a highly proficient player of both
  standard and 12-string electric guitar
• Since the 1980s has frequently employed the
  Synclavier guitar synthesizer

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Pat Metheny

• One of the most innovative jazz musicians and
  composers
• Played with the Pat Metheny Group, with Lyle
  Mays, Steve Rodby and Paul Wertico
• Recorded and/or toured with Jack DeJohnette,
  Michael Brecker, Sonny Rollins, Abbey Lincoln,
  Gary Burton, Chick Corea
• CD - Steve Reich Different Trains

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Yellowjackets

• Formed in 1977
• Band size varied over the years and, in 2000,
  became a trio
• The name Yellowjackets simply means something
  with a sting.
• CD Yellowjackets - Sittin In It (1981)

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Quincy Jonesb. 1933

• Born in Chicago, raised in Seattle
• Studied at Berklee
• Trumpet, arranger, and pianist with Lionel
  Hampton
• Composer, record producer, artist, film producer,
  arranger, conductor, instrumentalist, TV
  producer,record company executive, magazine
  founder, and multi-media entrepreneur. He has
  mixed pop, soul, hip-hop, jazz, classical,
  African, and Brazilian music into many awesome
  compilations, conquering nearly every medium,
  including records, movies, and television

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Quincy Jones

• 1989 album Back On the Block, named "Album of the
  Year" at the 1990 Grammy Awards, melded legends
  Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan,
  and Miles Davis with Ice T, Big Daddy Kane, and
  Melle Mel to bring be-bop to hip-hop for the
  first time
• Back on the Block CD

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Herbie Hancockb. 1940

• Started piano at age 5
• Performed a Mozart concerto with the Chicago
  Symphony at age 11
• Majored in Electrical Engineering and Music at
  Grinnell College
• Joined Miles David in 1963
• 1986 Oscar for Round Midnight
• 1994 Grammy Award Tribute to Miles Davis
• 1998 launched Hancock Records
• Distinguished Artist in Residence at Aspen
• Artistic Director of the Theolonius Monk
  Institute of Jazz