Return to Forever
Return to Forever is a jazz fusion group founded and led by pianist Chick Corea. Through its existence, the band has had many members, with the only consistent bandmate of Corea's being bassist Stanley Clarke. Along with Weather Report and Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever is cited as one of the core groups of the jazz-fusion movement of the 1970s. Several musicians, including Clarke, Flora Purim, Airto Moreira and Al Di Meola, first came to prominence through their performances on Return to Forever albums. After playing on Miles Davis's groundbreaking jazz-fusion albums In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, Corea formed an avant-garde jazz band called Circle with Dave Holland, Anthony Braxton and Barry Altschul. However, in 1972, after having become a member of Scientology, Corea decided that he wanted to better "communicate" with the audience; this translated into his performing a more popularly accessible style of music, since avant-garde jazz enjoyed a small audience. The first edition of Return to Forever performed Latin-oriented music.
This initial band consisted of singer Flora Purim, her husband Airto Moreira on drums and percussion, Corea's longtime musical co-worker Joe Farrell on saxophone and flute, the young Stanley Clarke on bass. Within this first line-up in particular, Clarke played acoustic double bass in addition to electric bass. Corea's electric piano formed the basis of this group's sound. Clarke and Farrell were given ample solo space themselves. While Purim's vocals lent some commercial appeal to the music, many of their compositions were instrumental and somewhat experimental in nature; the music was composed by Corea with the exception of the title track of the second album, written by Stanley Clarke. Lyrics were written by Corea's friend Neville Potter, were quite Scientology-themed. Clarke himself became involved in Scientology through Corea, but left the religion in the early 1980s, their first album, titled Return to Forever, was recorded for ECM Records in 1972 and was released only in Europe. This album featured La Fiesta.
Shortly afterwards, Airto and Tony Williams formed the band for Stan Getz's album Captain Marvel, which featured Corea's compositions, including some from the first and second Return to Forever albums. Their second album, Light as a Feather, was released by Polydor and included the song "Spain", which became quite well known. After the second album, Farrell and Moreira left the group to form their own band, guitarist Bill Connors, drummer Steve Gadd and percussionist Mingo Lewis were added. However, Gadd was unwilling to risk his job as an in-demand session drummer. Lenny White replaced Gadd and Lewis on drums and percussion, the group's third album, Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy, was rerecorded; the nature of the group's music had by now changed into jazz-rock, had evolved into a similar vein as to that the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, some progressive rock bands were performing at the time. Their music was still melodic, relying on strong themes, but the jazz element was by this time entirely absent, replaced by a more direct, rock oriented approach.
Over-driven, distorted guitar had become prominent in the band's new sound, Clarke had by switched completely to electric bass guitar. A replacement on vocals was not hired, all the songs were now instrumentals; this change did not lead to a decrease in the band's commercial fortunes however, Return to Forever's jazz rock albums instead found their way onto US pop album charts. In the September 1988 Down Beat magazine interview with Chick Corea by Josef Woodward, Josef says, "There is this general view... that... Miles crystallized electric jazz fusion and that he sent his emissaries out." Chick responds, "Nah. Miles is a leader... But there were other things that occurred that I thought were as important. What John McLaughlin did with the electric guitar set the world on its ear. No one heard an electric guitar played like that before, it inspired me.... John's band, more than my experience with Miles, led me to want to turn the volume up and write music, more dramatic and made your hair move."While their second jazz rock album, Where Have I Known You Before was similar in style to its immediate predecessor, Corea now played synthesizers in addition to electric keyboards, Clarke's playing had evolved considerably- now using flange and fuzz-tone effects, with his now signature style beginning to emerge.
After Bill Connors left the band to concentrate on his solo career, the group hired new guitarists. Although Earl Klugh played guitar for some of the group's live performances, he was soon replaced by the 19-year-old guitar prodigy Al Di Meola, who had played on the album recording sessions, their following album, No Mystery, was recorded with the same line-up as "Where Have I Known You Before", but the style of music had become more varied. The first side of the record consisted of jazz-funk, while the second side featured Corea's acoustic title track and a long composition with a strong Spanish influence. On this and the following album, each member of the group composed at least one of the tracks. No Mystery went on to win the Grammy Award for Best
Steve Smith (musician)
Steven Bruce Smith is an American drummer best known as a member of the rock band Journey, rejoining the group for the third time in 2015. Modern Drummer magazine readers have voted him the No. 1 All-Around Drummer five years in a row. In 2001, the publication named Smith one of the Top 25 Drummers of All Time, in 2002 he was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Journey on April 7, 2017. Smith received his first drum kit at age two and in 1963 he began taking formal lessons with local Boston area drum teacher Bill Flanagan, who played in big bands in the swing era. Smith got his first "real" drum set. On many nights, Steve could be heard practicing in a small shed in the backyard of his Harvard Street home. Smith performed in the usual school band program and garage bands while in his teens, including Clyde, a South Shore sensation, but began to broaden his performing experience by playing in a professional concert band and the big band at local Bridgewater State College.
Smith's first "paid gig". He graduated from high school in 1972, at 19 he joined the Lin Biviano Big Band, playing with them for two years. After high school, Smith studied with Alan Dawson. In the early 1990s, he studied with Freddie Gruber, he recorded and toured with jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty in 1977–78. He was played with Ronnie Montrose. From 1978–1985, he was the drummer for the rock band Journey, he returned in 1995 for the band's comeback album Trial by Fire. In the interim, he played with Journey offshoot The Storm. In 2015, he rejoined Journey again. Since 1977, Smith has led Vital Information. Drummer Neil Peart of Rush invited him in 1994 to perform on Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich, a tribute album to Buddy Rich, who inspired both drummers. Smith recorded the song "Nutville" and was invited for the sequel tribute album, Burning for Buddy: A Tribute to the Music of Buddy Rich, Vol. 2, for which he recorded "Moment's Notice". He recorded two albums with a quintet composed of musicians who played with Rich.
In 2007, Smith and Buddy's Buddies were renamed Steve Smith's Jazz Legacy. The band pays tribute to many great jazz drummers in addition to Buddy Rich. In 1989, Smith headlined the Buddy Rich Memorial Scholarship Concert held in New York City, performing a duet with drummer Marvin "Smitty" Smith. Smith released two albums, Very Live at Ronnie Scott's Set One & Set Two, for Tone Center that were recorded live at Ronnie Scott's club in London. In 2001 Modern Drummer magazine named Smith one of the Top 25 Drummers of All Time. During the following year, he was voted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame. In 2003, his DVD Steve Smith Drumset Technique – History of the U. S. Beat was voted the No. 1 Educational DVD of the year. He has worked as a session musician for Mariah Carey, Andrea Bocelli, Vasco Rossi, Savage Garden, Bryan Adams, Zakir Hussain and Sandip Burman. Additionally, he has played with jazz musicians such as Steps Ahead, Wadada Leo Smith, Tom Coster, Ahmad Jamal, Dave Liebman, Larry Coryell, Victor Wooten, Mike Stern, Randy Brecker, Scott Henderson, Frank Gambale, Stuart Hamm, Dweezil Zappa, Anthony Jackson, Aydın Esen, Torsten de Winkel, George Brooks, Michael Zilber, Steve Marcus, Andy Fusco, Kai Eckhardt, Lee Musiker, Howard Levy, Oteil Burbridge, Jerry Goodman, Tony MacAlpine and Bill Evans.
1994 Distant Lands 1999 Steve Smith & Buddy's Buddies 2003 Reimagined, Vol. 1: Jazz Standards 2003 Very Live at Ronnie Scott's London, Set 1 2003 Very Live at Ronnie Scott's London, Set 2 2005 Sky 2005 Flashpoint 2005 Lovin' You More 2008 This Town 2015 Then and Now 2016 Groove Blue with Tony Monaco and Vinny Valentino With Journey 1979 Evolution 1980 Departure 1980 Dream, After Dream 1981 Captured 1981 Escape 1983 Frontiers 1986 Raised on Radio 1996 Trial by FireWith Vital Information 1983 Vital Information 1984 Orion 1987 Global Beat 1988 Fiafiaga 1991 Vitalive! 1992 Easier Done Than Said 1996 Ray of Hope 1998 Where We Come From 2000 Live Around the World 2001 Live from Mars 2002 Show'Em Where You Live 2004 Come on In 2007 Vitalization 2012 Live! One Great Night 2015 Viewpoint 2017 Heart of the City With Steps Ahead 1986 Live in Tokyo 1986 1989 N. Y. C. 1992 Yin-Yang 2016 Steppin' OutWith Steve Smith's Jazz Legacy 2008 Live on Tour, Vol. 1 2009 Live on Tour, Vol. 2With others 1990 Ten, Y&T 1990 The Storm, The Storm 1998 Cause and Effect with Larry Coryell and Tom Coster With Jeff Berlin 1985 Champion 1998 CrossroadsWith Frank Gambale 1987 Present for the Future 1991 Note Worker 1998 Show Me What You Can Do 2000 The Light Beyond 2002 GHS3With Henry Kaiser and Wadada Leo Smith 2004 Yo Miles: Sky Garden 2005 Yo Miles: Upriver 2010 Yo Miles: Lightning 2010 Yo Miles: ShinjukuWith Neal Schon 1982 Here to Stay with Jan Hammer 1989 Late Nite 1995 Beyond the Thunder 1997 Electric World 2012 The Calling 2015 VortexWith others 1986 Edge of Insanity, Tony MacAlpine 1989 Metropolis, Turtle Island String Quartet 1991 Emotions, Mariah Carey 1994 Thonk, Michael Manring 1995 Spirito Di Vino, Zucchero 1999 Stranger's Hand, Howard Levy 2000 Room Full of Fools, Kevin Coyne 2001 Count's Jam Band Reunion, Larry Coryell 2001 Chromaticity, Tony MacAlpine 2004 Andrea, Andrea Bocelli Steve Smith & Vital Information Web Sites 2012 Audio Interview with Steve Smith from the Podcast "I'd Hit That"
Mahavishnu Orchestra
Mahavishnu Orchestra were a jazz fusion band formed in New York City in 1971 by English guitarist John McLaughlin. The band underwent several line-up changes throughout its history across two stints from 1971 to 1976 and 1984 to 1987. With its first line-up consisting of musicians Billy Cobham, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman and Rick Laird, the band received its initial acclaims for its complex, intense music consisting of a blend of Indian classical music and psychedelic rock, their dynamic live performances between 1971 and 1973; the band's first lineup featured English guitarist "Mahavishnu" John McLaughlin, Panamanian drummer Billy Cobham, Irish bassist Rick Laird, Czechoslovakian keyboardist Jan Hammer, American violinist Jerry Goodman. McLaughlin had worked with Cobham and Goodman on his third solo album My Goal's Beyond, when he asked Cobham to become the drummer in the new jazz-rock fusion band he wished to form, he accepted; the violin was an instrument. He could not have his first choice, due to immigration problems.
After listening to various albums featuring a violinist, he hired Goodman of The Flock. Although bassist Tony Levin was the first person McLaughlin wanted to join the band, Laird had known McLaughlin for several years and accepted the invitation. Hammer was found through a mutual friendship with Miroslav Vitous of Weather Report; the group first rehearsed for one week. Their first live performance followed at The Gaslight Cafe in New York City, where they were the opening act for bluesman John Lee Hooker. McLaughlin recalled: "The first set was shaky but the second set just took off and every night it was great, they wanted to hold us over and a few days after the second week... we went into the studio". McLaughlin had specific ideas for the instrumentation of the group in keeping with his original concept of genre-blending in composition, he wanted a violinist as an integral contributor to its overall sound. As the group evolved, McLaughlin adopted what became his visual trademark — a double neck guitar which allowed for a great degree of diversity in musical textures — and Hammer became one of the first to play a Minimoog synthesizer in an ensemble, which enabled him to add more sounds and solo more alongside the guitar and the violin.
Their musical style was an original blend of genres: they combined the high-volume electrified rock sound, pioneered by Jimi Hendrix, complex rhythms in unusual time signatures that reflected McLaughlin's interest in Indian classical music as well as funk, harmonic influence from European classical music. The group's early music, represented on such albums as The Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire, was instrumental. In the aforementioned two albums, the group goes from an energetic fusion of upbeat genres to serene, chamber music-like tunes, such as "A Lotus On Irish Streams," a composition for acoustic guitar and violin, "Thousand Island Park," which drops the violin and incorporates double bass. Due to the pressures of sudden fame, exhaustion and a lack of communication, the original band began to tire as 1973 continued; the stress was further exacerbated by a disastrous recording session at London's Trident Studios that found some of the players not speaking to others. Their project was never completed.
The last straw came as John McLaughlin read an interview in Crawdaddy magazine in which Jan Hammer and Jerry Goodman expressed their frustrations with John's leadership style. An effort to fix things back in New York fell through. On in the 1970s, McLaughlin stated in an interview in Gig magazine that he would like the album to come out, as he thought it was good. In its place, the live album Between Nothingness & Eternity was released featuring material from the studio album. 30 years during the beginning of a renaissance of Mahavishnu's music, the incomplete album from the failed London recording was released as The Lost Trident Sessions. After the original group dissolved, it reformed in 1974 with a new cast of musicians behind McLaughlin: Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, Gayle Moran on keyboards, Ralphe Armstrong on bass, Narada Michael Walden on percussion, Steven Kindler and Carol Shive on violin, Marcia Westbrook on viola, Phil Hirschi on cello, Steve Frankevich and Bob Knapp on brass; this "new" Mahavishnu Orchestra changed personnel between 1974's Apocalypse and Visions of the Emerald Beyond in 1975.
Apocalypse was recorded in London with the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas, with George Martin producing and Geoff Emerick engineering the sessions. The band was reduced to a four-piece for 1976's Inner Worlds, with Jean-Luc Ponty leaving after a heated disagreement about writing credits on the Visions album, Gayle Moran being replaced with Stu Goldberg. Ponty would settle over the royalties for the tracks Pegasus and Opus 1 for an undisclosed amount of money. After the dissolution of this version of the Orchestra, McLaughlin formed another group called Shakti to explore his interest in Indian music.
Larry Coryell
Larry Coryell was an American jazz guitarist known as the "Godfather of Fusion". Larry Coryell was born in Texas, he never knew a musician. He was raised by his stepfather Gene, a chemical engineer, his mother Cora, who encouraged him to learn piano when he was four years old. In his teens he switched to guitar. After his family moved to Richland, Washington, he took lessons from a teacher who lent him albums by Les Paul, Johnny Smith, Barney Kessel, Tal Farlow; when asked what jazz guitar albums influenced him, Coryell cited On View at the Five Spot by Kenny Burrell, Red Norvo with Strings, The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery. He tried to play jazz when he was eighteen, he said. Coryell graduated from Richland High School, where he played in local bands the Jailers, the Rumblers, the Royals, the Flames, he played with the Checkers from Yakima. He moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington. In September 1965, Coryell moved to New York City. After moving to New York, he listened to classical composers such as Bartók, Ravel and Shostakovich.
He replaced guitarist Gábor Szabó in Chico Hamilton's quintet. In 1967–68, he recorded with Gary Burton. During the mid-1960s he played with his first recorded band, his music during the late-1960s and early-1970s combined rock and eastern music. He married three times during his life. First to writer-actress Julie Nathanson, daughter of actress Carol Bruce, she appeared on the cover of his albums, Lady Coryell, Larry Coryell at the Village Gate, The Lion and the Ram and wrote the book Jazz-Rock Fusion based on interviews with musicians such as Chick Corea and John McLaughlin. She sang on one track on Coryell's 1984 album Comin' Home; the couple divorced in 1985. She died in 2009. Larry’s second marriage was to Mary Schuler from Connecticut in 1988; the couple divorced in 2005. Larry’s widow is Tracey Coryell, they were married in Orlando Florida in 2007. Tracey is a singer/songwriter/performer who appeared on Larry’s “Laid, Back & Blues” recording in 2006 on Rhombus Records. Larry recorded one of Tracey’s compositions, “First Day of Autumn” on his album “The Lift “ in 2013 on Wide Hive Records.
In the Seventies, he led the group Foreplay with Mike Mandel, a friend since childhood, although the albums of this period, Barefoot Boy and The Real Great Escape, were credited only to "Larry Coryell." He formed The Eleventh House in 1973. Several of the group's albums included drummer Alphonse Mouzon, he recorded two guitar duet albums with Philip Catherine. In 1979, he formed The Guitar Trio with Paco de Lucia; the group toured Europe releasing a video recorded at Royal Albert Hall in London entitled Meeting of Spirits. In early 1980, Coryell's drug addiction led to his being replaced by Al Di Meola, he recorded Together with guitarist Emily Remler, who died from a heroin overdose in 1990. Coryell died on February 19, 2017, of heart failure in New York City, at the age of 73, he was performing at the Iridium jazz club in Manhattan that weekend. In his review of the concert at the Iridium, David Miller of All About Jazz wrote: This was jazz at its finest—complex and virtuosic yet accessible, at times intense, at others fun-filled, always with the feeling of the unknown that comes with spontaneous and inspired improvisation.
While the music was steeped in the bop tradition, the musicians continually found new ways to utilize the idiom. Few locations other than New York could host a powerhouse gathering of musical heavyweights of this order, one can only hope that the shows have been recorded for a future release; when NPR radio host Billy Taylor, on one of the editions of Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center, introduced Coryell, he said: Versatile virtuoso guitarist Larry Coryell proves to be more than an outstanding musician. Lady Coryell Coryell Spaces Larry Coryell at the Village Gate Fairyland Barefoot Boy Offering The Real Great Escape Introducing Eleventh House with Larry Coryell The Restful Mind Level One Planet End The Lion and the Ram Aspects Two for the Road with Steve Khan Twin House with Philip Catherine Back Together Again with Alphonse Mouzon At Montreaux Better than Live Standing Ovation Splendid with Philip Catherine Difference European Impressions Tributaries with John Scofield, Joe Beck Return Boléro The Larry Coryell Michel Urbaniak Duo L'Oiseau de Feu, Petrouchka Comin' Home A Quiet Day in Spring with Michal Urbaniak Together with Emily Remler Equipoise Toku Do Dragon Gate Shining Hour American Odyssey Larry Coryell/Don Lanphere Twelve Frets to One Octave Live from Bahia Fallen Angel I'll Be Over You Sketches of Coryell Spaces Revisited Cause and Effect Private Concert Monk, Miles & Me From the Ashes with L. Subramaniam New High (HighNote
Scott Henderson
Scott Henderson is an American jazz fusion and blues guitarist best known for his work with the band Tribal Tech. Born in West Palm Beach, United States, Scott Henderson began playing guitar at an early age, his formative musical years were spent listening to rock, blues and soul, while his interest in jazz developed on, thanks to the music of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, others. He still professes to being a blues player at heart. After graduating from Florida Atlantic University, Henderson moved to Los Angeles and began his career in earnest, first playing in various cover bands, but soon Henderson was recording with violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, bassist Jeff Berlin and "Players", Weather Report's Joe Zawinul. Henderson first began receiving serious attention as the original guitarist for the Chick Corea Elektric Band together with Carlos Rios, but he stayed only 3 months, he disliked working with Chick Corea because of his views on Scientology. Henderson formed Tribal Tech with bass player Gary Willis in 1984.
Under the direction of Henderson and Willis, Tribal Tech became one of the most regarded fusion bands of the 1980s. He toured and recorded with the band up until their dissolution following the 2000 album Rocket Science, during that time brought himself to the forefront of modern jazz/fusion guitar playing. In 1991 he was named'#1 Jazz Guitarist' by Guitar World magazine, in January 1992 he was voted best jazz guitarist in Guitar Player magazine's Annual Reader's Poll. In June 2014, Henderson posted on his message board that he and Gary Willis would be dissolving Tribal Tech. Henderson has more moved back to his blues roots, releasing the blues album Dog Party in 1994, Tore Down House, he recorded Well To The Bone alongside bass player, John Humphrey, Kirk Covington on drums with Shrapnel Records. His latest solo release Vibe Station with Alan Hertz on drums and Travis Carlton on bass, moved into the funk/jazz fusion vein, he has stated that he is enjoying playing in bands which do not have keyboard players, as it allows him to branch out more and properly explore the guitar's full potential as an instrument.
Henderson has recorded with the group Vital Tech Tones with Victor Wooten and Steve Smith, which has released two CDs in 1998 and 2000. Henderson has appeared as a guest artist on a number of recordings, his complete discography available on Scott Henderson's website Tribal Tech released its first album in over a decade with 2011's'X'. Henderson, again with Shrapnel Records, released the fusion trio album HBC in October 2012 with bassist Jeff Berlin and drummer Dennis Chambers, they went on tour presenting the project in different countries. In 2016, Scott Henderson comes up with a new trio including two French musicians, Archibald Ligonnière on drums and Romain Labaye on bass, they did and are still touring every year in Europe and South America. Henderson teaches at the Guitar Institute of Technology, part of the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, California, he has released four instructional guitar videos. Solo Dog Party Tore Down House Well to the Bone Live! Vibe Station With Tribal Tech Spears Dr. Hee Nomad Tribal Tech Illicit Face First Reality Check Thick Rocket Science X Band Projects Players Vital Tech Tones VTT2 HBC Compilations Tribal Tech: Primal Tracks Solo Albums: Collection Other Fables Champion The Chick Corea Elektric Band The Immigrants Black Water Forbidden Zone I've Known Rivers Vienna Nights Manic Voodoo Lady Stories by the Bridge Scott Henderson's website 1999 Scott Henderson Interview 2015 Scott Henderson Interview on Guitar.com
Jazz fusion
Jazz fusion is a musical genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars and keyboards that were popular in rock and roll started to be used by jazz musicians those who had grown up listening to rock and roll. Jazz fusion arrangements vary in complexity; some employ groove-based vamps fixed to a single key or a single chord with a simple, repeated melody. Others use elaborate chord progressions, unconventional time signatures, or melodies with counter-melodies; these arrangements, whether simple or complex include improvised sections that can vary in length, much like in other form of jazz. As with jazz, jazz fusion employs brass and woodwind instruments such as trumpet and saxophone, but other instruments substitute for these. A jazz fusion band is less to use piano, double bass, drums, more to use electric guitar, bass guitar, drums; the term "jazz rock" is sometimes used as a synonym for "jazz fusion" and for music performed by late 1960s and 1970s-era rock bands that added jazz elements to their music.
After a decade of popularity during the 1970s, fusion expanded its improvisatory and experimental approaches through the 1980s in parallel with the development of a radio-friendly style called smooth jazz. Experimentation continued in the 2000s. Fusion albums those that are made by the same group or artist, may include a variety of musical styles. Rather than being a codified musical style, fusion can be viewed as approach. In 1967 John Coltrane died, because rock was the most popular genre of music in America, DownBeat magazine declared in a headline that "Jazz as We Know It Is Dead". Guitarist Larry Coryell, sometimes called the godfather of fusion, referred to a generation of musicians who had grown up on rock and roll when he said, "We loved Miles but we loved the Rolling Stones." In 1966 he started the band the Free Spirits with Bob Moses on drums and recorded the band's first album. Out of Sight and Sound was released in 1967, the same year DownBeat began to report on rock music. After the Free Spirits, Coryell was part of a quartet led by vibraphonist Gary Burton, releasing the album Duster with its rock guitar influence.
Burton produced the album Tomorrow Never Knows for Count's Rock Band, which included Coryell, Mike Nock, Steve Marcus, all of them former students at Berklee College in Boston. The pioneers of fusion emphasized exploration, electricity, intensity and volume. Charles Lloyd played a combination of rock and jazz at the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1966 with a quartet that included Keith Jarrett and Jack DeJohnette. Lloyd adopted the trappings of the California psychedelic rock scene by playing at the rock venue the Fillmore, wearing colorful clothes, giving his albums titles like Dream Weaver and Forest Flower, which were bestselling jazz albums in 1967. Flautist Jeremy Steig experimented with jazz in his band Jeremy & the Satyrs with vibraphonist Mike Mainieri; the jazz label Verve released the first album by rock guitarist Frank Zappa in 1966. Rahsaan Roland Kirk performed with Jimi Hendrix at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London. AllMusic states that "until around 1967, the worlds of jazz and rock were nearly separate".
As members of Miles Davis's band, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock played electric piano on Filles de Kilimanjaro. Davis wrote in his autobiography that in 1968 he had been listening to Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone; when Davis recorded Bitches Brew in 1969, he abandoned the swing beat in favor of a rock and roll backbeat and bass guitar grooves. The album "mixed free jazz blowing by a large ensemble with electronic keyboards and guitar, plus a dense mix of percussion." Davis played his trumpet like an electric guitar -- pedals. By the end of the first year, Bitches Brew sold 400,000 copies, four times the average for a Miles Davis album. Over the next two years the aloof Davis recorded more worked with many sideman, appeared on television, performed at rock venues. Just as Davis tested the loyalty of rock fans by continuing to experiment, his producer, Teo Macero, inserted recorded material into the Jack Johnson soundtrack, Live-Evil, On the Corner. Although Bitches Brew gave him a gold record, the use of electric instruments and rock beats created consternation among some jazz critics, who accused Davis of betraying the essence of jazz.
Music critic Kevin Fellezs commented that some members of the jazz community regarded rock music as less sophisticated and more commercial than jazz. Davis's 1969 album In a Silent Way is considered his first fusion album. Composed of two side-long improvised suites edited by Teo Macero, the album was made by pioneers of jazz fusion: Corea, Wayne Shorter, Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin. A Tribute to Jack Johnson has been cited as "the purest electric jazz record made" and "one of the most remarkable jazz rock discs of the era". According to music journalist Zaid Mudhaffer, the term "jazz fusion" was coined in a review of Song of Innocence by David Axelrod when it was released in 1968. Axelrod said. Miles Davis dropped out of music in 1975 because of problems with drugs and alcohol, but his sidemen took advantage of the creative and financial vistas, opened. Herbie Hancock brought elements of funk and electronic music into commercially successful albums such as Head Hunters and Feets, Don't Fail Me Now.
Several years after recording Miles in the Sky with Davis, guitarist George Benson becam
Soft Machine
Soft Machine are an English rock and jazz band from Canterbury formed in mid-1966, named after the novel The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs, they were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene. Though they achieved little commercial success, they are considered by critics to have been influential in rock music, Dave Lynch at AllMusic called them "one of the more influential bands of their era, one of the most influential underground ones." Soft Machine were formed in mid-1966 by Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Mike Ratledge plus, for the first few gigs only, American guitarist Larry Nowlin. Allen and future bassist Hugh Hopper first played together in the Daevid Allen Trio in 1963 accompanied by Ratledge. Wyatt and Hopper had been founding members of The Wilde Flowers, incarnations of which would include members of another Canterbury band, Caravan; this first Soft Machine line-up became involved in the early UK underground, performing at the UFO Club and other London clubs like the Speakeasy Club and Middle Earth.
Their first single, "Love Makes Sweet Music", was released by Polydor in February, backed with "Feelin' Reelin' Squeelin'". In April 1967 they recorded seven demo songs with producer Giorgio Gomelsky in De Lane Lea Studios that remained unreleased until 1971 in a dispute over studio costs, they played in the Netherlands, on the French Riviera. During July and August 1967, Gomelsky booked shows along the Côte d'Azur with the band's most famous early gig taking place in the village square of Saint-Tropez; this led to an invitation to perform at producer Eddie Barclay's trendy "Nuit Psychédélique", performing a forty-minute rendering of "We Did It Again", singing the refrain over and over in a trance-like quality. This made them instant darlings of the Parisian "in" crowd, resulting in invitations to appear on television shows and at the Paris Biennale in October 1967. After their return from France, Allen was denied re-entry to the United Kingdom, so the group continued as a trio, while he returned to Paris to form Gong.
Sharing the same management as Jimi Hendrix, the band supported the Jimi Hendrix Experience's North America tour throughout 1968. Soft Machine's first album was recorded in New York City in April at the end of the first leg of the tour. Back in London, guitarist Andy Summers of The Police, joined the group following the breakup of Dantalian's Chariot. After a few weeks of rehearsals, the quartet began a tour of the U. S. with some solo shows before reuniting with Hendrix during August and September 1968. Summers was fired at the insistence of Ayers, who departed amicably after the final tour date at the Hollywood Bowl in mid-September, for the remainder of 1968 Soft Machine were no more. Wyatt stayed in the U. S. to record solo demos, while Ratledge began composing in earnest. One of Wyatt's demos, Slow Walkin' Talk, allowed Wyatt to make use of his multi-instrumentalist skills and featured Hendrix on bass guitar. In December 1968, to fulfill contractual obligations, Soft Machine re-formed with former road manager and composer Hugh Hopper on bass added to Wyatt and Ratledge and recorded their second album, Volume Two, which started a transition toward jazz fusion.
In May 1969 this line-up acted as the uncredited backing band on two tracks of The Madcap Laughs, the debut album by Syd Barrett. In 1969 the trio was expanded to a septet with the addition of four horn players, though only saxophonist Elton Dean remained beyond a few months, the resulting Soft Machine quartet running through Third and Fourth, with various guests jazz players. Fourth was the first of their instrumental albums and the last one featuring Wyatt, their propensity for building extended suites from regular sized compositions, both live and in the studio, reached its apogee in the 1970 album Third, unusual for its time with each of the four sides featuring one suite. Third was unusual for remaining in print for more than ten years in the U. S. and is the best-selling Soft Machine recording. They received unprecedented acclaim across Europe, they made history by becoming the first rock band invited to play at London's Proms in August 1970; the show was broadcast live on national TV and appeared as a live album.
After differences over the group's musical direction, Wyatt left the band in August 1971 and formed Matching Mole. He was replaced by Australian drummer Phil Howard; this line-up toured extensively in Europe during the end of 1971 and attended the recording of their next album, but further musical disagreements led to Howard's dismissal after the recording of the first LP side of Fifth before the end of 1971 and some months in 1972 to Dean's departure. They were replaced in 1971 by John Marshall and in 1972 by Karl Jenkins, both former members of Ian Carr's Nucleus, for the recording of Six, the band's sound developed more towards jazz fusion. In 1973, after the release of Six, Hopper left and was replaced by Roy Babbington, another former Nucleus member, who had contributed double bass on Fourth and Fifth a
