My current music obsession is jazz fusion. This genre got its start in the late 1960's; many cite Miles Davis' "In a Silent Way" as the first "fusion" album. So, what is it? In short, jazz mixed with a little rock and a little funk. Of course, there are variations. Some say fusion is "electric" jazz: In other words, electric pianos, electric guitars, and even in the case of Miles Davis, his horn amplified through a wah-wah pedal. All of these descriptions are true.

Unfortunately, jazz fusion is pretty much dead. The golden years of this genre happened between 1969ish-1975ish. Most of what poeple refer to as jazz fusion these days is what most people call "Elevator music". We're talking boring, soulless, Kenny G bullsh*t. This wasn't the fiery fusion of the early 70's, by any stretch.

Let's take a look at some of the classics for your listening enjoyment. Feel free to chime in with your favorites in the comments section!

Miles Davis

OK, let's start with the innovator: Miles Davis. Did Miles invent fusion? Probably. His musical vision is legendary, as he has been on the cutting edge of most innovations in jazz since bebop in the 1940's. Of course, he couldn't have done it without the efforts of his bandmates such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Joe Zawinul, Chick Corea, and John McLaughlin...Pretty much all of these guys went on to become giants in the fusion scene in the 1970's.

Here's what you need to hear:

In A Slient Way: This album started it all. A fully electric approach to jazz. It isn't quite rock, and it isn't really funk, but it is jazz. I guess I would classify this as an ambient sort of sound. The sounds introduced here would go on to make a huge wave in the jazz world. The sound of Joe Zawinul's electric keyboards to John McLaughlin's electric guitar are a treat for the ears. This is a must-have album that I have on both CD and 180 gram LP.

Bitches Brew: After In A Silent Way, Miles Davis dropped this bomb on the jazz world. If you've read my top 10 essential jazz albums post, this is #10. Bitches Brew has more of a rock flair than In A Silent Way, and is definitely a bit more far-out, but you can't deny that this is a great album. It is electric, moody, loud, and trippy. I love it.

On The Corner: So, In A Silent Way was a rather mild album, then Bitches Brew blew it out of the water. On The Corner was the album that many people say is Miles' F*ck you to the jazz world. This album is in your face. Forget restraint, forget the ambience of In A Silent Way. On The Corner is a bold album from a bold artist. While many referred to this album as "anti-jazz", I refer to it as a breath of fresh air. It is loud, funky, and completely unapologetic. I love this album, especially the intense, yet mesmerizing beats laid out by Jack DeJohnette.

No one will deny Miles' unmatched musical vision. Also, of equal significance was his ability to put together the best bands ever assembled in jazz. Many of the members of Miles' fusion groups went on to massive success in their own fusion bands. Let's take a look at the work of these other greats.

Herbie Hancock

Next in line is one of the most successful jazz musicians ever: Herbie Hancock. Herbie got his start with Miles Davis in the early 1960's, and has not rested since. He has had amazing influence in many worlds, including jazz, folk, rock, and hip-hop. When he went off on his own in the 70's, Herbie Hancock ended up being the biggest fusion act in the world. Here's what you need to hear:

Headhunters: This is pretty much the most famous fusion album ever recorded, and is often reported as the biggest selling jazz album in history (although, Kind of Blue is the actual biggest seller). Headhunters is in your face funky. The intro bassline from Chameleon (the opening track) is classic. This album is funky, funky, funky, and just about everyone who hears it loves it. My favorite song on the album is "Sly" which is a nod to Sly Stone, and it just blows my mind every time I hear it--especially the 3rd part of the song. I also own this album on both CD and LP. It belongs in every music lover's collection, whether your love is rock, jazz, or r&b.

Thrust: The follow up to Headhunters, Thrust is another classic fusion album. While it is not as hard-hitting as Headhunters, this album is a must-hear for people who enjoy funky music. The most famous piece on the album is "Actual Proof", which is a classic, funky, "urban-ish" composition. In fact, I love it so much that it was played at my wedding! Of course, the standout piece on the album is "Butterfly" which is a mellow, beautiful composition that is somewhat in the same vein as the stuff on In A Silent Way, but more heavenly. Butterfly is one of my favorite songs ever.

Man-Child: Herbie Hancock did many fusion albums in the 1970's, and Man-Child is one of his funkier efforts. This album featured electric guitars, electric pianos, and plenty of bass grooves and beats. It is less jazzy in that the music is less improvised than music he did in the past, and the songs are definitely shorter. This is a great album that will introduce people in a more gentle way to the full-on jazz funk fusion done by Hancock in his earlier fusion albums.

Weather Report

Moving on. Let's talk about two musical visionaries from Miles Davis' band that went on to form the biggest band in jazz fusion history: Weather Report. The two musicians are Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter. Joe plays piano, Wayne plays sax. Another notable member of Weather Report is Jaco Pastorius, voted the best bass player who ever lived. Weather Report evolved heavily during their career. At first, they were more ambient, more improvisational, and more jam-oriented. As they continued, they brought in more rock and pop elements, shortened their songs, and improvised less. They achieved massive success with this formula. Here are the essentials:

Weather Report: This was Weather Report's debut album, and it won Down Beat Magazine's album of the year in 1971. This album is considered a classic early fusion album, with similar sounds to Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and In A Silent Way.

Heavy Weather: This is Weather Report's most successful album, featuring the hit "Birdland". In addition to being Weather Report's best-selling album, it remains one of the best selling jazz fusion albums ever. This album is the first that prominently features bassist extraordinaire Jaco Pastorius. It is much more rock and pop oriented than their debut.

Weather Report is probably the most commercial and accessible jazz fusion group, and many of their albums are notable for an eclectic blend of several musical genres and overall musical complexity. Check them out!

Jaco Pastorius

Speaking of Weather Report...I wanted to talk about Jaco for a minute. Widely regarded as the greatest bass player who ever lived, coupled with a heavy case of mental and emotional instability, and utimately a premature and tragic death, Jaco Pastorius is always an interesting topic. While Jaco Pastorius was highly successful as a member of Weather Report, his debut album is what dropped the bomb on the jazz and music world.

This album will blow your mind, and it still blows my mind every time I hear it. If you play bass, drop what you're doing right now and buy this album. In addition to showing off Jaco's amazing skill with the bass, it also showcases his talent as a composer. Every track on this album is a standout; from the re-interpretation of the bebop standard "Donna Lee" to the r&b song "Come On Come Over", to the orchestral and grandiose "Kuru/Speak Like a Child", all the way to the beautiful "Portrait of Tracy", this album is a must-have.

Chick Corea and Return to Forever

Moving on, let's talk about more of Miles Davis' bandmates who were part of the fusion movement. Next up is Chick Corea. Chick Corea is a piano/keyboard player who has performed on many of Miles Davis's albums from the late 1960's and early 70's. In the early 1970's, he put together a group called Return to Forever. This group started off as a more latin-American mix with jazz, and later became a more rock-oriented group. Here are the essentials:

Light as a Feather: This is the second Return to Forever album, and has a strong Brazillian, Latin-American sound, with electric instrumentation. It also features vocals from the Brazillian jazz singer, Flora Purim. This is a great album that I listen to often. It features many long and exciting improvisations and solos, with Purim's vocals mixed in. The standout piece on the album is the classic song "Spain", which has been covered and recorded several times. This is an essential album for lovers of latin-tinged jazz.

No Mystery: This album is very different from Light as a Feather. For starters, it has no vocals, and features a very different band. The music has much less of a latin influence, and instead is more rock and funk oriented. It also features guitar virtuoso Al DiMeola. This album won a grammy in 1975 for best jazz performance by a group. Admittedly, I first heard this album only a month ago, but it is quickly becoming one of my favorites.

Return to Forever had a few years of great music, but soon enough the band members moved on to new things. Al DiMeola is one of the more famous members, especially amongst guitar players. Bassist Stanley Clarke has also made a long and varied career in music, with several notable albums under his belt.

John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra

Moving on...Let's talk about another pupil of Miles Davis: John McLaughlin. John McLaughlin was brought into Miles' band during the late 60's and early 70's for his skills on the electric guitar. McLaughlin can be heard on In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew, among other Miles Davis albums from that era. His work during this time took a new direction when he founded the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1971. The Mahavishnu Orchestra was one of the heavier fusion acts, featuring an eclectic blend of guitar rock, Indian instrumentation, funk, as well as Western and Eastern classic music. Here are the essentials:

The Inner Mounting Flame: This was the debut album from the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and is an eclectic blend of rock, funk, as well as Western classical music and traditional Indian music. What stands out on this album are the rock elements that are direct references to the playing of Jimi Hendrix. This album, while being considered a jazz fusion album is right at home next to the great rock guitar albums, and is a highly influential album for guitar players everywhere.

Birds of Fire: The follow-up album to The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire is another rock-oriented auditory assault. The mood is heavy and the guitars are furious. This album will delight lovers of virtuoso guitar playing and heavy jazz.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra was a relatively short-lived group, but their influence is major and far-reaching. This is probably the heaviest jazz fusion act, and is right at home with both jazz and rock fans.

Tony Williams and Lifetime

Miles Davis seems to have dominated the entire concept of fusion. Another of his bandmates, Tony Williams, put together Lifetime, another major fusion group. While not achieving the same level of success as other fusion acts such as Weather Report and Return to Forever, Tony Williams Lifetime is considered a highly-influential fusion group, and has spanwned several tribute bands and tours. Here are the essentials:

Emergency!: This is one of the pioneering fusion albums, along with In A Silent Way. Tony Williams had been playing with Miles Davis for several years at this point, and was clearly heavily influenced by and influential to Miles' electric direction. Featuring Tony on drums, John McLaughlin on guitar, and Larry Young on organ, this album is a fusion classic.

Turn it Over: This album is the follow-up to Emergency! and features slightly more restrained improvisation and soloing, yet is still a fiery and intense experience. This album is definitely more rock-oriented than Emergency.

Tony Williams has proven himself again and again to not only be a top-notch drummer, but a talented musician and composer. I first started paying attention to him after reading Miles' autobiography, where Miles constantly emphasizes the amazing talent possessed by Tony Williams.

Did you read this far? I'm amazed! I can't believe I wrote this much. Anyway, Jazz fusion is great because it combines so many different musical elements, and draws inspiration from many sources. I find it exciting and unique, and I would love to discover this music further. Hopefully this primer has given you some new music to take in. Enjoy the music!

One of my favorite musical artists of all time is the jazz legend, Herbie Hancock. Herbie began his music career in the early 1960's when Miles Davis was putting together his "Second great quintet". Prior to working with Miles Davis, Herbie was a piano prodigy with a good amount of playing and performance experience under his belt. Working with Miles Davis earned Herbie Hancock instant fame and notoriety. While Hancock spent much time in the 1960's performing and recording with Miles Davis, he also recorded and performed several of his own albums with his own bands. One composition of his, "Riot" was recorded for the Miles Davis album "Nefertiti", and a different version was released on Herbie Hancock's "Speak Like a Child" album.

Working with Miles Davis in the 60's proved to be an extremely productive milestone in Herbie Hancock's career. With his work in the early 1960's, Herbie Hancock was regarded as one of the forefathers of the "Post-bop" sound: A style of jazz that is a blend of bebop, modal, and hard bop styles. Herbie Hancock's greatest achievement during this time was his masterpiece "Maiden Voyage", which is considered the quintessential post-bop recording. Other notable albums released during the 1960's are "Takin' Off", "My Point of View", "Inventions and Dimensions", "Empyrean Isles", "Speak Like a Child", "Fat Albert Rotunda", and "The Prisoner".

As the decade came close to an end, jazz was beginning to go electric. People like Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix were a huge influence on forward-thinking jazz musicians, including Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis. Jazz musicians began to introduce electric instruments such as the Rhodes piano and electric guitars to their music, which in a few years would be known as "fusion".

In 1969, Miles Davis recorded "In a Silent Way" with Herbie Hancock on piano. This is considered one of the first fusion albums ever, and gave way to future Miles Davis projects such as "Bitches Brew" and "On the Corner". Being in the presence of a musical visionary like Miles Davis proved to be magical for Herbie Hancock's musical vision and career. In the early 1970's, he composed and recorded a series of musically complex and highly eclectic albums known as the "Mwandishi" albums. The three albums are "Mwandishi", "Crossings", and "Sextant". On these albums, Herbie places a soundscape before the listener. This type of music was not very approachable or easy to like, but these albums formed the basis for Herbie Hancock's next project, which would go on to become one of the greatest selling jazz albums of all time.

After the Mwandishi albums, Herbie Hancock put together a new band known as the Headhunters. In 1974, he released an album of the same name, which went on to become the greatest and most important fusion album of all time. Headhunters is a funky album with great melodies and beats, and has an amazingly wide appeal. Jazz people, R&B people, and Rock n' Roll people will all appreciate the music on this album. The success from Headhunters gave way to a few more funky fusion albums including "Thrust", "Man-Child" and "Secrets". Later on in the 70's, Herbie Hancock would produce more danceable, poppy, disco-y albums such as "Sunlight" and "Feets, Don't Fail Me Now". Unfortunately, many of these albums were not received well, but Herbie continued to write, record and tour.

The early 1980's brought another hit for Herbie, the classic song "Rockit" from his album "Future Shock". Part of what made this song so famous was MTV. It was a favorite video for its innovative cinematography, and use of the record scratching sound. Of course, within the next few years, the record scratch sound would be prominently used in hip hop and rap. Again, Herbie Hancock proved to be ahead of his time, and a major musical innovator. During the mid to late 80's, Herbie Hancock produced several more albums, played with many more musicians, and toured heavily. He even did some music for commercials.

Being as famous as Herbie Hancock was, he continued to perform and record in the 90's and 2000's. He collaborated with many different artists during this period, including old bandmate Wayne Shorter, and longtime friends Joni Mitchell and Stevie Wonder. In the mid 2000's, he released "Possibilities" which featured his collaborations with other famous pop and rock musicians. In 2008, his tribute to Joni Mitchell "River: The Joni Letters" earned him a grammy for album of the year, only the second jazz album ever to receive that honor.

I had the pleasure of seeing Herbie Hancock perform in November 2007 in San Francisco, and I must say, he's still got it! I remember in one song, he had 2 or 3 keyboards set up in front of him, and he was playing them all! He also did a great performance of "Actual Proof" from his fusion masterpiece "Thrust", and it was as funky as ever. The bass was turned up so high, I could hear all sorts of things rattling in the auditorium. I remember him also using a keytar to perform. It was awesome!

One of the most accomplished musicians in jazz, as well as one of its key innovators in the second half of the 20th century, Herbie Hancock is truly a musical legend. He has produced so much music that he definitely has something for everyone. I highly recommend checking him out if you haven't already.

Jazz is one of those topics that people are either completely ambivalent about, or completely passionate about. Even if you're one of those ambivalent types towards jazz, there are so many great recordings out there. These are recordings that have inspired newer music from genres as varied as hip hip to rock music. In fact, some of the great jazz recordings have been sampled in the work of newer artists. The albums that follow are selections from the most famous jazz musicians of all time: Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Herbie Hancock.

A quick note to all of the jazz snobs out there. This is my list. If you don't like it, write your own. Thanks.

#10: Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

Miles Davis' masterpiece concept album. This album has proven to be one of the greatest "jazz" albums of all time, although this album really defies categorization. Some call it fusion, some call it free jazz. Regardless, this album is not so much about melody, but more about creating a soundscape. Listening to the album, you are instantly transported to a new place where there are different emotions floating around in the space surrounding you. This is one of the most creative albums ever produced, and it belongs in all music lovers' collections.

# 9: John Coltrane - Giant Steps

This album is considered one of John Coltrane's greatest albums. This classic features Coltrane's style in full-force, yet while retaining the approachability that would be lost in later efforts. This album contains some of the most famous jazz songs ever written, and why not? With John Coltrane's impeccable command of the saxophone, as well as his intense and emotional compositions, this album is not to be missed.

# 8: Herbie Hancock - Inventions and Dimensions

This album is one of the most overlooked albums in Herbie Hancock's entire catalog. Featuring a trimmed down band (Just Herbie on Piano, some bass, and some percussion), this is an album for lovers of the piano. Herbie lays down some excellent melodies (Who doesn't love the opening to "Succotash"??), with the rhythm section throwing some latin-esque beats into the mix. Another song not to miss is "Mimosa", which Herbie Hancock worked on with Miles Davis. This is a great album!

# 7: Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool

This album is one of Miles Davis' earlier efforts, and contains the epitome of what people refer to as "Cool" jazz. In fact, many credit this album as the defining work of the "cool" jazz movement. This album has an upbeat tempo and style, and really brings you back to New York City in the early 1950's. One song I really like is "Bopliicity", which is a tribute to the bebop sound that Miles Davis is credited with being a major innovator. The title of the album sums it all up: This is a cool album!

# 6: Miles Davis - Sketches of Spain

While not a pure "jazz" album, the music on this LP combines elements of jazz, classical, and flamenco music. This album is a definite masterpiece, showcasing Miles' soulful horn playing, and the impeccable musical direction of Gil Evans. This is an album that contains many moods, and I find the music to be highly "visual", meaning that you can pop the album on, close your eyes, and be transported to a different place. This is a fantastic album that has appeal to a very wide audience.

# 5: Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage

This album is a certified jazz classic. Considered one of Herbie Hancock's most masterful works, Maiden Voyage is an album which aims to capture the various moods and emotions that go along with the sea. The concept is a success. This album will draw you in with its "storytelling" melodies, changes of emotions, and overall musical mastery. This album is not to be missed.

# 4: John Coltrane - Blue Train

Easily one of the greatest jazz albums of all time. This album was John Coltrane's first album under his own name, and was one of his personal favorites. The first track "Blue Train" is one of the most famous jazz songs ever recorded. The album already showcases the unique playing style of John Coltrane, and his signature "sheets of sound". It's best not to think of this as one of the greatest jazz albums ever recorded, but one of the best albums ever recorded.

# 3: Herbie Hancock - Headhunters

Headhunters was a defining moment in Herbie Hancock's career. After his free jazz days with his Mwandishi albums, Herbie produced this album which has a more melodic and funky feel to it. It is widely reported as the greatest selling album in jazz history. This album is not a simple "jazz" album, however. It is credited as the defining album of the so-called "fusion" sound. I cannot say enough great things about this album. It will blow you away with its energy and funkiness.

# 2: Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

If you're interested in listening to jazz music, many people will point you towards this album first. Arguably the greatest album in jazz history (and the history of music, for that matter), Kind of Blue was produced when Miles Davis was innovating a new style of jazz, known as "modal" jazz, or jazz music based on modes. The style of this album is uber-cool, with relaxed, mellow melodies. This album features both John Coltrane and Miles Davis, and belongs in every single music lover's collection.

# 1: John Coltrane - A Love Supreme

This is one of the most deeply moving albums I have ever heard. This album was considered by Coltrane to be his gift to God. The liner notes feature an ode to God, written by Coltrane, and the end of the suite is a "musical narration" of this poem. Beyond the deep meaning of the music, this album contains some of Coltrane's most amazing playing, especially during "Pursuance". This album is one of the greatest ever produced in any genre. I can't recommend this album enough!