Fusing a diverse selection of musical sources, Weather Report epitomised the innovative sound of jazz rock.
Combining the rhythms and instruments of rock with the improvisation and harmonic complexity of jazz, jazz rock was often referred to as fusion, because of the way it blends these two musical genres. However, today the term fusion is used generically for the merging of jazz with any other musical style. Jazz rock had its greatest popularity and creative success during the period from 1969–1975. It enjoyed a popularity during the 1970s that jazz had not experienced since the swing era. By the end of the 1970s, the jazz rock movement had lost its momentum and lessened in importance. Nevertheless, the many fusion variations continued into the 1990s, with various groups enjoying periods of commercial success.
During the late 1960s, jazz was in crisis. Bebop, hard bop, and cool jazz styles were playing to dwindling audiences, while free jazz was not attracting many new musicians and had never had a particularly large following. Rock music was firmly established by 1967, and was experiencing phenomenal record sales. Jazz, on the other hand, was no longer trendy or hip, and young people saw it as the music of their parents. Record sales slumped, jazz clubs closed or switched to rock, and some critics were eagerly anticipating the death of jazz. During this time, even a big name like Miles DAVIS was attracting only handfuls of people at his concerts. This occurred in part because jazz musicians had lost touch with their audience. Free jazz had pushed its listeners to the limit. It had more in common with 20th-century avant-garde classical music than the blues, swing, or even bebop. Musicians had a choice at the time of either staying within the older, established jazz styles or joining the avant-garde movement. Neither of these trends would help jazz thrive. A new approach was needed. Ironically, the source of this new approach was the very music that was threatening jazz with extinction.
Fusing a diverse selection of musical sources, Weather Report epitomised the innovative sound of jazz rock.
Rock offered jazz a way of improving its commercial status. Combining the elements of jazz and rock was a natural process. They both have their roots in blues, gospel, and rhythm-and-blues (R&B) styles. Many of the younger jazz musicians of the time had started out in R&B or rock bands before moving on to jazz. Incorporating elements of rock into their music was an easy and natural transition.
As early as the mid-1960s, groups such as Free Spirits, with guitarist Larry Coryell, and Dreams, with saxophonist Mike Brecker, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and drummer Billy Cobham, had begun merging the two styles. They could not, however, claim a genuine breakthrough. Rock groups such as Blood, Sweat and Tears and Chicago Transit Authority (later renamed Chicago) adopted some jazz devices and were perceived by many to be the first jazz rock bands. However, they were essentially rock bands with a horn section playing in a jazzy style. This did not provide jazz with the answer it needed.
Trumpeter Miles Davis can be credited with defining the jazz rock movement and giving it momentum with three key albums, Filles De Kilimanjaro (1968), In a Silent Way, and Bitches Brew (both 1969). Davis had created a new sound by employing rock-based drum rhythms and electric-bass riffs. He also made extensive use of electronic keyboards, electric guitars, and amplified acoustic instruments. Davis found new ways of creating and releasing tensions in the music to create a mysteriously sensual atmosphere. By recapturing the broad appeal that had been so basic to early jazz, he produced commercially successful and artistically gratifying recordings. Bitches Brew would be Davis’s highest selling album, and his sidemen—Chick COREA, Joe Zawinul, Wayne SHORTER, John MCLAUGHLIN, Tony WILLIAMS, and Larry Young—would go on to lead influential jazz rock groups of their own.
Keyboardist Joe Zawinul and saxophonist Wayne Shorter formed Weather Report in 1971. They became the most enduring of the early fusion groups, recording more than 20 albums over 15 years. Their early recordings were masterpieces of collective improvisation. Solos were passed from one player to another and seamlessly woven into the arrangements. Much of Weather Report’s music was infused with elements of the folk music of central Europe. During the mid-1970s, the group used elements of rock rhythms and electronic technology, a process that reached its peak in the album Black Market (1976), on which Zawinul played synthesizer and the electric bassist Jaco Pastorius made his debut with the group. The group continued playing and recording until 1986, maintaining an uncommonly high level of creativity and artistic integrity.
One of the characteristics shared by many jazz rock musicians was a willingness to mix ethnic elements into their music. Corea was one of the most popular fusion artists of the 1970s. His Return To Forever ensembles created a successful blend of jazz rock with strong Latin American influences. Similarly, guitarist John McLaughlin’s Mahavishnu Orchestra often incorporated the scales and asymmetrical rhythms associated with the music of India, while Herbie HANCOCK’S groups displayed a strong African influence.
Englishman McLaughlin formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1972, taking the title from the name given to him by his guru Snr i Chimnoy. The high-energy electric music created by McLaughlin, keyboard player Jan Hammer, violinist Jerry Goodman, bassist Rick Laird, and drummer Billy Cobham, made the 1973 album Birds of Fire a Top 20 U.S. hit.
Spyro Gyra was the most commercially successful of the second wave of fusion groups that emerged in the late 1970s. The band was founded in Buffalo, New York, by Jay Beckenstein (saxophone) and Jeremy Wall (keyboards) in 1977. The title track of Morning Dance (1978) became a hit, and through the following decade, they were bill-toppers at a number of major international jazz festivals. In the 1990s, saxophonists such as Grover Washington, Dave Sanborn, and Kenny G played a similar style of heavily-pop and R&B-infused jazz rock with soaring sax solos. This style is usually referred to as “contemporary jazz,” although “instrumental pop” may be a more appropriate term.
Jazz rock has had a hugely positive impact on jazz. It revived the commercial viability of jazz by bringing composition and structure back into focus after the avant-garde period, during which improvisation was often emphasised above all else. Electronic keyboards, synthesizers, electric bass, and the ampli-fication of acoustic instruments were new additions. These innovations have expanded the palette of sounds, textures, and tone colours available to jazz musicians. Jazz rock also provided some radical structural and rhythmic innovations, such as playing in odd meters and using a highly syncopated bass line. Many of these techniques have been incorporated into the jazz mainstream. However, much of the dynamism that was characteristic of the rhythm and front line of 1960s jazz, and the jazz rock of Miles Davis, was lost.
By the 1980s, Dizzy GILLESPIE, Buddy Rich, Stan GETZ, Freddie HUBBARD, and others had recorded in the jazz rock style, exposing a whole new audience to jazz rock and to other mainstream styles of jazz. Jazz rock and fusion continue to exist in the late 1990s, with groups such as Chick Corea ’s Elektric Band leading the field.
Thomas Betts
SEE ALSO:
AMPLIFICATION; BEBOP; BLUES; COOL JAZZ; GOSPEL; HARD BOP; JAZZ; ROCK MUSIC.
FURTHER READING
Coryell, Julie, and Laura Friedman. Jazz Rock Fusion: The People, the Music (London: Marion Boyars, 1978);
Nicholson, Stuart. Jazz Rock: A History (New York: Schirmer Books, 1998).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Chick Corea: Return to Forever; The Elektric Band; Miles Davis: Bitches Brew; Herbie Hancock: Headhunters; Mahavishnu Orchestra: Inner Mounting Flame; Birds of Fire; Spyro Gyra: Dreams Beyond Control; Weather Report: / Sing the Body Electric; Heavy Weather.