The 10 Greatest JAZZ FUSION albums | Ranked
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
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Andy is a drummer, producer and educator. He has toured the world with rock legend Robert Plant and played on classic prog albums by Frost and IQ.
As a drum clinician he has played with Terry Bozzio, Kenny Aronoff, Thomas Lang, Marco Minneman and Mike Portnoy.
He also teaches drums privately and at Kidderminster College
When The Inner Mounting Flame exploded off the turntables of countless first time listeners, unlike many other albums, there was no formative undeveloped version of this music that prepared you for what was coming. The white hot intensity of the playing combined with the uniquely original jazz, Indian, classical and rock elements in the compositions seemed to have emerged fully formed from somewhere beyond the know musical universe!
great comment...and so true. That is truly where fusion begins in reality....
Andy edwards
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Cream, Coryell w Burton, Miles Davis came earlier.
I like Birds of Fire better. I basically wore out that album when I fist got it. I think Inner Mounting Flame is groundbreaking, but Birds of Fire is more developed.
Visions of the Emerald Beyond is still my favorite.
In a way I think Jimi's Electric Ladyland is the greatest 'everything' album there is. It has jazz, rock, blues, boogie, pop, pseudo-classical, gospel, sci-fi and fusion on it. It is pure genius. The only weakness is the 1968 recording techniques that were available to Jimi in the day. Jimi was way ahead of the technology. It is extraordinary Andy and it would be lovely for you to make a complete video on this album alone. Thank you, appreciate it. Not forgetting ground-breaking electric guitar work either.
I have never sat down and listened to that album all the way through...that would make a great video....
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer Oh my god. I feel like you just said something like, "I've had bacon and I've had fried eggs, but I've never had them together." Not in the sense of scolding you for not having done it, but rather: you're in for a treat. That album is a journey. A psychedelic journey, and I guess we're all a little too old for that, but really--that album, a dorm room, and a tab of windowpane was something that many of us have very, very fond memories of. A side at a time, not the CD. In general, the album as a single work, with approximately 20-minute sides that each have their own arc, was a wonderful thing we've lost, as you mentioned in your "music nowadays" videos, and that's really a shame.
Often wonder what Jimi would be playing had he lived..and that album has clues what he had going I. His head and it would only have got better over time
no jazz on this lp
@@williambent9636 Rainy Day, Dream Away/Still Raining Still Dreaming has some lovely funky jazz blues on there. Jimi's wah wah guitar is simulating the jazz horn players. Gorgeous piece. Even House Burning Down has jazz rhythm chords on it.
I worked in record stores during my college days and I had a reputation for playing everything and anything when it was my turn to play an album. I remember groans from my fellow employees when I told them I was going to play some jazz. I put on the Mahavishnu Orchestra 's Birds of Fire, and everyone was stunned by the incredible musicianship of these guys.
I bought The Inner Mounting Flame as an 18 year old in 2001, without hearing a single note.
It's still my favorite album of all time.
Played this album so much I wore it out. First track ….Vital Information, totally blew my mind, Cobham at his best.
To @tookmyjob: Being almost a bonified senior citizen I applaud your taste as a young man. This has been a favorite of mine for decades and I recommend you seek out their subsequent albums also.I think you'll be satisfied with them and they are must haves. Trust me you won't be disappointed!
@@williamcampbell3868 Trust me, I’ve been hooked since then. But I’ve learned a valuable lesson: don’t listen to the Mahavishnu live recordings at work, because what seems like an hour is about seven minutes. 😂
An honorable mention for Hymn of the seventh galaxy.
I am driving for 8 hours to see the eclipse on April 8 and am making a Spotify playlist of high-energy tracks to keep me going! Luckily, I recognize many of these albums...I bought them in the 70s!! Fusion is my favorite genre. Thanks for reminding me about all this fantastic music!
I have a Spotify playlist of insane fusion tracks, most very obscure. Link in any video description
Tony Williams Lifetime. Holdsworth is on fire. Proto-Cosmos, Red Alert, Mr Spock. Pure genius. Just my thoughts..
Nearly made the list...but it never really had an impact at the time on fusion which is why that version of Lifetime did not keep going. So I included Enigmatic Ocean to represent Holdsworth as it is a classic fusion album and sold tons
Man, try Million Dollar Legs Tony with Holdsworth.Never met a Holdsworth riff I didn't like. Some good Gong stuff too.
You got a mount full of true.... Tony William lifetime - Belive It....there is a "Must be" of Fussion Music
I guessed Birds Of Fire would be #1…more well known, commercially successful, better recorded than the debut (debatable)…but I can live with your choice. Another fascinating video..all great choices…you are on a roll!
my favorites..
1, Birds of Fire
2. Steve Morese the Introduction
3. Tony Williams - Believe it
4. Allan Holdsworth - Road Games
5. Jean Luc Ponty Fables
6. Jeff Beck Wired
7. Bill Connors - Step it
8. Weather Report - Heavy Weather
9. Return to Forerver - Romantic Warrior
10 Stanley Clark - school days..
School Days!
1 Jaco - Jaco Pastorius
2- Between nothingness and eternity-Mahavishnu orchestra
3- 8.30 - Weather Report
4- Offramp- Pat Metheny Group
5- Return to Forever-Chick Corea
6- Golden wings-Opa
7- Odissey- Terje Rypdal
8- Land of the midnight sun-Al diMeola
9- Shamal- Gong
10- VSOP- Herbie Hancock
So glad to see Opa here. I hardly ever see them acknowledged. Both Golden Wings and Magic Time are incredible!
I love Shamal by Gong. It's a personal favorite. But I agree that it does NOT belong on the list of all time best jazz fusion albums. Passport is another personal favorite that also represents Europe's fusion influence. However, they also don't have the sales to back up a top-10 selection. Lack of sales also disqualifies Terje Rypdal and Opa.
Jeff Lorber Fusion, 'Wizard Island'. Great album with a young Kenny Gorelick.
Yep! Great album full of funky grooves... I'd call it Jazz-Funk Fusion
I'm impressed! Frankly I didn't think you'd hit the sweet ones, and you did! I might quibble and say Blow by Blow over Wired, but it is close. So pleased to see Ponty included. Nailed that one too! And love that you included Jaco's debut record, which still blows me away to this day.
why does no one seem to get caravanserai!!!?
a monumental masterpiece of the genre
It doesn't qualify as a fusion album.
@@TechnicolourMan you say
Caravanserai is a fantastic fussion album! I don't think it did well because it came out just as disco took over the airwaves.
@@lsbill27 it came out in 72 - a little before disco.
It lost the general santana fan (and many music fans in general) due to it big deviation from the Latin rock they'd been recording.
on hearing the caravanserai sessions, their record company weren't happy at all. they wanted them to keep doing what they had been doing and collect the cash.
Santana resisted, and recorded the progressive and landmark album we know and love now
I completely agree Caravansarie is the first album that came to my mind also Borboleta oh well I will have to listen to the others.
I have always felt that one of the things that Miles Davis was really great at was finding talented musicians to be in his bands and getting the most out of them. When I look at your list, I notice the top five are made by artists or groups led by people that were on Miles Davis's records in the 60s and early 70s. You may have not put a Miles Davis record on this list but his presence is definitely there. As always, great video.
after seeing mahavishnu at winterland san francisco 1972, i was gobsmacked by the musicianship. the tight complex changes and ground breaking progressions, an assault on the senses but in a most wonderful way. jerry goodman deserves mention, i had seen him in the band "flock" earlier at sky river lighter than air fair, an incredible violinist which so compliments the guitar, keys, bass, and drums, i feel incredibly fortunate to have heard them live.
Great post, thanks. I'm smiling here, as l have every one of those. Most LPs bought when released. And a couple on cd. You nailed the Greats, yes.
I would be interested in hearing you work through a list of fusion albums of jazz with non-Western music. This is a genre I find particularly intersting. Examples would be "Jazz Now Ramwong" by Albert Mangelsdorff, "Malak" by Dhafer Youssef, "Thimar" by Anouar Brahem, "The European Jazz Ensemble Meets the Khan Family," Pierre Favre's collaborations with pipa player Yang Jing, etc. Maybe too obscure for much of your audience, but some really fascinating stuff.
You have to consider the first Chick Corea Elektric Band LP with Dave Weckl.. blew my mind in 1986
I like your selection ! Anyway there are like 10 more maybe waiting for the next time
Jan Hammer also played synthesizer on ‘Spectrum ‘ & ‘Elegant Gypsy’. On ‘Wired’ there are two synth players : Jan Hammer & Max Middleton.
He does seem the winner of this list...as I have said else where he is the Charlie Parker of fusion...
I love blow by blow as well… it “leads into” Wired… but I loooove Wired….
Wow this was great! I've been searching for an alternative genre and your video came up. I love your explanations and ranking. I've ordered Elegant Gypsy and Inner Mounting Flame. Can't wait. Thanks Andy!
Nice list Andy - you've cited several of my favorites. My first exposure to Mahavishnu Orchestra was hearing Dance of Maya on college radio in 1972. The transition between jazz chaos and boogie woogie fully caught my attention.
I'll add one more lesser known album that's a personal favorite: Infinity Machine by Passport (1976). This cohesive album defines space jazz imho.
Another great list, Andy! As others have said, it’s hard to hear these as they were first heard. Completely revolutionary when they first came out. I think Colosseum were probably my first (more gentle) introduction to the genre.
Inner Mounting Flame was my intro to JM and I was wasn't prepared at all, in fact at first I didn't like it! But I knew, just from the album cover and the track titles that I had to persevere, so I did and what a journey it kick-started in me! So grateful to JM for his music.
This is a great list… probably we could get another 10 albums in here, but I love your picks! And your rationales are very solid.
Thanks!
Fine job Andy! I appreciate that you take it back to Bitches Brew. To me no question ‘it’ starts with IASWay. For sure nothing on it or Brew sounds like Inner Mounting Flame. It just seems obvious to me, as a musician/listener who knew IASWay and Brew backwards and forwards and inside out - saw Miles and Co open for Santana at Tanglewood August 1970, a little more than a year from when Miles recorded Brew …. So when Inner Mounting Flame dropped me and my pals were right on it. Blew us away of course. And the progression from the Miles stuff to Flame seemed quite seamless. The leap they made seemed exactly the right and perfect leap. And we took it in inside out and backwards etc easily. It’s like what John McLaughlin learned from being with Miles grew into what seemed to us a perfectly understandable new path. John ‘had’ to have played with Miles for there to have been a MO. Maybe you can snag an interview with him and rap about those times, that music. That would be a Treat for all time, wouldn’t it! p.s. we had seen Jerry Goodman w The Flock and that first Flock record was in our ears, so when Jerry showed up on Flame it was 'Look who is on this!' Another piece to the puzzle of the birth of fusion. pp.ss. And there would've been no Return To Forever if Chick hadn't played, with McLaughlin ;), on In A Silent Way . . . .
A very good one Andy. You are 100 % correct about Inner Mounting Flame. Jazz Fusion was not clear about what it was untill that album came out. People was waiting for an album that did Rock mixed with Jazz convincingly, and that was the one. Ow and a good version of early Jazz-Funk is Ramsey Lewis's "Mother Nature's Son", done in 1968, which is a beatle covers album,
but done sooo well, cos it's so funky. Great stuff Andy.
RIP RAMSEY
Great list. One of my favorites in the genre is Bill Bruford ‘One of a kind’.
KILLER album 🌹
Billy Cobham Spectrum with Tommy Bolin , thanks for talking about Tommy at length
Your list was (is!) absolutely awesome! I heard almost every one of these albums when I was kid, not having a clue about "jazz" or what it was, because I LOVED FUNK, JAMES BROWN, PARLIAMENT, BAR KAYS....AND FUNK!! It's all I listened to until my Dad, who was a drummer and songwriter for a local R&B band in the 70's back home, turned me onto this music. After he taught me drums at 6 years old, later on, he turned me on to the music of my life. He started with Al Jarreau, then Billy Cobham, Miles Davis, Grover Washington, Bob James....then came the funk of fusion!! this!! I have all of the LPs you have except for the Mahavisnu Orchestra, I have one of their other ones. So your list is awesome and here's my top 10, if I can share it with you. 10. Jeff Beck, 'Wired'. 9. Jean-Luc Ponty, "Cosmic Messenger, 8. Lenny White, "Big City," (tied with "Venusian Summer", 8. Klaus Doldinger Passport, "Infinity Machine", 7. Stanley Clarke, "School Days,", 6. Al Dimeola "Splendido Hotel," 5. Eric Gale, "Ginseng Woman", 4. Herbie Hancock, "Headhunters", 3. Billy Cobham, "Spectrum", 2. Return to Forever, "Romantic Warrior", 1. Weather Report, "Heavy Weather" Long live the music 💯👏🏾
Perfect list - I can't disagree with any of these choices or even the order of the ranking. I was surprised that Miles Davis wasn't included since he gave birth to the top 5 on this list but you explained that quite well so I get it.
I know this sounds mad but in terms of actual fusion his greatest album is possibly Aura....I think in the late sixties and early seventies he is making something else...afro space jazz???
Nice list. Too many to list from me, but these are up there for me (In no particular order); Bruford - Feels Good to Me, Tribal Tech - Illicit, Sixun - Nomads' Land, Terry Bozzio-Gerald Preinfalk-Alex Machacek - bpm > delete and roll, Marc Guillermont - O World, Tom Coster - Forbidden Zone, Dennis Chambers - Front Page, John Mclaughlin - Industrial Zen, Kim Plainfield + Lincoln Goines - Night and Day, Lost Tribe - Many Lifetimes, Passport - Cross-Collateral, Paul Hanson - Frolic in the Land of Plenty, Project Z - Lincoln Memorial.... That's enough :)
I have to agree that Inner Mounting is the best. It is so crazy to hear it’s sounds. So otherworldly
Andy, your output is getting quite prolific. Keep going and thank you.
As regards my take on jazz fusion , i would have chosen the smouldering and intense RTFs - Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy over Romantic Warrior, but that's me
Awesome channel and list. I think I’ll make my top 10. Big fusion fan for over 40 years. Thx. I love prog too. But it all comes back to fusion for me
Mahavishnu Orchestra is the purest form i've discovered in Jazz Fusion. Absolutely legends! I also think Zappa is important to have on the list. The Grand Wazoo or perhaps Hot Rats are important albums...
Agreed, that’s why I said there could./ should be another ten albums and Zappa should be in there
Hot Rats!!
Or Return to Forever...
Right but wrong. Return to Forever is just as pure as Mahavishnu. So is Weather Report. Tons of people were turned on to fusion by Romantic Warrior. People who never listened to the genre. And if we want to be real, Miles Davis invented fusion. And many of the fusion greats got their start playing for Miles. In my opinion the first fusion album was Bitch's Brew.
i like Hot Rats, particularly the guitar parts, which is the majority. But the horns don't "fuse" for me.
I would have to put Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters and Sextant and Miles Davis Bitches Brew and Big Fun. .I don't have many jazz-fusion albums but I do dabble in it and have a deep appreciation of all kinds of music .
Interesting list, to which I would add Yes' "Relayer" and Pat Matheny's "Off Ramp.". Brilliant!!
Excellent list
Zawinul and Weather Report, along with Maynard Ferguson, were worshipped as gods among myself and the rest of my high school jazz band. 😍
Just discovered your channel. Really appreciate this drop. I grew up at a young age playing drums in the mid 60’s appreciating all these artist. I was told that I played like Cobham then. I just want to give some recognition to the 1st Pat Metheny Album. This one really hit me hard and his succeeding ones continued to capture me. He’s one artist I would definitely cry upon his passing. Thanks so much for sharing 🙏🏼😎
Honorable Mention - BRAND X / Unorthodox Behavior... although Phil Collins does a great Billy Cobham Impression on it, I must admit!
Now I understand. I was born in '71 when "The Inner Mounting Flame" was released .My mother was and still is addicted to fusion/jazz/prog rock/free jazz. Father told me she was playing this record round the clock - so as a toddler I was soaked with their music. Good mom, I like trauma like that :)
Great list!
Just a few recommendations on Brazilian fusion albums:
- Hermeto Pascoal (who wrote 2 songs on Miles`s Live Evil) - Slaves Mass or Live Montreux
- Flora Purim - Encounter
- Airto Moreira - Free
Call me a heretic, but King Crimson’s “Court of the Crimson King” has early elements of fusion (as well as heavy metal and art rock).
Just sayin’……
Fun list - thanks.
I think you are definitely right
Great list!
While I agree with all your choices, here are a few I'd have a hard time keeping off my list:
Brand X - Unorthodox Behavior
Iceberg - Cosas Nostras
Arti e Mesrieri - Tilt (a perfect combo of fusion and prog)
Bruford - One of a Kind
Holdsworth - Metal Fatigue
Didier Lockwood - Surya
Zao - Kawana
Wel, now beeing on my pension AND kind of fit again after 4 years of trying to survive, I finally started to learn about Hard Bop, Be Bop and now.. Fusion. And thanks to you, Andy, I really learn about music. Not just listen to it and read a little bit. Thank You!
You are very welcome...
Love your list and your enthusiasm. When introducing fusion to my students, most of these albums are on my list as well (nice to have that affirmation btw). I agree with you that there are other albums to include, of course, but this is a pretty comprehensive list for any newbie. The Jan Hammer was a bit of a twist for me, but I embrace that twist, so thank you. Keep up the good work.
In the seventies I dipped my toe in the fusion water with Mahavishnu, Weather Report and Chick Corea, and more recently into more mainstream (for want of a better term) jazz, with Miles Davis, Nubia Garcia, and modern jazz bands. But now I’m fully off down the fusion rabbit hole! Love your enthusiasm, and thank you for showing me the way.
Mahavishnu Orchestra was a Hurricane that came and went . If you saw the origional line up live it overwhelms you !!!!
Which is why the remix of Between Nothingness and Eternity should be without ANY doubt, #1 🌹
i sense John ran out of compelling ideas
In no particular order:
1. Jean-Luc Ponty - Enigmatic Ocean
2. Kazumi Watanabe - Mobo I
3. Bill Connors - Step It
4. Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
5. Jeff Beck - Wired
6. Stanley Clarke - School Days
7. Lenny White - Venusian Summer
8. Brand X - Unorthodox Behaviour
9. Al Dimeola - Elegant Gypsy
10. Billy Cobham - Power Play
Since you wisely picked Weather Report’s album “Heavy Weather” as your number two choice, it’s important to recognize Joe Zawinul’s huge contribution to the seminal fusion classic “In a silent way“ which was written mostly by Zawinul on the request of Miles Davis. Regarding your first choice of the amazing Mahavishnu orchestra, they were the band I first saw saw in 1975 at the outdoor Reading festival in the UK at 20 years old. At the time, I could not wrap my head around the stunning mix of jazz, rock, classical music, Indian and blues at such a young age. Five years later, in 1980, I moved to America, bought a car in New York and drove across the continent. The car had an eight track, and included one tape by John McLaughlin called Devotion with the great Hendrix drummer, Buddy Miles. This album was the bridge between John McLaughlin‘s work with Miles Davis on In a silent way, and his Mahavishnu orchestra. It was also the album that converted me to the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s unique fusion music style. And so, while Miles Davis’s In a silent way concept album can be somewhat tedious and unstructured, it represented the true birth of fusion music, with all the members of the band going on to create their own great fusion bands. John McLaughlin, Tony Williams, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, Wayne Shorter, and Miles Davis himself, (with the album Tutu) all of them becoming major fusion artists in their own right.
Black Market is better than Heavy Weather imho.
@@TechnicolourMan Everyone is going to have their favorite Weather Report album. Mine is Mysterious Traveler, and Sweetnighter coming in a close second. By the time Sweetnighter came out I was pretty heavy into Progressive Jazz and Progressive Rock. Music was so diverse back in the 70s. I remember going to the Roxy and The Troubadour in Hollywood when you didn't have to sell a kidney to see a good show. Within a few years I saw everyone from The Wall of Voodoo to Weather Report, to Pat Metheny to Dave Mason to Yes to Tim Weisberg. Oh yeah, I got to see Return to Forever play in a Gymnasium at the University of Redlands!
I don't mind the funky "watering down" of fusion. I have and love a few of these albums but I also like the Chuck Mangiones and Deodatos. Yeah they were a little cheesy but come on. Still plenty of harmonic interest and technicality worth more... "fast food" flavor. I like disco and R&B as well so that's probably why the music in the gap resonates with me too. Heady technical fusion is fun but so is a nice visceral groove
All of these artists are superb exponents of Jazz-rock. I remember seeing The Mahavishnu Orchestra in '72 and being completely blown away by the awesome power and precision of their playing- I was into rock and blues at the time but this was on another level.
Jazz-rock is my favourite genre.
1. mahavishnu orchestra - the inner mountain flame
2. miles davis - on the corner
3. return to forever - romantic warrior
4. weather report - sweetnighter
5. herbie hancock - headhunters
6. jaco pastorius - s/t
7. jeff beck - wired
8. jean luc ponty - enigmatic oceans
9. tony williams lifetime - emergency!
10. billy cobhamm - spectrum
Great list, also tony Williams Lifetime Believe It, Weather Report Black Market or eight thirty LP,, Stanley Clarke School Days.
it was really hard for me to watch after "there's no Miles Davis on this list, but here's Jeff Beck and Jean Luc Ponty". But honestly it was a good list aside from the glaring omission of Miles. Others I'd consider would be something from the Pat Metheny group and also from Anthony Williams/Lifetime.
Miles Davis is one of the greatest musicians of the 20th Century. He did not however invent fusion, he took musicians who were fusion innovators already and he put his name on it, which drew attention to the form. In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew were highly innovative but the sound did not actually really develop the sound we associate with fusion. He wanted to work with Hendrix who was an even greater pioneer than he was in terms of fusion. Those albums however were highly innovative, and with many innovative albums they are slightly uneven. (Bitches Brew is my second favourite album but I am able to step back and be objective about this) Jeff Beck is a rock guitarist from the same scene and era as Hendrix and one of the greatest to ever live. His move towards fusion really is a summation of what Miles was trying to achieve in music after John McLaughlin first introduced him to the music of Hendrix. Jean Luc Ponty is the second most important jazz violinists in history...so..yes...no Miles on this list but yes there is Beck and Ponty on here...and not without much thought.
I didn't actually SAY he invented fusion, just that I don't think a list like this can reasonably exclude him. If BB is not "mature" fusion, then Jack Johnson sure as heck is.
In any case, I'm puzzled by the assertion that Miles took guys who were fusion innovators already and put his name on it. What were John McLaughlin, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Dave Holland, Zawinul, Cobham playing before Bitches Brew? It wasn't really fusion. BB was a massive step forward any way you slice it, making all of the stuff on your list possible.
Great list! I have to say that Chris Poland’s “Chasing the Sun” is most worthy. He is criminally underrated!
Some other really good ones are Pat Martino "Joyous Lake" , Joe Farrell "Canned Funk" Jean luc Ponty "No Absolute Time" and Freddy Hubbard , "High Energy" .
I´m very surprised that Yellowjackets and Spyro Gyra were overlooked
They make some great Fusion too if you look hard enough on their albums for it
@@dukeevans8896 That´s my point 👍
I listened to Mahavisnu Orchestra in its two incarnations, followed by some Billy Cobham,
RTF, Jeff Beck , but i seem to have missed out on a load of fusion albums! Cheers for the list!
Awesome report !! Great choices, great great music..All these albums are so important to listen to again !!
Glad you enjoyed!
Bravo for your #1! I saw Mahavishnu Orchestra twice from 1972-1973 and both times they were just stunning. Best fusion for sure.
It's a matter of personal taste indeed. Not even a japanese or spanish (without whom there would be no elegant gypsies...) album? There were many Jazz-Rock Fusion made in the world outside US/UK mainstream. Glad to see that someone mentions Shamal.
Ha! Wired! Jan H! Jean Luc! Al! Jaco! WR! Spectrum! Headhunters! Chick! Mahavishnu! Jan! Did I miss anyone? I love and have them all, if not all those particular records, then several others by each artist and band. I win! Did I mention Jan?! Yay!
I like your enthousiastm. Bought some cd's I did'nt knew the existance of, after your reviews. Keep up the good work.
Thanks, will do!
I totally agree with you.
The first time I heard that Album in the seventies I was in a daze for days afterwards. I could not believe what I just heard. It completely overthrew everything I thought about music and playing the guitar until then.
And to this day I have not heard anything more powerful and enlightening. This Album is so far out that it could have come from a different planet. These guys were unbelievable inventive. For me the inner mounting flame is the best Fusion Album ever. I wouldn't even put in the category of Jazz. It is something completely unique and cannot be rational decoded. The most astonishing thing is that the Album does not age. Every time I listen to it it sounds new.
I only experience that with one other album. Johann Sebastian Bach's Wohltemperierte Klavier.
I agree with most of the artists on your list, but have my own preferences for each group’s best, thus - RTF: Where Have I Known You Before. WR: Mysterious Traveller. Billy Cobham: Crosswinds, Jean-Luc Ponty: Cosmic Messenger
These are all great albums. DiMeola's Elegant Gypsy was a big influence on my playing and probably the reason I got kicked out of a few metal bands back in the hair metal 80s Sunset Strip scene. I wanted to mix it up and add a Latin influence. They thought that was weird, and that's that. I also love Mahavishnu's Inner Mounting Flame. Amazing album.
One song hooked me on DiMeola. It was the "Wizard". I remember staring at my acoustic while listening and wondering if i was willing to do what it takes to play like that 🙂
I love your videos Andy! I discovered that Jan Hammer album through your channel and I love it too! I just think a Pat Metheny record should be on here 😬
It would probably be First Circle...glad you like my channel BD...
Love First Circle but it’s from a different era - post classic fusion, or ‘jazz rock’ as it was called at the time.
Great list! So I'd probably personally replace Jan Hammer with Stanley Clarke's classic School Days, you also don't have the Crusaders - which could also be considered more funk than fusion - so I get that... But also Blow By Blow over Wired. But, I think you nailed about 80%. I would also like to add as a criteria - Staying Power - so then I'd put Return To Forever - higher up in terms of compositions - actual songs with memorable quality and genius. Romantic Warrior would probably be my number one. Jean-Luc - Enigmatic Oceans has great drumming by the drummer for Journey and Zappa no less, Steve Smith. Good Stuff!
Great list. Some that would be on mine are: Get Up With it, Ethiopian Knights, Blue Mode.
I got all of them and i love them all.
My favorite Jazz fusion is allso
Visions of Emerald beyond and my altime favorite track is Lilas Dance ❤
LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN 🔥 Al Di Meola 🎸
Can't argue with this list. The spiritual aspect of MO was a big difference n elevated them to a higher level, especially at the time of sex, drugs n rock n roll.
Inner Mounting Flame !!! Yes . Saw that tour . Nothing like it .
My other pics in top 10 :
Discipline - King Crimson
Who Else - Jeff Beck
All superb albums. There is so much great music out there in jazz fusion world that we could do this every day for a long time. Great posting Andy.
Great list! I was predicting Birds of Fire as the #1 album and Hymn of the 7th as the top RTF album, but can't argue with your choices. Having been absorbed by jazz/fusion and prog in the 70's has likely spoiled me, musically speaking, for life..
Excellent list and a very nice tribute to fusion greats, Andy
Hi Andy. I thoroughly enjoy your videos and thank you for introducing me to a genre I know nothing about but am enjoying getting to know.
Great 10 jazz fusion albums no doubt
I’m not even coming close to suggesting that this band should be on the list, but the German band Passport made some really nice albums in the mid 70’s. I don’t recall any discussion about this band on the channel. While not particularly innovative (they owed much to Weather Report) their use of sequenced synths and saxes made their sound somewhat unique. Also always liked their drummer Curt Cress.
You hit the nail on the head...really competent jazz fusion but not that innovative...
Cross Collateral is my favorite Passport album. Played on KWST, Los Angeles, upon its release. Knew I had to buy it, right away! Not quite as high on the scale, but still, good stuff.
"The German answer to weather report" was marketing for the introduction of Passport to the American market as Atlantic Band. Nonsense, of course, but it worked. Had packed halls on the American continent. Curt Cress was an impressive young rock drummer. Later became the Leland Skler of drums. (Or is Leland Skler the Curt Cress of the bass) Doldinger has made more than 30 Passport records throughout his career. But he has no place here in the list. But there are other lists where he would be right at the top.Doldinger is a treasure. A master of melody.
@@narosgmbh5916 Yeah, I always really liked Passport. Still do. Besides displaying the usual fusion chops, they would often feature strong melodies - never a bad thing regardless of genre. I kind of lost track of them after the “Iguacu” album, but everything up to and including was really nice.
Joe Zawinul LIVE in concert was a force of nature on stage. If not for Genesis and Phil Collins, Weather Report would be my favorite concert. Zawinul could grab hold of you and drag you around the stage. All the musicians were brilliant, but Joe had something the was indescribable. The music just took you over. A wonderful, spiritual experience.
Eddie Henderson’s Realization album is IMO the holy grail of fusion 🎺🎺
Don’t forget - amazing solos by Jan Hammer on Elefant Gypsy. I think some of his best playing. Casino is a close second for ‘which DI meola album” but I think you are right, this is the first one to get.
I tend to avoid 70s fusion like the plague. But I bought Elegant Gypsy as a beginning guitar player in the late 80s and it's still one of my favorite albums to this day, I still listen to it regularly. I've heard of many of the albums on this list but never listened to them all the way through. I'll have to give them another try.
Great list! I love Al Dimeola’s Elegant Gypsy and Casino, and consider both masterpieces. I would hope Birds of Fire and Letters From Home at least made your “Next 10”
"Oh Yeah" definitely belongs in there, my introduction to Fusion together with Heavy Weather.
You are spot on! I might trade Jan Hammer for Tony Williams but, I’m good here.
Herbie Hancock's Headhunters would be number 1 for me it was my 13th birthday gift
I made a list and posted it here of my favorite Fusion albums before watching this video to see how close I get!
Svitanie (1977) by Blue Effect
Unorthodox Behavior (1976) by Brand X
Spectrum (1973) by Billy Cobham
Return To Forever (1972) by Chick Corea
Bitches Brew (1969) by Miles Davis
Jack Johnson AKA A Tribute To Jack Johnson (1970) by Miles Davis
Elegant Gypsy (1977) by Al Di Meola
What If (1978) by Dixie Dregs
Head Hunters (1973) by Herbie Hancock
The Rotter's Club by Hatfield & The North
The Inner Mounting Flame (1971) by Mahavishnu Orchestra
Birds Of Fire (1973) by Mahavishnu Orchestra
Pat Metheny Group (1978) by Pat Metheny
National Health (1977) by National Health
We'll Talk About It Later (1971) by Nucleus
Enigmatic Ocean (1977) by Jean-Luc Ponty
Romantic Warrior (1977) by Return To Forever
Third (1970) by Soft Machine
Weather Report (1971) by Weather Report
Heavy Weather (1977) by Weather Report
OK, watching the video now!
I got a few then....
I have about 6 from your list. Which ones do you find the most edgy/rocking?
Fantastic list! I have all these in my cd collection and appreciate your thoughtful criteria. I’m a sucker for jan hammer, fortunately Jeff beck ran into him. Billy cobham’s spectrum with quadrant 4 the standout track pulled me into the world of fusion and mahavishnu et al
Great picks! I feel like UK bands are quite underrepresented in these sort of lists. For instance I would definitely add the band Nucleus led by trumpeter Ian Carr on my top 10 jazz fusion list. Either Elastic Rock, Solar Plexus or Belladonna, We'll Talk About it Later, Roots etc. They had so many incredible albums!
It's because they weren't that popular...
I came to fusion as a rock guy who aspired to be a good player, just as the genre was happening. For me, up to that point, bands like Hendrix' Band of Gypsies, Cream and Deep Purple were the pinnacle of musicianship, or so I thought (in my naiveté). When Mahavishnu broke, the bar was raised past my personal abilities and the abilities of the rock guys I so admired. Billy Cobham had power and chops folks like Ginger Baker (and even John Bonham) couldn't reach; ditto for guitarists like Ritchie Blackmore, who was very, very good but whose vocabulary and speed wasn't nearly as wide as McLaughlin's. There was a new standard for musicians like me who liked to turn up and play loud and understood the power in volume and aggression. The jazz form of "play the head, take a solo, repeat" was new to us rock guys. Playing in odd time signatures was another challenge many of us could only aspire to. Another aspect of Mahavishnu's music was its dynamics; quiet acoustic passages make the loud stuff pop all the more, something, for example, Led Zeppelin understood and exploited. I do think Andy's list doesn't take into account the later fusion folks, who really didn't expand the genre but had successful careers. I enjoyed this video and agreed with most of it. Now I think I'll go back and listen to that Jan Hammer album; I never owned it but did have Jan's excellent The First Seven Days and Like Children, his collaboration with Mahavishnu's violinist Jerry Goodman. PS: I've always imagined what Hendrix would have done with a monster jazz funk bass player like Marcus Miller or as a member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, or if he was the guy on Billy Cobham's Spectrum.
I just LOVE Cobham-Duke band live in Montreaux was one of the best fusion albums ever. I've always thought Visions of the Emerald Beyond as the very best Mahavishnu album.
Nice list. I find it hard to disagree with any choice on here!
Hi Andy, great list! I, myself, am a big fan of Jan Hammer. I'm a drummer & I love his aggressive rhythmic approach, and he's a great drummer as well. I just want to give you a little reminder that "Oh, Yeah?" is a question. It should be pronounced as if the next phrase uttered is "I'll show you". ✌
Back in the late 70s I took 'Romantic Warrior' to a weekly rock disco that was held in a pub somewhere in the Midlands! The track the DJ chose was long - because they all are. On handing the LP back to me he said, sternly - that I was never to return with it again again - forever! (Pun/jeu de mots intended! ;) )
Where abouts in The Midlands???
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer - I was pretty sure you'd ask that! Hahahaha. Okay it was The Greyhound pub (is it still there?) right on the border between Warwick and Leamington. (I am also a drummer!)
@@timbragg9684 Ahhh East Midlands!! I'm over in Kiddy...
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer - I've now left Blighty's shores! Btw - I always preferred Blow by Blow to Wired. What are your thoughts re that? I love NMW but Richard Bailey's playing on B by B is astounding (and he was around 19/20 years old I think).
@@AndyEdwardsDrummer - actually both Warwick and Leamington have a West Midlands address! :)
I saw Jeff Beck with Stanley Clark and Jan Hammer in 1978. They played many tracks from Wired. Still remember that concert.
Wow! Great list and I agree 100%. Finally someone giving the first Mahavishnu record the credit it deserves . That record changed the musical world more than any in my lifetime and is what led to all the other bands jumping on the band wagon. Also Mcglaghlin is the guy the who pioneered guitar shredding. Herbie started the whole funky jazz thing as well. A few albums in there I haven't listened to but will check out .