1970s Jazz Fusion

The once derided musical hybrid that is 1970s Jazz Fusion has since become one of the most influential genres of music in jazz, rock, soul, and hip-hop.

This book is a celebration of one of the most adventurous but unappreciated eras in popular music, wherein the traditional sounds of jazz were melded and mashed up with funk, soul, hard rock, and electronics. Even as they were accused of selling out and contaminating traditional jazz, artists like Miles Davis, Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and the Mahavishnu Orchestra made some of the most creative and invigorating music of the era. 1970s Jazz Fusion also dives deep into waters often neglected by jazz histories: the pop-chart successes of fusioneers like Donald Byrd, Patrice Rushen, George Benson, and Grover Washington Jr.; the musical and marketing innovations of record labels like CTI and ECM; and the jazz experimentation of rock and soul stars like Joni Mitchell, Earth Wind & Fire, Santana, and Steely Dan.
Full of the musicians' personal stories and anecdotes, this book also provides a discussion of their albums and the cultural context for their music. That context also includes how these albums have been passed down through generations and have reverberated through the music of today, inspiring both hip-hop and electronic artists through sampling and contemporary jazz and soul artists who are less constrained by traditional genres. Though recorded decades ago, jazz fusion remains culturally vital and sonically thrilling to this very day.