Fusion, Jazz Fusion, Jazz-Rock Fusion

"Fusion," "Jazz Fusion" or "Jazz-Rock Fusion" implies multiple elements being fused or synthesized into . . . one(?!). In progressive rock music, this most typically involved experiments in mixing jazz and rock, but as we shall see, the influences of classical and world/ethnic musics has also played a powerful role in the formation and development of these sub-genres of jazz, rock, and progressive rock music.

     The inspirational influence of new or previously unencountered art and culture on another person can be profound--especially when the subject of that new encounter is him or herself an artist. Some encounters result in personal transformations that can be physical, emotional, mental, and/or spiritual in nature. Folklorists had been collecting recordings of unusual indigenous musics since the advent of sound recording but it was only with the deep contacts made during World War II with "primitive" and isolated third world cultures all over the planet that a science of ethnomusicology exploded. In the 1950s, with a burgeoning popular music scene fast rising in capitalistic countries, Western entrepreneurs in the music industry decided to take a chance to test the popular appeal of non-Western musics on the Western populations. It was, of course, helpful that many of these new artists of Indian,  African, Caribbean, and Latin American origins had been immigrating to places like New York, London, and Paris, where record company R & D men could encounter them. Thus, we were exposed to musics of India by artists like Ali Akbar Khan and Ravi Shankar, to West African traditions from artists like Babatundi Olatunji, to Caribbean and Latin American sounds from Cubans Mongo Santamaria and Tito Puente, as well as a plethora of new dance styles in the form of songs mamba, cha-cha, bassa nova, salsa, Calypso, Reggae, and the many other unfamiliar styles and tempos. Jazz artists Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders were some of the early artists to show the influence of these international sounds though pop artists like The Tokens and do-wap bands also made good on the new rhythms and sounds they were hearing.

     Cross-cultural bridges can be formed by the immigration of one musician to another place or by the popularization or media attention to visiting musicians--as was the case with not only Shankar and Khan but also with South African Hugh Masekela, Nigerian native Babatunde Olatunji, and many Cubano musicians and groups (including Beny Moré, Mongo Santamaria, and Desi Arnaz) spreading the Rumba across the Caribbean before the country became with its Communist politics. In the Sixties, Terry Riley, Don Ellis, Simon and Garfunkle and even the Beatles and many, many others are examples of artists who expressed this kind of influence in their music.
     One cannot forget or overstate the influences of the "free jazz" movement in the 1950s. Jazz innovators such as Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp, Joe Maneri, and Sun Ra pushed boundaries of popular music (remember, jazz was very popular at this time), while Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Sonny Sharrock were later carriers of the torch. 

     Spiritual and religious transformations can be another means to personal shifts in musical styles, forms and evolutions, as the Anglo-European world saw in the 1950s with the effect of the European and American tours of Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Kahn. The influences of Eastern philosophies, religions, culture, and music here are incredibly important with Ravi Shankar and Paramahansa Yogananda, Alan Watts, Sri Chimnoy, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi just a few of the names included in this list of world music disseminators; there would probably have never been a Don Ellis Orchestra, Santana's Caravanserai, or John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu music had these spiritual leaders not impregnated the Anglo-American consciousness. 
     John Coltrane had been a spiritual seeker ever since the "epiphany" that led to his break from his heroine and alcohol addictions in 1957. Though from a home in which both of his grandfathers were Christian ministers, and having found Islam through his first wife, Naima, in 1955, 'Trane was really a universalist and sought and believed there were truths to be found in all religions. Likewise developed his interest in world musics--all of which can be heard in his own musical expression and development over the last ten years of his life.

     There are many arguments as to what caused the formation and evolution of certain artists to explore the fusion of jazz and rock. As suggested above, the experimentation and integration went both ways: both jazz and pop-rock artists experimenting with the styles, instruments, polyrhythms, and odd time signatures of non-Western musics. Technological advances in recording and electrification and electric treatments of instruments also played into the new sounds in music. Technological advances caused keyboard players and guitarists to want to experiment with these new sounds. For example, jazz pianist Bill Evans' award-winning and top selling 1963 album, Conversations with Myself, featured Evans playing piano on three separate tracks throughout the album--with no other accompaniment. Classical composer and electronica pioneer Terry Riley claims that Evans and his studies with Indian music teacher, Pandit Pran Nath, most inspired him to experiment with both multi-tracking and a more "minimalist" composing style as evidenced on both his "In C" composition (which virtually unleashed the "Minimalist" movement) and the two long, self-performed compositions released on his 1968 album, Two Rainbows in Curved Air. It is these recordings that are almost universally credited with birthing the "electronica" movement.
     Then there is the trickle down effect:  The Byrds' Roger McGuinn is reputed to have entered the recording sessions for the band's revolutionary song, "Eight Miles High" having listened repeatedly, for hours on end, to albums by Ravi Shankar and to John Coltrane's Impressions and Africa/Brass--in particular the song "India" from the former album. "It was our attempt to play jazz," claims McGuinn. Should one listen to the two songs ("Eight Mile High" and "India") back-to-back, one will find virtually the same exact melody line from "India" being played by McGuinn on his 12-string guitar (his surrogate sitar).

Guitarist Larry Coryell was experimenting with rock chords and sound effects from the time he arrived in New York City (from Seattle) in the Fall of 1965. Working with Chico Hamilton in the latter's Quintet, Larry began experimenting with a more rock-oriented band in the same year who called themselves The Free Spirits. Though they only released one studio album, the band gigged live enough to make a name for themselves--and to let Larry find the sounds and styles he wanted to continue exploring. His playing with both Chico and The Free Spirits got him noticed by adventurous and "inclusionist" jazz vibe player Gary Burton. Larry left his former bands and played with Gary's Quartet with whom he recorded and released four albums in two years, 1967 and 1968, one of which, Duster, is largely considered one of the first, if not the first, true jazz fusion album. Burton had for some time called himself a nondenominational musician. Claiming that he not only liked the music of his age but felt open and comfortable incorporating the sounds, styles, structures and melodies of all musics into his own performances, compositions and recordings.
     At the same time, Coryell continued exploring his own ideas in the studio. With the support of disgruntled John Coltrane rhythm section, drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Jimmy Garrison, as well as friend Bob Moses, Larry produced a solo album in 1968 that was released in early 1969 called Lady Coryell (inspired by his new artist wife, Julie Nathanson--his inspiration and collaborator). This album shows definite attempts to merge jazz music with rock sounds and stylings.

In England, jazz, rock, and blues traditions had been flourishing since the 1940. Artists like Sidney Bechet, Ronnie Scott, Chris Barber, Joe Harriott, Kenny Ball, Chris McGregor  were busy spreading their sound as well as inspiring, grooming, and even mentoring some of jazz-rock's future stars like Mike Westbrook, Graham Collier, Michael Garrick, Mike Gibbs, John McLaughlin, Dave Holland, and Kenny Wheeler. Bands/musicians like The Yardbirds, John Mayall, Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce, Pink Floyd, The Beatles and Daevid Allen were playing with smoothing out the boundaries between musical genres like the blues, rock, and the "free jazz" movement with electronic and taping effects to incite a burgeoning psychedelic scene. All of these musicians were extremely and profoundly effected by their introduction to the music and live concert performances of Jimi Hendrix. The 1966-68 trio of Baker, Bruce and guitarist Eric Clapton, known as Cream, may have been the most famous and successful of the crossover artists. By the close of the 1960s, Jazz-Rock and Jazz Fusion had found a firm place in the British music scene--especially in the Canterbury Scene.

The San Francisco Bay Area/West Coast psychedelic scene was also legendary for its influences on music as well as pop culture. Without the experimentalist zeitgeist of California's counter-culture that led to events like and Bill Graham's January 14, 1967, "Human Be-in" event in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park or the Monterey International Pop Concert of June of 1967 there might not have been a full-blown "Summer of Love"--which exhibited itself in the form of a tidal wave of "hippie love" psychedelia in the American music scene.

Miles Davis had some early forays "outside" the accepted boundaries of jazz (more accurately, Miles was one of the artists who was always pushing at the boundaries of jazz, taking it into new territory which would then become absorbed as an acceptable part of jazz) with such albums as Round About Midnight, Milestones, and Kind of Blue. It cannot be said, however, that Miles musical shifts were instigated or inspired by spiritual inputs as was the case for so many others. Rather, Miles' shifts occurred through exposure (often social and accidental) to other 'new' musics and other musicians with their new ideas and own personal influences. While all of the band members he used through the years brought strong personalities and their own ideas and growth trajectories, it might be said that Miles served as a catalyst for many musicians in the same way that a chemical reaction is sped along by the addition of some new substance or information. Or perhaps a better interpretation of the results was that the mix of each new band 'concoction' provoked transformative change in all present--even Miles. Whatever the case, the list of musicians who jammed or recorded with Miles through the years might make up half of the roster of the Jazz and Jazz Fusion Hall of Fame. Jazz music--and jazz fusion--were prodded along by Miles and these musicians.

Where was Miles' biggest shift in his evolution to a true jazz-rock fusion? Arguably, it was the 1967 Newport Jazz Festival. He brought with him to the festival his second "great quintet." This band included future fusion pioneers and stars as piano-keyboard player, Herbie Hancock (the five "Mwandishi" albums of 1971-3), saxophonist Wayne Shorter (The Jazz Messengers, WEATHER REPORT), drummer Tony Williams (The TONY WILLIAMS LIFETIME, V.S.O.P.) and bassist RON CARTER (who stuck most closely with his jazz roots). The Quintet had already produced albums like E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky, and Filles de Kilimanjaro as well an album that is often considered their crowning achievement, The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965.
     This had been a relatively stable time in Miles' life--and this is reflected in the music of these albums. While The Miles Davis Quintet was on the evening bill for the final night of the 1967 Newport Jazz Festival, had he been present as an audience member on either of the previous days he might have seen the experimental and proto-fusion work of the likes of Babatunde Olatunji, Gary Burton and The Gary Burton Quartet ("With Larry Coryell"), Albert Ayler, Dizzie Gillespie, John Handy, and Herbie Mann. In 1968 he could have seen the likes of The Don Ellis Orchestra, more of the Gary Burton Quartet (with Larry Coryell), as well as Mongo Santamaria and Hugh Masakela. Also in 1968, Miles married young model-singer Betty Mabry. Betty was the sole reason Miles was introduced to a lot of pop culture stars that had been a part of her own New York social circles--including Jimi Hendrix and Sly Stone. In a curious shift in patterns, Miles brought in new musicians for the February 1969 recording sessions at New York's Columbia Studios--musicians who were busy experimenting with electronic sounds. These included British guitarist John McLaughlin, and a second and third keyboard player in Hungarian keyboard whiz Joe Zawinal and Chick Corea to play with Herbie Hancock. The result was released at the end of July as In a Silent Way.

Though Miles and Betty divorced in 1969, Miles had the occasion to share billing in July at the 1969 Newport Jazz Festival with several of Betty's friends--including Sly Stone. It was this Newport Jazz Festival of 1969 that changed everything--for Miles and for jazz music. Featuring a more-expanded list of musical genres--especially representative of the pop scene--Miles would have had the chance to see the Sun Ra Archestra, John Mayall, James Brown, Sly & the Family Stone, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, as well as Blood, Sweat and Tears, Jeff Beck Group, Jethro Tull, Steve Marcus, and Alvin Lee and Ten Years After on Friday night's "Evening of Jazz-Rock" and B.B. King and Johnny Winter and Led Zeppelin on the final night. As some observers note, Miles came away from Newport "on fire;" there was Miles before Newport 1969 and then Miles after Newport.
     The first studio project after the Newport Jazz Festival came in August--the 10th through the 21st, to be exact. Though In A Silent Way came out later that same July, it had been recorded months before. For these August studio sessions Miles recruited a large ensemble, many of whom had been experimenting with electronic instruments for some time. The Bitches Brew sessions are famous for the presence of a large group of studio musicians--even more expanded than on In A Silent Way. Miles invited long-time collaborators Wayne Shorter on soprano saxophone and Dave Holland on double bass, and then guitarist John McLaughlin and the three keyboard players from the previous album, Joe Zawinal, Chick Corea, and Herbie Hancock. Gone was the powerful drumming of Tony Williams--who had left to from his own power jazz trio with John McLaughlin and organist Larry Young. Instead he used the more subtle, Latin-influenced work of Don Alias, Lenny White, Jack DeJohnette and percussionist Juma Santos (sometimes all at once). Also, a second bass player, Harvey Brooks, was included to provide the contrasting electric bass guitar to Dave Holland's acoustic stand-up. Perhaps the most effective and eerie addition was that of bass clarinetist Bennie Maupin.
      On the first day, at Columbia Studio B in New York City, the band of twelve musicians cranked out three songs including the title song, "John McLaughlin," and a new version of Wayne Shorter's "Sanctuary"--the last two minus bassist Harvey Brooks.

      On the next day the same ensemble minus drummer Lenny White gathered to complete the "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" (14:04 in length on the vinyl album release). On the final day the ensemble was expanded again with the the return of Lenny White and the addition of organist Larry Young as the third and "center" channel's electric pianist in place of Herbie Hancock. The day produced two songs, "Spanish Key" and a cover of Joe Zawinal's "Pharoah's Dance." (All other songs are credited to Miles.)

     Every name mentioned from the recording sessions of these two albums went on to become major players in the Fusion explosion that occurred in the following year or two.

Jazz-Rock Fusion Albums from the Classic Era (1967-1979):

Don Ellis: 'Live' at Monterey ! (1967), Electric Bath (1967), Shock Treatment (1967), Autumn (1968), Connection (1972)
Gary Burton: Duster (1967), Crystal Silence (with Chick Corea) (1973), The New Quartet, Ring (with Eberhard Weber and Pat Metheny) (1974), Dreams So Real, Passengers

Larry Coryell: Coryell (1969), Lady Coryell (1969), Spaces (1970), Barefoot Boy (1971), Offering (1972), 

The Eleventh House: Introducing the Eleventh House with Larry Coryell (1974), Planet End (1975), The Eleventh House: Level One (1975)

Tony Williams' Lifetime: Emergency! (1969), Believe It (1975)

Miles Davis: In a Silent Way (1969), Bitches Brew (1970), A Tribute to Jack Johnson (1971), On the Corner (1972)

John McLaughlin: Extrapolation (1969), Devotion (1970)

Mahavishnu Orchestra: Inner Mounting Flame (1971), Birds of Fire (1972), Between Nothingness and Eternity (1973), Apocalypse (1974), Visions of the Emerald Beyond (1975)

Santana: Abraxas (1970), Santana 3 (1971), Caravanserai (1972), Welcome (1973), Borboletta (1974) 

Devadip Carlos Santana & Mahavishnu John McLaughlin: Love Devotion Surrender (1973)

Billy Cobham: Spectrum (1973)

Jean-Luc Ponty: Aurora (1976), Imaginary Voyage (1976), Enigmatic Ocean (1977), Cosmic Messenger (1978) 

Eberhard Weber: The Colours of Chloë (1974), Yellow Fields (1976), The Following Morning (1976)

Pat Metheny: Bright Size Life (1977), Watercolors (1977), New Chautauqua (1979)

Pat Metheny Group: Pat Metheny Group (1978), American Garage (1979)

Ralph Towner: Solstice (1974), Matchbook (with Gary Burton) (1975), Sargasso Sea (with John Abercrombie) (1976)

Shakti: A Handful of Beauty (1977), Natural Elements (1977)

CoDoNa: Codona (1979)

Colosseum: Those Who Are about to Die Salute You (1969), Valentyne Suite (1969), The Grass Is Greener (1970), Daughter of Time (1970)

Nucleus: Elastic Rock (1970), Let's Talk About It Later (1971)
The Soft Machine: Third (1970),  5 ("Fifth"), Six, Seven, Softs, Bundles (1975)
National Health: National Health (1978), Of Queues and Cures (1978)

Weather Report: I Sing the Body Electric (1972), Sweetnighter (1973), Mysterious Traveller (1974), Black Market (1976), Heavy Weather, (1977), Mr. Gone (1978)
Joni Mitchell: The Hissing of Summer Lawns (1975), Hejira (1976), Don Juan's Reckless Daughter (1977), Mingus (1979) 

Herbie Hancock: Fat Albert Rotunda (1969), Mwandishi (1971), Crossings (1972), Sextant (1973)
Eddie Henderson: Realisation (1973), Inside Out (1974)

Bennie Maupin: The Jewel in The Lotus (1974)

Julien Priester: Love, Love (1974)

Return to Forever: Return to Forever (1972), Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973), Light as Feather (1973), Where Have I Known You Before (1974), No Mystery (1975), Romantic Warrior (1976), Musicmagic (1977)

Lenny White: Venusian Summer (1975), Big City (1976)
Stanley Clarke: Children of Forever (1973), Stanley Clarke (1974), Journey to Love (1975), School Days (1976)
Al DiMeola: Land of the Midnight Sun (1976), Elegant Gypsy (1977), Casino (1978), Splendido Hotel (1980)

Chick Corea: Crystal Silence (with Gary Burton) (1973), My Spanish Heart (1976), The Lepruchaun (1976), The Mad Hatter (1978)

Jeff Beck: Orange (1972), Blow By Blow (1975), Wired (1976)

Freddie Hubbard: Polar A-C (1975), The Love Connection (1978)

Wigwam: Fairyport (1971), Being (1974)

Pekka Pohjola: Pihkasilmä Kaarnakorva (1972), The Magpie (1974), Keesojen Lehto (The Mathemetician's Air Display; The Consequences of Indecisions) (1977), Visitation (1978)

Brand X: Unorthodox Behaviour (1976), Moroccan Roll (1977), Masques (1978), Product (1979)

Bruford: Feels Good to Me (1978), One of a Kind (1979)

Moraz & Bruford: Music for Piano and Drums (1983)

Fermata: Fermáta (1975), Pieseň z hôľ (1977), Huascaran (1978)
SBB: Nowy horyzont (1975), Pamięć (1976), Ze słowem biegnę do ciebie (1977), Slovenian Girls (1978), Memento z banalnym triptykiem (1981)

Deodato: Prelude (1973), II (1973)

Dedalus: Dedalus (1971)

Perigeo: Azimut (1972), Abbiamo tutti un blues da Piangere (1973)

Area: Arbeit Macht Frei (1973), Caution Radiation Area (1974), Crac! (1975), Maledetti (1976)

Arti E Mestieri: Tilt - immagini per un orecchio (1974), Giro di vlazer per domini (1975)

Cervello: Melos (1973)

Nova: Blink (1975), Vimana (1976), Wings of Love (1977), Sun City (1978)

Atila: Reviure (1978)

The list is by no means exhaustive: I'm certain I've left out many, many albums that are deserving of being included; these are but. the albums I know and can vouch for.

In upcoming posts I plan to offer an ordered list of My Favorite "Classic Era" Jazz-Rock Fusion Albums as well as a detailed "Compendium" of album details with reviews of some of these key albums. Enjoy!

"Progressive Soul"

While growing up in the 1960s and 1970s I was surrounded by the music of my parents in the form of my mother's love of The Beatles and folk music, my father's love of jazz--especially New Orleans jazz and the wave of Latin-based pop-jazz artists such as Herb Alpert and Sergio Mendes. The AM radio stations played in our home or in our cars contained a lot of silly pop music but growing up in Detroit gave us an advantage to hearing radio stations saturated by Motown and other African-American/Black artists. In fact, I can remember that to my young brain I knew no distinction between the music coming from The Mamas and the Papas or The Fifth Dimension, The Carpenters or The Supremes, The Osmond Brothers or The Jackson Five. But, as the harder, more psychedelic and rebellious elements of the "counter culture" began to assert itself into the music being produced at the time, onto the music that was played on the radio, I began to notice. By this time my independent musical tastes and preferences were forming. I became affixed to local AM radio station CKLW, which listed a weekly Top 30, presented each week over a two hour periods. 

Born into a family whose maternal line was obsessed with keeping lists, CKLW's Top 30 lists were something that I immediately latched onto: I began my own list-keeping, spending hours on my new radio dialing through the AM channels to hear and tabulate the songs from the previous week's Top 30. Despite my innate impairment to being able to hear the words, lyrics, and messages of the songs I hear, I could feel a change occurring the emotional essence and intention of music I was hearing. Fading was the dominance of the innocuous happy-go-lucky or silly teeny-bopper songs of the naïve 1950s and 1960s. I think the impact of protest songs the folk singers was infiltrating, gradually working their way into the mainstream through integrated Broadway plays like Pippin, Hair!, Joseph and The Technicolor Amazing Dreamcoat, Godspell, and Jesus Christ Superstar. 

The Civil Rights Movement had spawned new hope in the Black population, the heinous assassinations of Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert Kennedy inciting anger and even violence. The music began to reflect this; the artists were shifting. New technologies--many of which were pioneered by George Martin and The Beatles--were also becoming more present and more influential in the songs the radios were disseminating. At this same time I discovered FM radio--a vast universe in which Detroit saw the pioneering of two album-oriented music stations: WABX at 99.5 in 1969, and, in February of 1971, WXYZ FM at 101.1 changed WRIF. While the former station began with a more local, garage-band exposure philosophy--like Rare Earth, The Stooges, MC5, The Amboy Dukes, Saving Grace, Grand Funk Railroad, Bob Seger, Alice Cooper, and J. Giels--these stations still played the more serious pop hits heard on the AM channels. While my ears and tastes hadn't really accommodated raw, raunchy, anger-ridden rock 'n' roll--and especially hard rock--the engineering and electronic nuances entering the music coming from new and old Soul and Rhythm and Blues artists was immediately noticeable: it was interesting and likable. What I heard from Jimi Hendrix, Sly and the Family Stone, Santana, Chicago, Marvin Gaye, Curtis Mayfield, Billie Preston, Eddie Kendricks, Earth Wind and Fire, Kool and the Gang, and The Temptations amazed and astounded me. Had I been more attentive I'm sure I would have caught wind of the amazing stuff The Chamber Brothers, Parliament, Eric Burden and War, Gil Scott-Heron, Mandrilll, Osibisa, Earth Wind and Fire, Herbie Hancock, and Kool and the Gang were doing, but alas! My heart was still in the hands of the mainstream pop side of the Soul/R&B world; while "What's Going on," "Papa Was A Rolling Stone" and "Also Sprach Zarathustra" were enjoyable, I was bathing in the glorious melodies of The Stylisitcs, Aretha, Roberta Flack, Barry White, and the Motown, Stax, and Philadelphia sounds. 

My point here is that, even in the Black community of music making all of the things that would later be considered "progressive" were happening and affecting their soundscapes: organs, synthesizers, electric bass, expansive jazz-rock drum-and-percussion sets, and, of course, wild guitar solos were infecting these artists. The only thing lacking here is, perhaps, the classical training tht many white musicians may have had and, instead of the American folk traditions to draw from, the African-American Southern and Chicago blues traditions. (Many musicologists might jump in here to extoll the rich "classical" traditions available to the African-American community in the way of Jazz music.) Thus, I think it not far-fetched to endorse the category of progressive rock music coined as "Progressive Soul." In fact, I would argue that many of the techno-synth techniques employed by the Rap and Hip-Hop worlds might not have existed without the infatuation of new musical technologies being explored by their "progressive" forebears--and lord knows I love me some Prince, Newcleus, Run-DMC, Cameo, Whodini, and practically anything Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis have touched!

The Birth of Progressive Rock Music: 1965

1965

The most important music events of the year--ones that contributed to the birth of Progressive Rock Music.

January/February - Impulse! Records releases JOHN COLTRANE's genre-changing album, A Love Supreme.

January - Parrot Records release THE ZOMBIES' debut album, called The Zombies. The album contains two mega hits that were released in late 1964, "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No" as well as "You've Really Got a Hold on Me." The album is also remarkable for containing seven original songs penned by band members Rod Argent or Chris White.

April 13 - at the Grammy Awards the big winners are Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz and "The Girl from Ipanema," celebrating the rising popularity and impact of Brazilian bassa nova.

May - July - Simon & Garfunkle's "Sounds of Silence," The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction," and The Beatles' "Yesterday" are all penned and recorded.

July 5 - Epic Records releases THE YARDBIRDS' first US album, For Your Love on which Jeff Beck's electric guitar play on three tracks receives major notice for representing "the future sound" and "true direction of" the band, while Eric Clapton's guitar work on the remainder of the songs is touted as "some of the best blues-based rock & roll of its era."

August 30 - Columbia/CBS Records releases BOB DYLAN's genre-creating ("Folk Rock") album, Highway 61 Revisited, oft-considered one of the greatest and most influential records of all-time.

1. "Like A Rolling Stone" (5:59)
2. "Tombstone Blues" (5:53)
3. "It Takes A Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry" (3:25)
4. "From A Buick 6" (3:06)
5. "Ballad Of A Thin Man" (5:48)
6. "Queen Jane Approximately" (4:57)
7. "Highway 61 Revisited" (3:15)
8. "Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues" (5:08)
9. "Desolation Row" (11:18)

September - MGM Records releases THE ANIMALS' Animal Tracks. The album is most notable for accumulating the band's recent singles using their very successful "dirty rhythm and blues sound" with songs that were mostly written by the band themselves instead of covers. 

November 5 - Brunswick Records releases The Who's single, "My Generation."

November 15 - THE YARDBIRDS Having a Rave Up, an album which notes the replacement of dissatisfied blues-oriented guitarist Eric Clapton with adventurous/experimental electric guitarist, Jeff Beck. Side One contains six studio recordings with Jeff Beck providing the guitar playing while Side Two contains recordings from live performances in which Eric Clapton was the band's guitarist.  

December 5 - Parlophone Records releases THE BEATLES' Rubber Soul, in the UK (in mono, of course).

My Favorite Albums of 1965:

1. JOHN COLTRANE A Love Supreme

2. THE ZOMBIES The Zombies

3. BOB DYLAN Highway 61 Revisited
4. THE YARDBIRDS For Your Love

5. THE YARDBIRDS Having a Rave Up

6. THE ANIMALS Animal Tracks

The Birth of Progressive Rock Music: 1966

1966

The most important music events of the year that contributed to the birth of Progressive Rock Music.

January 17 - Columbia Records releases SIMON & GARFUNKLE's album, Sounds of Silence in a great rush in an effort to take advantage of the duo's first hit single of the same name. Interestingly, the song "Sounds of Silence" first appears on the duo's debut album from 1964, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.

February - Impulse! Records releases JOHN COLTRANE's Ascension (I) album. Two long jams of abrasive and aggressive free form jazz that many people surmise was John's effort to let loose of some dissonant emotion after the previous year's A Love Supreme.  

February 25 - the release of THE YARDBIRDS' single "Shapes of Things" a song that was highly influential, even pivotal, to many budding and future rock and progressive rock musicians.

February 28 - Dunhill Records releases THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS sophomore album, If You Can Believe Your Eyes, an album that spawns numerous mega-hits, including "California Dreaming," "Monday, Monday," and "Go Where You Wanna Go." It continues to receive acclaim as one of rock's best and most influential albums of all-time.

March 14 - CBS Records releases THE BYRDS single version of "Eight Miles High" as the B-side to the single, "Why?" Both songs use Roger McGuinn's electric 12-string guitar in a crazed, unruly, almost-sitar effect but the former gives the guitar an unprecedented amount of time and space for its unusual solos both in the intro and extended instrumental passage after the second verse and chorus.

May 16 - the release date of THE BEACH BOYS' landmark album, Pet Sounds, an album that is said to have influenced many of rock's bands to use the engineering room as a veritable tool for expression and experimentation. 

June 20 - Columbia/CBS Record's release date of BOB DYLAN's Blonde on Blonde.

June 27 - release date of Frank Zappa's MOTHERS OF INVENTION's first album, on Verve Records, Freak Out!--an unusual (for the time) double album of songs that totally parody the pop and rock world but which also contains the three-movement suite, "Help, I'm a Rock" and the 12-minute "unfinished ballet in two tableaus" called "The Return of the Son of Monster Magnet."  

June - Elektra Records releases THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND's self-titled debut album, The Incredible String Band, a folk album which uses some electrified instrumentation and rock formats. This has yielded a near-universal opinion that The Incredible String Band is to be considered the first "Prog Folk" album. 

July 18 - Columbia/CBS Records' release of THE BYRDS seminal album, Fifth Dimension, Besides housing the hit, "Eight Miles High," it featured nearly all original songs penned by Roger McGuinn and his band mates with the one notable exception being Californian Billy Roberts' "Hey Joe (Where You Gonna Go)"--a song that the band had to sanitize with a change in the lyrics from "Where you gonna go with that gun in your hand" to "… money in your hand." 

July - Valiant Records releases THE ASSOCIATION's debut album, And Then… Along Comes The Association. It is an album filled with several mega hits, including "Along Came Mary" and "Cherish,"some of which became hits in successive years through being re-released on "greatest hits" and "anthology" albums. The album is especially notable for two main reasons: all of the songs were written by the band as well as its incorporation of an unusually wide assortment of influences, including folk-rock, psychedelia, baroque pop, and sunshine pop--of which it remains a cornerstone.

August 5 - Parlaphone Records releases THE BEATLES' Revolver in both stereo and mono formats. It is the first Beatles album to show the band (and George Martin)'s new experimentation in the engineering room--which results in the still-iconic song, "Tomorrow Never Knows." Also, the elaborate and lush orchestration on "Elenor Rigby" gives a nod to The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson's recent studio overtime work on Pet Sounds. The baroque pop song, "In My Life," proudly displays the classically-trained producer's harpsichord work.

August 26 - Epic Record's release of folk artist DONOVAN's Sunshine Superman., first in mono, shortly thereafter, in stereo. Donovan's third album, it was, interestingly, only released outside the artist's native UK due to contractual disputes at the time. It is the first album on which Donovan is backed by rock musicians on every song--which lead many to consider this the first truly psychedelic album. 

August - Impluse! Records releases JOHN COLTRANE's Meditations, a return to the more meditative, spiritually-inspired music of A Love Supreme.

October 17 - International Artists' release of 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS' debut album, The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators, a definitive representative of the new realm of "psychedelic" music. An album that every prog lover really needs to hear.

October 21 - Fontana Records releases Manfred Mann's version of "Semi-Detached, Suburban Mr. James," one of the first recorded rock songs to contain the use of the Mellotron, an instrument that would become almost synonymously associated with the progressive rock movement. Though meant to be a "household" item, it initially cost around £1000 (the equivalent of nearly $25,000 in our times) which, of course, made it a prohibitively expensive item. In an interesting side note, it was created from pirated versions of the American Chamberlin keyboard (invented and first marketed in the late 1950s) which Harry Chamblerlin's chief salesperson, Bill Fransen, brought with him to London, England and proceeded to relabel and sell as his own. The original Chamberlin used direct, unedited recordings of samples of virtually any sound or instrument whereas the British modification that became known as the Mellotron used modified or engineered sound recordings. Both instruments are, in fact, instances of the first examples of sound sampling.

October 24 - Columbia/CBS Records' release of SIMON & GARFUNKLE's Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme, in this writer's opinion, one of the most boundary-pushing albums of inventively-constructed and socially-conscientious songs ever put together.

December 9 - release of CREAM's debut album, Fresh Cream by Robert Stigwood's Reaction Records, a subsidiary of Polydor.

December 16 - release date of THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE's first single, "Hey Joe." And the rest, as they say, is history.

 My Favorite Albums of 1966: 

1. SIMON & GARFUNKLE Parsely, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme
2. DONOVAN Sunshine Superman

3. THE ASSOCIATION And Then… Along Comes The Association

4. 13TH FLOOR ELEVATORS The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

5. JOHN COLTRANE Meditations

6. THE MOTHERS OF INVENTION Freak Out!

7. THE BYRDS The Fifth Dimension

8. THE BEATLES Revolver

9. THE YARDBIRDS Over Under Sideways Down

10. THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS If You Can Believe Your Eyes

Honorable Mentions:

JOHN COLTRANE Ascension

Why 2023 might be The Best Year for Progressive Rock Music in this 21st Century.

    Year:    # Mastrpieces   - # of Minor  -  # Near-Master-  - # Other Excellent - # "Indespensible"                                                Masterpieces             pieces                 Albums                    Albums

 _______   ________         __________        _________      _________       ____________

2000:        0        -          5         -        1        -        10          -     16/9

2001:        0        -          7         -        3        -        13          -     23/18

2002:        1        -          3         -        3        -          7          -     14/8

2003:        1        -          1         -        2        -          9          -     13/12

2004:        1        -          5         -        2        -          6          -     14/12

2005:        4        -          5         -        2        -          5          -     16/18

2006:        2        -          9         -        1        -          9          -     21/20

2007:        2        -          8         -        3        -          8          -     21/26

2008:        1        -          8         -        4        -          6          -     19/28

2009:        2        -         11        -        1        -          7          -     21/29

2010:        0        -         10        -        3        -          8          -     21/34

2011:        6👏        -     12        -        3        -          6          -     27/35

2012:        2        -         14        -        3        -          7          -     27/30

2013:        6👏        -     10        -      12👏    -          5          -     33/38

2014:        4        -         15        -        3        -          7          -     29/30

2015:        4        -         15        -        5        -        10          -     34/40

2016:        7💪    -         19        -      12👏    -        13          -     51/45

2017:        4        -         25👏    -      10        -        19          -     58/42

2018:        3        -         22        -        6        -        28👏      -     59/39

2019:        1        -         19        -        7        -        15          -     42/33

2020:        3        -         12        -      10        -        26          -     51/40

2021:        3        -         15        -        9        -        13          -     40/47

2022:        2        -         23        -        9        -        23          -     56/48

2023:        4        -         33💪    -      14💪     -        32💪      -     83/49

While 2023 does not present Prog World with the most outright masterpieces of the 21st Century, it does have the most "minor masterpieces," the most "near-masterpieces," and the most "excellent albums." Also, having 49 albums that I've designated as "indispensable" to my music collection puts the year at one more than 2022--a year I do not consider to be in the conversation for "Best Year of the 21st Century." While it is true that I have reviewed more albums in the last 14 years than the previous nine, (in 2016, my most dedicated year, I listened to over 350 new album releases, averaging about 200 for the other years since 2008), this does not, however, seem to skew the ratings results as the number of albums that I consider "indispensable" from my music collection fares no better than the years in which I listened to half as many albums, i.e. quantity does not predict quality. The number of quality albums that I heard (and reviewed) in 2023 was 83. This is 24 more than the previous best years (2018; 25 more than 2017). While I cannot argue that I may have missed some great albums in the years 2000 through 2008 due to my having not been engaged in the world of progressive rock music during those years (thus, everything I've come to know has been retroactively), I would argue that I have tried, that quality (and quantity) in those years was lacking when compared to more recent years. I mean, I've only found 11 true masterpieces and 46 "minor" masterpieces from those first nine years of the 21st Century--and I can guarantee you it's not from lack of trying!

In Praise of Unsung Genius: Elizabeth Fraser

My "Celebrating Some Unsung 'Masters'" series is intended to shine the spotlight on artists who, in my opinion, continue to be under appreciated. While not necessarily in any particular order, I feel compelled to write about the artists that I feel A) the most personally geeked about and B) are most deserving of the added attention and appreciation.

The best response I have as to why I've selected Elizabeth Fraser as one of those dozen or so Unsung Geniuses to post about can be summarized in one phrase that I read in one British reviewer's review in NME in 1986 regarding her work over a two year span of two LP records and three EPs: "Vocal acrobatics." No singer I have ever heard better represents that phrase than Elizabeth Fraser. She didn't use her voice to merely sing, to rain down on us mere mortals notes and melodies of sheer angelic proportion, but danced, jumped, lept, astonished, performed feats--tricks some would say--that no other human I'd ever heard perform--not even Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan or the finest Italian coloratura opera singer. No one. The story goes that Robin Guthrie would lay down his heavily-effected and treated guitar and drum machine tracks and then Elizabeth would come in and try to add her own input through her voice. What I would have done to have been a fly on the wall during those recording sessions. 

The problem became when it came time for the band to try to perform their songs live, on stage, in a concert setting: they had to use tapes of many of their songs' tracks and then Elizabeth had to choose which of her multiple tracks to try to replicate (an extraordinarily impossible feat to accomplish). Needless to say, it is in the extraordinary sound production of the band's studio albums that you really get to know and understand the exceptional and extraordinary talents of Miss Elizabeth Fraser. Plus, as my brother and sister-in-law can attest from their own attendance of a Cocteau Twins concert in Soho in 1987. Elizabeth does not have much of a stage presence: she is definitely a nervous shoegazer. (Plus, she had the sniffles. They actually hated the concert.)

My own personal discovery of the band Cocteau Twins goes back to a period of my life in 1984 in which I was collecting new music by going into Schoolkids Records (in Ann Arbor, Michigan) and thumbing through the album bins on an almost daily basis. My method of looking for albums at this time included the use three typical criterion for my piqued my curiosity: 1) album covers/art, 2) publishing labels, and, most importantly, 3) the names of the contributors to an album's production: musicians, guests, engineers, producers, and ancillary people the band might be thanking in their liner notes. For me, the attraction to Cocteau Twins' Treasure was immediate due to its amazing album cover: 

As a matter of fact, all of 4AD's album covers during this period were breathtakingly artful--which is why, over the next year, I found myself owner of albums by several other 4AD stable members, including This Mortal Coil, Clan of Xymox, Dif Juz, Colourbox, Cocteau Twins, and even The Pixies. I now look at this fact--that art played such a huge role in my selection of new music--as something quite ironic. The music industry in 1984 was going through a radical transition: the physical size and form of the consumer's music was moving away from the large, bulky and somewhat fragile 13-inch vinyl form that had dominated for the previous 30 years; it was being supplanted by that of the new medium of the compact disc™ or "CD" with its 5 1/2" by 5" jewel case--which is much less conducive to displaying art and information to the naked eye than the 13-inch and 12-inch forms. 

    Something else Treasure had that won me over into purchasing it, having never heard a note, was the titles in the tracklist. Later I read in an interview with Elizabeth that the song names came from street names the band had encountered while walking around the streets of Amsterdam. But look at these names:

Side One:

1. "Ivo"

2. "Lorelei"

3. "Beatrix"

4. "Persephone"

5. "Pandora"

Side Two:

1. "Amelia"

2. "Aloysius"

3. "Cicely"

4. "Otterley"

5. "Donimo"

I could not wait to get home to hear this tantalizing purchase. The potential energy sitting in that Schoolkids bag on the passenger seat next to me was almost palpable. Little did I suspect that the kinetic reality contained therein would far exceed any suspected potential. 

     I will never forget hearing the first song, "Amelia," for the first time: those heavily-treated 12-string and electric guitars, the heavily-treated drums, deep rolling bass, and then, as if someone had brought down from another world a duo of two women singing as if in opposition to one another: the first, an angelic almost operatic soprano singing in an undecipherable language that was foreign and totally inaccessible to me (which I only learned today was the lyric, "Who've been wounded, who should wound her, heart on a grasp" and things like "Heart, heart, heart, heart, ba da da da"), while the other sings in a low voice that displays all the affect of a cynical bitch whose lazy, almost disinterested "Ba da da da"'s turn into what sounds like "Somebody call. He never calls." I was stunned (which is the same reaction I got when I first played it for my equally adventurous--and equally-4AD-devoted--brother the first time)! The entire album played out as if I had been taken on a trip down the River Styx, into Hades' Underworld--or Plato's Cave. It was stark and despondent, alien and utterly foreign--this despite Elizabeth's obviously gorgeous singing, Robin Guthrie's lush soundscapes, newcomer Simon Raymonde's hypnotic bass lines, as well as Robin's generous use of major seventh chords (and variations thereof).

     For decades I fought against any possibility that there were actual lyrics to Elizabeth's singing. Yes, I could hear words--sometimes foreign or made-up or exaggerated words--but mostly I thought I was hearing the playful explorations of "possible" pronunciations of randomly selected--perhaps even extemporaneously selected--words, syllables, sounds, or phrases--sound combinations that provided particular interest to Elizabeth (and Elizabeth alone) according to some curious and highly-idiosyncratic "radar of personal-intrigue-bordering-on-obsession." (I flat out refuse to believe the generally-accepted lyrics for "Pandora" are as printed.) 

     I was immediately able to recognize the unique genius of this band's music--of this album--an album which has remained in the Top 10 of my list of All-Time Favorite Albums ever since. (Coincidentally, with this same purchase from which I also brought home another album that has remained in my list of Top 10 Albums of All-Time: David Sylvian's Brilliant Trees.) 

While the creative rollercoaster of the Cocteau Twins ran a course parallel to that of Robin and Elizabeth's relationship/marriage, I am of the opinion that Elizabeth vocal talents remained of a very hight quality even into the 21st Century; I am of the opinion, however, that her well of highly-unique and -creative arrangements peaked with Blue Bell Knoll and started to run dry thereafter: the vocals on Heaven and Las Vegas and Four-Calendar Café are gorgeous with wonderfully worming melodies, but the layered arrangements and more clear use of words and meaningful sentences, for me, represented a downturn in the band's uniquity. While there are some wonderful songs and performances on Four-Calendar Café, there is only one song that maintains some kind of foothold into the magical formula that came before, and that is "Know Who You Are at Every Age." But I do not wish to cast aspersions upon a creative output of an astonishingly high level that lasted from August 1984 through 1988, covering four full-length albums and four four-song EPs. Few artists have soared so high.

For a sampler of Elizabeth's extraordinary vocal acrobatics I welcome you to start and study the following songs: "Song of the Siren" from 1984's This Mortal Coil, "How to Bring a Blush to the Snow" from 1986's Victorialand, "Ivo" from 1984's Treasure, "Quisquose" from 1985's Aikea-Guinea, "Pink Orange Red" from 1985's Tiny Dynamine, "Cico Buff" from 1988's Blue Bell Knoll, and/or "Pur" from 1993's Four-Calendar Café.