by Mark Saleski
Jazz fans have always been sort of coy with the word ‘fusion.’ We like to make jokes about it, even applying a nickname of sorts — The F-Word — because we’d hate to admit that we’re ever serious about the genre. Yeah, fusion seems to get the Playboy “I just read it for the articles” treatment.
This love/hate relationship has never existed in my listening world. While some of it is just a bit too serious for me (and there’s a direct line in my mind between that music and some of today’s progressive rock), what I’ll call “classic fusion” provided my young ears with a way to expand my mostly rock-listening palette. My first fusion album? I’m not sure about that. Strong contenders are Billy Cobham’s Spectrum, Weather Report’s 8:30, Jean-Luc Ponty’s Cosmic Messenger, or maybe even Jan Hammer’s Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group (Which, by the way, contains one of the worst vocals in the history of jazz. Go ahead and check out “Full Moon Boogie.”)
The interesting thing about fusion is that it branched out into other sub-genres, bringing in influences such as Latin (Return To Forever/Chick Corea), Indian (Mahavishnu) and African (Ginger Baker by way of Miles Davis). It’s debatable as to whether these chains of musical evolution extend to what we now call “new music” (Zorn, Frisell, Nels Cline, The Dead Kenny G’s). In some ways, musical omnivores like Zorn and Frisell have concepts that are far more wide-ranging than nearly anything done in fusion’s classic era.
What got me to thinking about all of this is bassist Peter Scherr‘s album Son of August, which I have been listening to nearly every day for weeks now. With two guitarists (Brad Shepik plus Scherr’s brother Tony on slide) in addition to saxophonist Michael Blake, the album fearlessly violates the boundaries of jazz, rock, soul, and blues. It’s the kind of thing that might be a little unsettling to those who like their genres well-behaved. Heck, it might even annoy fans of “real” fusion, what with its lightheartedness and sense of humor.
Imagine that. A sense of humor. Yes, music that can make you think even while it’s making you laugh.
Yeah, it reminds of that time I read that Playboy interview with Wendy Carlos…
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