Fusion & Jazz

[flying_whale]

ssup everyone,
I read on the sevensting.org forum a lot of bragging about fusion and jazz in general, so I want to check some of it out. So please people & Steve, recommend me some guitar jazz and fusion albums and musicians, that doesn't sound like elevator/airplane music. Kinda in the style of the jazz they play on the radio while i take a bath at evening on KPLU tacoma/seattle

 

[Steve Smyth]

ssup everyone,
I read on the sevensting.org forum a lot of bragging about fusion and jazz in general, so I want to check some of it out. So please people & Steve, recommend me some guitar jazz and fusion albums and musicians, that doesn't sound like elevator/airplane music. Kinda in the style of the jazz they play on the radio while i take a bath at evening on KPLU tacoma/seattle

Hey LOTS,
My advice:
Check out everything Greg Howe has done in the last 10 years of his career for starters,also ANYTHING Steve Morse has done Mahavishnu Orchestra Birds of Fire, and this one is a little moody, but Chick Corea Electric Band: Eye of the Beholder, and then there's Return to Forever: Romantic Warrior, and let's not forget Liquid Tension Experiment 1&2. And, when it is finally mixed and released(very soon is all I can say at this time), The EssenEss Project!!!
That's a few on my list. Anyone else?

 

[Noumenon]

anything Holdsworth, esp. The Sixteen Men of Tain.

 

[Noumenon]

Shawn Lane maby.

 

[Jeebo]

Chuck Loeb. Just found out about this jazz guitarist via iTunes and I love his style. Also, check out the Alex Skolnick Trio. Their stuff is pretty neat too.

 

[flying_whale]

Thank you everyone. The ones i managed to get my hands on by now are the album steve recommended from romantic warrior. Cool wierd sounding stuff. I am getting *cough*someway*cough* holdsworth's stuff as we speak and greg howe's stuff. I will check out more soon!
Thank you for your recommendations and I can't wait for the Esseness project, i will buy it the first day they have it at a record store in seattle!

 

[JBroll]

If you haven't yet heard the foundations (Miles Davis' albums Bitches' Brew and In A Silent Way, Mahavishnu Orchestra's Birds of Fire, Weather Report's Heavy Weather, Soft Machine's Third, for starters) of fusion you need to get those right away. Check out just about all of Zappa's instrumental stuff - he did a lot of jazz, as well as a lot of classically-tinged strangeness, and 'Shut Up and Play Your Guitar' is an essential for any guitarist - and for Holdsworth it would be good to start with The Things You See, IOU, and Metal Fatigue. Holdsworth has also put out an instructional book/DVD that's worth checking out.

As far as jazz, Wes Montgomery is essential. Period. Django Reinhardt, Jimmy Raney, Bill Frisell, and John Scofield's early stuff (first check out Grace Under Pressure) would be good too.

Also, don't neglect the good prog rock - Rush (ALL OF IT), Yes (ALL OF IT), Genesis, King Crimson, Marillion. Those are good starting points for that - if you want to expand to really good keyboard stuff as well, ELP is essential. I'll think of more shortly - good prog is just as much in the vein that you're looking for as fusion.

ADDITION: Pat Metheny. Anything by John McLaughlin (played with Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire is an essential) - I could probably safely say that he is to jazz/fusion what Loomis is to metal. More later.

Jeff

 

[guitarguru777]

Scott Henderson - Tribal Tech
Frank Zappa
Pat Metheney
Joe Pass
Al Dimeola (This dude is Yngwie before Yngwie, check out the album Casino)
Frank Gambale - The God Of Economy Picking and Arpeggios
Bela Flec (Althought its bajo music its SICK!!!)
The Dixie Dregs

 

[flying_whale]

so until now i like holdsworth and howe the best. mahavishnu orchestra is pretty cool too.
thank you for the recommnedations

 

[Steve Smyth]

so until now i like holdsworth and howe the best. mahavishnu orchestra is pretty cool too.
thank you for the recommnedations

Happy to help LOTS, and great recommendations by everybody here!

 

[Krakatau]

Some other fusion worth checking out - Jonas Hellborg (eg: Temporal Analogues of Paradise, Good People in Times of Evil, Abstract Logic, and e) and CAB (all three of their albums... I like CAB 4 the best).

Someone else reccomended Liquid Tension Experiment... if you like them, you might want to check out Planet X. But if you are looking to spend your money's worth, my advice is to stay away from Uncle Moe's Space Ranch... a few nice tracks, but I find most of it to be unbearable and hardly musical.

Also, Jens Johansson released a few killer fusion albums... check out Fission and Heavy Machinery.

 

[kmanick]

Greg Howe (everything after his first CD) particulary "Parallax" and "Uncertain
Terms" great stuff on both of those and I almost forgot "Introspection" that's a great CD.
The "Tilt" CD with Greg Howe and Ritchie Kotzen has some great stuff on it.
Guthrie Govans "Erotic Cakes" CD is a very good, that guy is a monster player.
Michael Lee Firkins first CD is also a real good one (great phrasing).
Planet X, Liquid Tension Experiment.
Al Dimeloas "Elegant Gypsy" is a classic.
To get jazzier, Frank Gambale, Joe Pass (my favorite jazz player RIP joe).

Ritchie Kotzens has 3 or 4 fusion cds out , he is also a monster player, but I find his song writing a little boring.
I like fusion that still kicks ass a bit.

I know it's not fusion, but you should also check out some Satriani, Vinnie Moore, and Vai.
They all have some great CD's out (lots of good stuff to cop for your own playing) especially their earlier stuff. "Surfing with the Alien", "The Maze" etc. , all great stuff.

 

[Vic Rattlehead]

Ohm! http://myspace.com/chrispolandsohm

Chris Poland has like the world greatest bassist.

 

[messiah of metal]

Joe pass is a cool one to try out. I studies jazz for a year or two and realised why most of the older generation took Heroin. Stick with the metal now doesn't make my head hurt as much.