Fusion

[razoredge]

I know we've already had a Fusion thread but I looked for it and its long gone. Everyone pretty much already spoke what they liked and such but.......

Anyhow... I've been down working in my shop again lately and thats the place I get to put CD's in and crank em. I've spent some time listening to my Gamalon CD. They were a band from Buffalo NY, during the 80 and early 90's, that never got wide recognision. I just checked and see now that all three of their recordings are out of print, at least according to Amazon, only available used. Anyone that enjoys fusion and great guitar work might be pleased by the improv skills of George Puleo. If so I strongly recommend their first self titled release (1987), the one with the Gong on the cover. If you only listen to samples from Amazon you will not get a good impression of where each song actually goes. All I can say is if you can deal with the dissonant(sp?) tendencies of jazz melodies, funk grooves & guitar improv, jazz/rock based music you wont go wrong locating one of these inexpensive used CD's. George Puleo has a way about his playing that seems to impress most who have heard him. Their other guitarist Bruce Brucato adds a complimentary alternate sound & texture as well.

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

Wow, I love Fusion. It's a very rewarding genre of music that has a lot of diversity & virtuosity, but I've never heard of any of the guys you mentioned... I mostly listen to shreddy Fusion, but I also listen to Tony Williams, Bill Bruford & such. I could talk about these guys all day.


Here's a question. Do you consider Greg Howe Fusion??? I've heard him being called Fusion a million times, but I disagree wholeheartedly. He's more of a Rock shredder that utilizes jazz lines in his solos sporadically, but rhythmically I don't think his music qualifies as Jazz Fusion.

 

[razoredge]

Here's a question. Do you consider Greg Howe Fusion??? I've heard him being called Fusion a million times, but I disagree wholeheartedly. He's more of a Rock shredder that utilizes jazz lines in his solos sporadically, but rhythmically I don't think his music qualifies as Jazz Fusion.

I dont see why you would say that, the stuff Ive heard by Howe has all rythmic elements and structure of old fusion. It's just more advanced. Fusion was always a broad array of personal styles and approaches anyhow. Mahavishnu sounded nothing like Return to Forever sounded nothing like Herbie Hancock sounded nothing like Billy Cobhams Spectrum nor Jeff Becks Blow by Blow & Wired, then add Dixie Dregs at the tale end of the origional mix of artists in Fusions hey day and you have a vast range of styles.

Gamalon was alot like... say the Extraction album. I can actually hear alot of similiarities in some of the improv. I dont think Puleo is as vast or broad as Howe. But like I said the guy just has his way of expression and some pretty slick licks and runs. I guess they were jammin instrumental fusion cover gigs around Buffalo in the early 80's then finally managed to get signed in '87. Then I read the label wasnt very cooperative and I think they just got burnt. Fusion wasnt seen as a worthy venture for labels in the late 80's.

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

Hmmm, I do think that Howe does have some Fusiony stuff now that I work it out in my head, but I still wouldn't call him a Fusion guy in general. I look at him as more of an Instrumental Rock guy. Another big thing I associate a lot with Fusion is sporadic use of horns & Howe doesn't have any of that on any of his albums I have of his, & I have 4. Well, I know you don't have to horns to be fusion, but I guess what I'm saying is that he's very un-stereotypical for a Fusion guy .In a couple of weeks I'm going to order his first s/t one because the songs I've heard of that one blew me away. I don't like Uncertain Terms or Parallax very much, but Introspection is good & Ascend is just so different from what you imagine him doing.

About diversity in the genre, you're right. There are a lot of Fusion guys that have their own sound. Unlike in metal where everyone nitpicks at genres (Progressive Grindcore; Brutal Slam Death Metal; Ambient Black Metal, blah blah) in Fusion you just have FUSION for the most part, yet it's so fucking diverse. These guys are all about making music, not obsessing over the unimportant aspects far & in between. It's really a genre that normally appeals to more mature musicians in a sense.

 

[razoredge]

why do you think fusion uses horns or needs to ? I know Miles Davis is credited as a founder. But what I call real fusion of the early 70's was bass, drums, keys, guitar and in a few instances violin. You start dealing with horns your going to wind up with a more traditional jazz sound or smooth jazz. Fusion was the melding of rock sounds and instruments with more complex jazz influences and feel. It is more raw and electric, hyper irratic drumming (in many instances), often just improvising over top of a few basic bass lines. Some of the early stuff was pretty abrasive on the ears. That one video you posted with the oriental girl on keys.... that was fusion, awsome bass player, just listen to the jazz bass lines he lays down.

Are you fimiliar with the old stuff? Cause Im not fimiliar with much after the 70's.... lol. I even missed out on the Holdsworth material. I had heard about him but during most of the eighties I was pretty busy "getting a life" and indulged in little other than work. Then I was into blues, metal & progressive metal so I still didnt know what was going on in jazz.

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

How old are you?

You should have read my post a litle better... I tried not to imply that Fusion needs horns. I know it doesn't need horns. I just tried to say that if you call Greg Howe more of a Fusion guy than a Rock guy then he is very non-stereotypical for a Fusion guy.

I don't know too much about the older stuff. I like Vital Information, Tribal Tech & Weather Report along with all the standard guitarists like Brett Garsed & the king of the pack Allan Holdsworth. I don't have the whole collections of any of those bands though, except for probably Garsed, I do have a ton of Allan's work however.

You really have me wanting to check out Gamalon. I need to expand my horizons on Fusion.

 

[Satanstoenail]

Gamalon

Sounds ok, some cool grooves in there.

 

[razoredge]

Gamalon

Sounds ok, some cool grooves in there.

Thanks for posting that. I know theres quite a few clips on youtube. All three of their lead guitar players over the years were great. That little girl Nora can play. I didnt put these up because the sound quality is decent at best. Speaking only for the first recording its excellent quality and the playing is flawless. I find it interesting after listening to more of Howes work that Puleo preceded him and tere is similiarities in their playing.

JHJ, I didnt misinterpret what you said, just found it odd that you brought horns into the equation as having any relevence as an element of fusion.

What I consider must have early fusion works are (cause I have em )
Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame
Billy Cobham - Spectrum
Return to Forever - Romantic Warrior
Jeff Beck - Blow by Blow, Wired
Al DiMeola - Casino
Jean Luc Ponty - Cosmic Messenger


Read this, it better explains the cronology than I can http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jazz_fusion.

heres some Return to Forever but I may have posted these before

 

[razoredge]

Note * On this Gamalon site Satanstoenail put up the song Souveniers and Ohh Babe at the top are George Puleo at his best and are form the first self titled, along with Cabin 14, Black Licorice and a song I dont see here "The King", which was a more traditional jazz piece with some great jazz piano as heard in Souveniers as well, performed by one of the two studio musician listed at the bottom of the line ups.

This live version of Ohh Babe is a longer somewhat different interesting jam from the studio version. Both are great but somewhat different.

Kinda sad to be spreading the word on this band 20 years after the fact..........

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

Yeah Bro, you weren't kidding. Gamalon are indeed very much cool & awesome. I need to get back into Fusion. The thing with Fusion is it never really bores me for the most part, but sometimes I just overdo it & don't come back to it for awhile. I have quite a bit of stuff, but I need a more extensive collection. My friend just got a new Chad Wackerman & Vital Information album, so I can't wait to listen to those.

 

[razoredge]

Yeah, I go through stages. Right now Im a bit metaled out so Im spinning the fusion and some old rock. I need to check out more of the current scene as well as catch up on stuff I missed or never bought. I really want to get that highly acclaimed Bitches Brew. I did just buy Systematic Chaos finally and I cant figure out why people rag on it but Im willing to bet they werent around when the band layered the cake and then frosted it..... lol. I also purchased Take Cover its an interesting spin on old rock standards.

 

[Matt]

Vital Information rule. I have one album, and I got it signed by all the band members when they came here.

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

razoredge, I need to get "Bitches Brew" as well!!! I'm, so damn late on all the old Fusion, but I was born in '84.

"Syestematic Chaos" is great for the first few listens. It really has a great opener, but I guarantee you that if you spin it a few times & then come back to it in a few months you won't like it nearly as much. It's not a timeless album like any of their first three albums...

 

[razoredge]

razoredge, I need to get "Bitches Brew" as well!!! I'm, so damn late on all the old Fusion, but I was born in '84.

Last night I delved deeper into that Gamalon site, click "view more" where it says MUSIC/PERFORMANCES/INFLUENCES and you can find a Miles Davis video, that said I dont think Im that interested anymore. Didnt check out many others but I can tell you there are better Mahavishnu clips than that one, though that is still a priceless video to have shot and possess. This is an awesome site this guy put up, theres hours and hours of music on it. I feel dumb for not having found it myself.

It's not a timeless album like any of their first three albums...

Isnt that always the case ? Nothing like the spark of a young band when their sound is still fresh

 

[ShredHeadJHJ]

Miles is raw old school prototype Jazz Fusion. I think he's more credited with reinventing a genre rather than being renowned for his music. My friend used to be a pretty good trumpet player. He said that the stuff Miles did on trumpet wasn't even very hard to do compared to a lot of guys, but he was pretty much "the" guy that started incorporating electric instruments into Jazz which in turn created the "Fusion" of Jazz & Rock. He also supposably had great stage presence for a Jazz guy at the time. If I ever got into him I would look at it as a history lesson. I do love some Coltrane every now & then however. He was a true virtuoso.

 

[Jimm O)))]

Bitches Brew and The Inner Mounting Flame are brilliant albums. Some of my favorite in the genre.

The first time I heard Bitches Brew, I was like, "this can't be Davis". At the time I was listening to his cool era work so there was a huge leap in style. At any rate, it changed the way I looked at jazz.

 

[ramses]

Anybody ever listen to Brand X?

 

[Lucius Octavion]

Brand X is darn good. Percy Jones is one of my favorite bassists. And he does a lot of avant stuff too. Amazing players.

Also check out Shawn Lane, Jonas Hellborg, Bill Frisel, and yes of course Maha Vishnu. Oh and another one is Frogg Cafe.

 

[razoredge]

Apparently Gamalon has opened for Vital Information as well as Brand X, according to the site, but I dont think that would have been the origional lineup which there is no question to me was the best. I just love George Puleos playing and stage attitude (I mean this guy is having fun and it seems so natural, not a stage show, just into the music and really feels it) and the chemistry of the whole band during that period.

 

[BloodSword]

Interesting thread, and I second all reccs. I would also suggest "Weather Report" really any of their albums. "Return to Forever" (chik corea) is a stunning work. "Crosswinds" by Billy Cobham is short but excellent. Met Billy backstage on this tour in 73-7, great guy, who gave me a pair of his drumsticks. Jaco Pastorious is, imo, the best bass player I've ever seen and heard. Pick up his debut album, or really anything he's ever done. He played bass with "Weather Report." Along with Wayne Shorter(sax), Joe Zawinul(keys, who recently passed on RIP).