The difference between Fusion and Fusion

MikeEnRegalia wrote: [  Mike Keneally are Jazz Fusion, lots of improvisation and weird tonal concepts ... much like Zappa (Mike Keneally was his "stunt" guitarist on the 1988 tour).

Keneally is musician who freely crosses many a musical border, pigeonhoing him 'jazz fusion' is most misleading especially to those who don't know his work (and this came up about a month or so ago). He is quite at home doing a tremendous version of  Siberian Khatru or play on a Gentle Giant Tribute, or playing dozens of Steve Howe riffs at high speed (Faithful Axe), or playing keys for Vai or Satriani - is his piano transcription of Vai compositions out yet?? The  Beer For Dolphin album nor Hat  sound jazz fusion to me. Surely a musician who apprenticed with Frank Zappa and now developing  the traditions of the Zappa school of rock, but very much his own man.

philippe wrote: Since when Marty Friedman and others shreders play fusion music? (I know that Mc Alpine is called as a fusion guitarist but it remains too discreet). Al Di Meola, Allan Wholdsworth and few others are really fusion guitarists...why are you always looking for progressive elements where they don't exist?

I didn't mean to say that Marty Friedman is Prog. But he did several albums that might be considered Metal-Fusion, and THAT is exactly what Derek Sherinian does. And both of these artists use progressive elements a LOT. Personally, I don't think that that's enough to call them Prog in a "Prog Rock" sense, but it's enough for including them in the archives.

BTW: I know that you're biased against metal ... but does it have to be all or nothing? Can't I say that Friedman uses progressive elements - that doesn't mean that I would put him anywhere near the Prog masters.

Dick Heath wrote: MikeEnRegalia wrote: [ since on this website Zappa is already "pigeonholed" as Fusion ... things can't get much worse than that, can they? Supports my case......

I think that you can use genres in a meaningful way, but you have to apply them to albums, not artists. And for some albums, you even have to apply the genres to each track. And even then, there are albums or tracks that are not limited to a single genre. How do you label a track like "Zomby Woof"? I don't know ...