jazz fusion

Peter Rideout wrote: Steve Morse Band

Actually, Steve Morse has headed a little away from his jazz-fusion debuts in Dixie Dregs in his trio and the Steve Morse Band plays more of a melodic heavy-prog stuff. I think Dixie Dregs' "What if" is a must-have for every fusion fan. Moreover I would recommend the following artists for someone looking for the most complicated stuff :

SPASTIC INK : "Ink complete" (very unique and truly mind-blowing)

DEREK SHERINIAN : "Planet X" (with the incomparable Virgil Donati on drums)

THE BRECKER BROTHERS : "Heavy-metal be-bop" (With another amazing drummer : Terry Bozzio)

ZAPPA : "live in NYC 1977" (once again with Bozzio)

THE NEW TONY WILLIAMS LIFETIME : "Believe it" (with the genial Holdsworth on the guitar)

AL DI MEOLA: the first three albums

COLOSSEUM II : "Strange new flesh" (Gary Moore on top form)

ISOTOPE : "Deep end"

NATHAN MAHL : "Heretik volume III : the sentence"

Velvetclown wrote: Well Holdsworth never stayed long in any combos. U.K-Soft Machine-Jean-Luc Ponty-Gong........ Yes Hammar, Cosmic Messenger is also a great album  Heja Norge

Greetings Velvetclown! Skal du til Slottskogen Goes Progressive i August??

Holdsworth sticked to him self for a while at least.... Late 70's Gong is also something to check out!!

Nej Hammar tyvärr, skall resa till Skottland i augusti

Sorry for including some Klingon lingo in here

Hammar wrote: [Danbo: What do you recommend of Gambale? I've only got Passages and it's ok.

I had Thunder from Down Under, the Great Explorers and MVP: Truth in Shredding (Just re-issued).

 MVP (Mark Varney Project) had Holdsworth and Gambale. Steve Tavaglione plays some great sax and EWI, BTW. The problem I had with the album was Holdsworth and Gambale didn't actually play together in the same room, trading solos. That spontaneity would have been incredible.  

Quote:

Another album worth hearing for his work is Joni Mitchell's 'Shadows & Light'

But get the US double CD not the edited down single CD version. And the DVD of the show re-emerged last year (was released on laserdisc in Japan only before?), Metheny, Pastorius and Brecker are on absolute top form - pity the director spoils my all time favourite jazz rock track "Dry Cleaner From Des Moines" by running footage of cheesey Las Vegas nightlife, when we could be watching probably the most exciting duet  ever, unfold between Pastorius and Brecker - hopeful the footage of it exists in the archives.

Yes Scott Henderson for versatility - check out his rock'n'roll and blues/soul albums. I really enjoyed TT's "Rocket Science" - any band who bring back the ring modulator into the modern day have to be heard.

One of my favourite jazz rock flavoured albums of the last 5 years or so was Mastermind's tribute to Mahavishnu Orchestra, "Excelsior!" - which gets in before TT with the ring modulators!

But to me Pastorius's inheritor is Jonas Hellborg master of the acoustic bass guitar and seemingly one of the few who stays with the 4 string electric bass - I'm told he wrote the definitive book on slap-bass playing techniques. Listen to many of the Day Eight Music (Hellborg's own label) and Bardo releases from 1987(which Bityear I hope you find easier to get than me here in the UK), shows Hellborg to be musicians of great depth and breadth, and prepared to experiment extensively. In particular his work with the late and lamented Shawn Lane.

Vertu didn't last that long did they?

And one of the great lost 90's albums, increasingly said to be the best jazz rock albums of the last decade, is Conrad Schrenk's Extravaganza's "Save The Robots" (check out the Fusenet jazz rock discussion group archives on the web for confirmation). Schrenk's guitarwork has been said to be Steve Vai with jazz chords. Schrenk has to let the album get reissued or else the word will only be spread by boot copies.