New Jazz Fusion Mix

disco_che

First time in more than half a year I have been able to put toghether a new mix (real life was quiet demanding lately). I miss the mixes section, really. What about a "New mixes" folder in the forum?

Jazz Fusion (Fuel For The Fire) by Skoluda on Mixcloud

DocMcCoy

Looking forward to getting stuck into this later. I do like a bit of fusion; doesn't need to be especially danceable either. It's a bit like prog-rock in that its inherent muso-ness has rendered it largely impervious to attempts at artistic re-evaluation. The usual response is either to geek out on the (needlessly?) flashy technique, or recoil inna '77 Year Zero style from the values exemplified by such things as keytars, eight-string basses and perspex drum kits with triple kicks. I don't really care about such things anymore. At its best, the sheer intensity of some of the Mahavishnu stuff, for example, is something I find genuinely exhilarating. What keeps me going back to the fusion I like are the textures and atmospherics, as well as some of the musical ideas above and beyond simple displays of virtuosity. A decent groove doesn't hurt either.

disco_che

Doc, I'm curious do know what you think, when you heard it. I have a rather loose concept of Fusion. Some of the tracks could also qualify as Jazz-Funk, Popjazz or simply 80sSmoothJazz-Terds with a samba beat.

DocMcCoy

disco_che said:

Doc, I'm curious do know what you think, when you heard it. I have a rather loose concept of Fusion. Some of the tracks could also qualify as Jazz-Funk, Popjazz or simply 80sSmoothJazz-Terds with a samba beat.

It did tend to lean a little more toward the jazz-funk end of things with the Seawind and David Benoit tracks, but the first few tunes definitely landed within the boundaries of what I'd define as fusion. There was some more that walked the line between fusion and jazz-funk, like the Jeff Lorber and Alphonse Mouzon tracks. It was a good balance, though, and there were a few things I didn't know. I enjoyed it.

A few years back, there was this now defunct blog called A Silent Flute, and the dude who ran it did these amazing fusion mixes which he'd throw up every now and again. He rarely posted tracklists, though, and it's the only time I've ever been seriously bothered by that. There were about three or four of those mixes that I listened to constantly for about two years and it took forever to track down some of the stuff on there - I'm still looking for a lot of it. Dude has a Soundcloud, but none of the fusion mixes he did are up there.

disco_che

DocMcCoy said:

It did tend to lean a little more toward the jazz-funk end of things with the Seawind and David Benoit tracks, but the first few tunes definitely landed within the boundaries of what I'd define as fusion. There was some more that walked the line between fusion and jazz-funk, like the Jeff Lorber and Alphonse Mouzon tracks. It was a good balance, though, and there were a few things I didn't know. I enjoyed it.

Yep, it was more about that certain fusion-y atmosphere than about lightspeed keytar solos. Thanks for listening so closely and giving feedback. It's very appreciated.