Class 3/4 (Miles, Hancock, Mahavishnu, Corea, Weather Report Fusion))

Obstacles for Jazz

1. Youth - the new generation wanted to be able to claim their own music, and wanted to listen to musicians who were also young

2. Electronics and Recording - Sound Manipulation devices and Amplifiers allowed rock musicians to create unique, appealing timbres and play loud enough to perform for much larger crowds at much larger venues. Studio post-production techniques were also at the disposal of rock musicians, but jazz musicians found it to be taboo.

3. Rhythm - Rock typically had an even-eighths groove with a heavy backbeat, making it appealing to audiences but also making it challenged for musicians accustomed to swing to adapt to.

4. Groups - Rock groups focused more on their sound as a whole and less on the individual, which had become uncharacteristic of jazz groups.

Herbie Hancock

A former member of Davis’s second great quintet who has established himself as a complex postbop pianist-composer. When he eventually left the group, he extended Miles’s idea of jazz-rock fusion but integrated funk and a degree of simplicity to make it popular.

Hancock grew up as a skilled classical pianist and also dabbled in R&B. He found personal success with songs like “Watermelon Man,” and also found an audience of jazz fans with modal pieces like “Maiden Voyage” and his use of slash chords in “Dolphin Dance.”

His first major success was his addition to Miles’s second great quintet, as it further established his credibility and fast-tracked him to continued fame. During his time with Miles, Hancock proved that he was an innovative force outside of the group, especially with the piece “Cantaloupe Island.” This piece was a funkier offshoot of hard bop, foreshadowing the idioms Hancock would later explore, and has a steady, simplistic groove supported by an easy-going vamp. Despite its seemingly simplicity, it took many takes to finalize the piece, demonstrating Hancock’s insistence that there is a degree of nuanced complexity in aiming for simplicity.

When Hancock left the group to form his own postbop band, he didn’t find success until he recast his band as the Headhunters and embraced funk. Its success was demonstrated by the hit “Chameleon," which simply consisted of a bass line in a clave rhythm cycling between two chords. Herbie used this foundation to layer on electronic keyboard sounds.

Hancock later produced the first jazz recording to win a Grammy for album of the year since Getz/Gilberto with River: The Joni Letters.

Mahavishnu Orchestra, John McLaughlin

After leaving Miles Davis’s group, John McLaughlin went to form his own band called the Mahavishnu Orchestra. This group provided the template for jazz-rock fusion groups that Miles Davis and Bitches Brew could not, especially due to McLaughlin’s virtuosic electric guitar playing and the further refined use of electronic instruments.

McLaughlin was influenced by blues players, but his interest in Indian improvisation as well as the tala led him to implement unique meters in many of his songs. The band’s success with their first two albums The Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire showed that jazz-rock groups could compete in the same league as legitimate rock bands. This was further aided by the loud, fast, and electronic sound that allowed the group to perform in rock concert settings.

Chick Corea

Chick Corea was an integral pianist-composer of fusion and another musician who had been apart of Miles Davis’s group and helped record Bitches Brew. After leaving Davis, he had a short venture with an avant-garde group, but soon found it alienating.

This is when he decided to form Return to Forever, a group that aimed to emulate the dramatic intensity and commercial appeal of Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Some of Corea’s personal stylistic choices included adopting a rack of synthesizers and keyboards to have at his disposal, as well as Brazilian and Afro-Cuban influence in some of his pieces.

Corea also explored duo recordings and performances, finding the most success with vibraphonist Gary Burton.

Weather Report, Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul

Saxophonist Wayne Shorter and Keyboard player Joe Zawinul were both former members of Miles Davis’s group and went on to form the longest lasting fusion group, Weather Report.

They started out playing experimental music, but later moved to funk and more composition based Afro-pop. Zawinul, with a background in soul jazz and influence from Ray Charles, mastered the synth and a variety of other keyboard oriented instruments.

The biggest turn for the group came with the addition of Jaco Pastorious on electric bass. He never played acoustic bass, but his clean, singing sound on his fretless bass and ability to play fluid melodic lines helped bring about the commercial and artistic peak of the group. This was especially demonstrated by the success of the album Heavy Weather, with Jaco taking the role more typical of an electric guitarist on both “Birdland,” which had a funky, church-like sound, and “Teen Town.”