Hey, thanks, Brad, I appreciate your comments very much. I have done a lot of research into the fusion era not to mention being a high school jazz band musician and record buyer at the time, and I'm realizing that it's an area with an interested audience, which it didn't really used to be. I had done a couple of book proposals around comprehensive fusion histories or other ideas in the early 2000s, but the interest wasn't there. I feel like a lot of listeners coming up today will find certain records themselves and get to hear them without a lot of context and that will be to the good.
Yeah, all the major labels still had jazz divisions then, and they put a lot of that stuff under there. But Columbia had to be king. I remember going to a Columbia All Stars fusion show at The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago with Narada Michael Walden, Billy Cobham, Tom Scott, etc. and people were lighting up joints at their seats. Different era, for sure.
Love the early Journey, also the fusion-y Santana of that period as well. Some of the most interesting stuff is what crosses over, not just jazz to rock, but rock to jazz as well. Glad that you've got a bit of immortality hanging in that radio station!
Thanks for your inspirational comments and kind of confirming what I'm remembering and finding about this time and style(s) of music. I can pretty much guarantee that NDIM readers will be getting some more on this topic in the not too distant future.
Insightful and impressive dive, Marshall, into a slice of '70s-era musical pie few have the knowledge or patience to tackle (and, I'm at the front of that line)!
Your aligning RTF and adjacent artists with prog-rockers (Yes, Genesis, Crimson, ELP, et al) was precise, and in the rear-view, it makes me think those groups were pedaling rapidly, trying desperately to keep up! RTF and Weather Report, though, were seemingly doing their things with one arm tied behind their amps, showing the little brothers how it's done!
Thanks for mentioning record labels, a true context hook (for me, anyway) that says a lot about the artists, and their place in the corporate hierarchy (not to mention if and how they might've ended up with airplay). RTF, Weather Report, John McLaughlin (and Mahavishnu), Tony Williams, Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola, Alphonso Johnson, and others all ended up on Columbia (or associated labels) by the late '70s, and the label's oomph into radio and retail meant unit sales of half-a-million for more than a couple of them (Weather Report's 1977 "Heavy Weather," for example)! Plus, it showed the label was interested in more than just Billy Joel, Springsteen, and Streisand pop million-sellers! They were eager to get quality music to the masses, as well (with the attendant profits if they did so, sure).
Your mention of Neal Schon reminded me of another jazz fusion band....his pre-Perry, 4-piece Journey (also on Columbia)! For 3 albums (1975-'77), they traveled in that exasperatingly (for CBS) hit-free lane, until the label demanded some hits from the band who, at the time, would think nothing of slapping 6-minute jazzy instrumentals and/or songs sung by keyboardist Gregg Rolie on their albums! Hence, the search for a frontman and someone who might contribute 3 1/2-minute hits!
I was music director of the U of Houston station in '75, and for their debut, the CBS rep brought them by KUHF to award me with a deed to a star (their self-titled debut had something to do with space), and I had my picture taken with them. That photo, for all I know (along with that celestial deed) is still hanging on a wall at the station, some 48 years later! I've written about it, but I won't clutter your page, here, with the link. It's easily findable for the interested. Back to you.....well done, Marshall!
Hey, thanks, Brad, I appreciate your comments very much. I have done a lot of research into the fusion era not to mention being a high school jazz band musician and record buyer at the time, and I'm realizing that it's an area with an interested audience, which it didn't really used to be. I had done a couple of book proposals around comprehensive fusion histories or other ideas in the early 2000s, but the interest wasn't there. I feel like a lot of listeners coming up today will find certain records themselves and get to hear them without a lot of context and that will be to the good.
Yeah, all the major labels still had jazz divisions then, and they put a lot of that stuff under there. But Columbia had to be king. I remember going to a Columbia All Stars fusion show at The Auditorium Theatre in Chicago with Narada Michael Walden, Billy Cobham, Tom Scott, etc. and people were lighting up joints at their seats. Different era, for sure.
Love the early Journey, also the fusion-y Santana of that period as well. Some of the most interesting stuff is what crosses over, not just jazz to rock, but rock to jazz as well. Glad that you've got a bit of immortality hanging in that radio station!
Thanks for your inspirational comments and kind of confirming what I'm remembering and finding about this time and style(s) of music. I can pretty much guarantee that NDIM readers will be getting some more on this topic in the not too distant future.
Insightful and impressive dive, Marshall, into a slice of '70s-era musical pie few have the knowledge or patience to tackle (and, I'm at the front of that line)!
Your aligning RTF and adjacent artists with prog-rockers (Yes, Genesis, Crimson, ELP, et al) was precise, and in the rear-view, it makes me think those groups were pedaling rapidly, trying desperately to keep up! RTF and Weather Report, though, were seemingly doing their things with one arm tied behind their amps, showing the little brothers how it's done!
Thanks for mentioning record labels, a true context hook (for me, anyway) that says a lot about the artists, and their place in the corporate hierarchy (not to mention if and how they might've ended up with airplay). RTF, Weather Report, John McLaughlin (and Mahavishnu), Tony Williams, Stanley Clarke, Al Di Meola, Alphonso Johnson, and others all ended up on Columbia (or associated labels) by the late '70s, and the label's oomph into radio and retail meant unit sales of half-a-million for more than a couple of them (Weather Report's 1977 "Heavy Weather," for example)! Plus, it showed the label was interested in more than just Billy Joel, Springsteen, and Streisand pop million-sellers! They were eager to get quality music to the masses, as well (with the attendant profits if they did so, sure).
Your mention of Neal Schon reminded me of another jazz fusion band....his pre-Perry, 4-piece Journey (also on Columbia)! For 3 albums (1975-'77), they traveled in that exasperatingly (for CBS) hit-free lane, until the label demanded some hits from the band who, at the time, would think nothing of slapping 6-minute jazzy instrumentals and/or songs sung by keyboardist Gregg Rolie on their albums! Hence, the search for a frontman and someone who might contribute 3 1/2-minute hits!
I was music director of the U of Houston station in '75, and for their debut, the CBS rep brought them by KUHF to award me with a deed to a star (their self-titled debut had something to do with space), and I had my picture taken with them. That photo, for all I know (along with that celestial deed) is still hanging on a wall at the station, some 48 years later! I've written about it, but I won't clutter your page, here, with the link. It's easily findable for the interested. Back to you.....well done, Marshall!