Jazz fusion
Musical style since the 1960s that combines jazz with funk rhythm and rock energy.
What it means
Fusion, meaning “blending,” is a musical style that since the end of the 1960s has combined the improvisation and harmony of jazz with the rhythm of funk and the energy and volume of rock. Typical are electric instruments such as electric guitar, electric bass, electric piano, and synthesizer as well as rhythmically complex, often fast pieces.
Musical use
Miles Davis is regarded as the pioneer; his album Bitches Brew (1970) brought electric instruments and rock-like rhythms into jazz. In the 1970s groups such as Weather Report, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Return to Forever arose, playing technically demanding pieces with long solos. Fusion long shaped jazz education and influenced funk, progressive rock, and pop music.
Fusion should be distinguished from acoustic jazz and bebop, which manage without electric instruments, and from free jazz, which dispenses with fixed grooves and harmonies. It differs from pure rock through the improvisation and harmony typical of jazz.
Performance practice
In fusion, listen to the interplay of groove and improvisation: the rhythm section and soloist react to each other. If you play yourself, first practise a precise, even groove and then add solos that orient themselves harmonically to the chords.