Fusion with vocals

[Scrotum Scissor]

Tassavallan Presidenti
Made in Sweden
If
Solar Plexus

Tasavallan were a great band, but other than assorted parts of Milky Way Moses, they were never "fusion" to any larger extent than, say, King Crimson donning reeds and brass. But Tasavallan anno Lambertland, with Pekka Pöyry handling the sax, could arguably have outplayed just about any progressive OR fusion band on the planet (at that point). That album remains one of the most decidedly *musical* rock records ever released in the Northern parts of Europe.

[Svetonio]

pick nits all you want, but ask 100 Prog fans if NH is Canterbury or Jazz Rock and you'll learn something that you apparently do not know

something else you probably don't know... bands do not have to be from Canterbury (or even England) to have a "Canterbury Prog sound"

Yea I know that there are a number of new & non-English bands who are recording some hybrid stuff inspired with 'Canterbury bands' but back in the day, at the time when National Health were a current band, there wasn't a "genre" called "Canterbury Prog" nor anything like that - it was (proggy) psychedelia, space-rock, avant-rock and jazz-rock.
And National Health's music is jazz-rock, as everybody can hear it as well.




Well, National Health's fans can call their music "Canterbury Prog" as a separated "genre" at the web as they like to do so, I don't care, but National Health's music is jazz-rock; give it to a newbie who does not know Nataional Health nor that story about 'Canterbury Scene', but that he/she has already heard e.g. a fusion album by Miles, to listen and ask him / her what he / she hears; I'm pretty sure that supposed newbie will not ask something like, " hey what is this, I've never heard anything like this, how you call this genre?"

[Svetonio]

Sound Chaser is a great vocally fusion track.





Of course, they recorded it in their own way, but this is a par excellance fusion track.

[progmatist]

Fusion Orchestra...the name says it all.

[Svetonio]

Smak, Hello (Black Lady, 1977)






Josipa Lisac, Kao Stanac (Dnevnik jedne ljubavi, 1973)





And in the best tradition of Yugo heavy fusion here's young Serbian band Gis Maj Es with their Glavom Zid the song from their 2012 debut CD

[Mikhael]

whoah... thanx for proving my point! that stuff is dreadful

Wait...what? Steely Dan's "Aja" is dreadful?

[Digital_Man]

[Of course, they recorded it in their own way, but this is a par excellance fusion track.]

I've never really considered "sound chaser" to be fusion. I'd say it's fusion influenced but to me I just don't see it as full on fusion. A big part of that could be because YES are more known as a prog band. I'd say it's prog fusion maybe though.

[LASERCD]

Israeli singer Rimona Francis made this great fusion album featuring her scat singing. Originals on MPS are quite scare. It was reissued by Speakers Corner and still available.

[bRETT]

And National Health's music is jazz-rock, as everybody can hear it as well.

I think National Health considered themselves a jazz band, period. Even the Hatfields edged more toward rock than NH did, despite having most of the same players.

[Progbear]

Forgot about Saluki, a spin-off of the Norwegian group Junipher Greene:



Also from Norway, Ruphus, starting with their 3rd album, went into fusion territory. As a fusion act, they never bettered that third album (Let Your Light Shine, produced by Terje Rypdal):



From Israel, Sheshet, the first (I believe) recording to feature the great vocalist Yehudith Ravitz:

[MJBrady]

There is a ton of good Fusion that featured vocals:
Bruford - Feels good to me/Gradually going Tornado
Nova - Vimana
David Sancious and Tone - 1978 - True Stories
David Sancious - 1979 - Just as I Thought
David Sancious - 1979 and Tone - Dance of the age of Enlightenment
The Gourishankar
Aquarium Rescue Unit
Area
Arti e Mestieri
Mahavishnu Orchestra - 1975 - Visions of the Emerald Beyond
Urszula Dudziak

[Svetonio]

(...)
Also from Norway, Ruphus, starting with their 3rd album, went into fusion territory. As a fusion act, they never bettered that third album (Let Your Light Shine, produced by Terje Rypdal):



(...)

Awesome track.

[Svetonio]

September, Domovino moja (1979)






September, Čudna vremena (1979)





September, Mom gospodinu pristojna pjesma (1979)

[Progbear]

Awesome track.

My fave off that LP is the title track, but it wasn’t posted. Just love Håkon Graf’s recurring piano hook on that tune! It’s just three little chords, but it makes the song for me!

[Scrotum Scissor]

I think National Health considered themselves a jazz band, period.

If you read the notes of Bill Bruford (early NH member), Dave Stewart and Mont Campbell, it was the exact opposite; they considered themselves a rock group, albeit of a decidedly English 'twee' nature.

[Svetonio]

Tihomir Pop Asanović (feat. Josipa Lisac) Ostavi trag (1974)





September, Zadnja avantura (1976)






September Noć kradljivaca (live 1976)

[Svetonio]

California's quartette 1O1 released a fantastic vocally fusion debut album in 2015 entitled High Above


http://1o1music.bandcamp.com/album/high-above





Personnel:

Kris Berry- Drums
Aaron Laughlin- Guitars, Vocals
Sean Anthony- Bass, Vocals
Alex Espe- Keyboards, Vocals

[Svetonio]

Miki Petkovski (feat. Boris Aranđelović, ex-Smak) Ko je taj (1979)








Miki Petkovski (feat. Gordana Ivandić), Ko zna (1979)









Leb i Sol, Nisam tvoj (1977)

[Zeuhlmate]

Awesome bass by Jannick Top

[proggosaurus]

this kickass heavy band from Peru has some vocals although not on these two tracks

Inner Confusion - First Confusion (Mary's Nightmare/2015)



Inner Confusion - Second Confusion (Mary's Nightmare/2015)

[Mascodagama]

...ask 100 Prog fans if NH is Canterbury or Jazz Rock and you'll learn something...

Ask 100 prog fans anything and you will get 87 different answers. Of which approximately sixty will be facetious attempts at humour, fourteen will show evidence of mental derangement, and two will be about Ayn Rand.

[spiderfeathers]

Has Colosseum II been mentioned? Some jazz-hands vocal moments on this one...

[wideopenears]

"Fusion" is really seen by most who love to classify music as a tangent of Jazz. Vocal Jazz is as old as instrumental jazz. I do not see Jazz Fusion or Jazz Rock or Jazz Fusion with vocals as an oxymoron at all. Whether individual efforts as Fusion vocals are good or bad, however, is a different issue.

I generally am accepting of the voice used primarily as an instrument, wordless vocalizing, etc., but I'm not as fond of fusion "lyrics" being sung. There are exceptions. I could list my examples, plus and minus, but that would just be a reflection of my taste.

Without doubt though, Tony's singing on that early Lifetime stuff has to be the worst example committed to tape. Sorry, but that's just an objective fact. And I am a HUGE fan of TW.

[arabicadabra]

Paul Williams singing on the Allan Holdsworth stuff (Metal Fatigue, IOU) and Jack Bruce on Road Games

[AdventAlan]

Greetings,

Here's a nice one featuring a couple of friends (Yuval and Tammy):



Cheers,


Alan