The Rockier/Harder side of Jazz Fusion/Jazz Rock

I've heard a large number of Jazz Fusion groups in the past few years especially, new and old, recommended and not. Jazz Fusion/JazzRock is a wide range of music I believe, though the top few dozen Jazz Fusion albums on this website have a very recognizable, familiar, and similar style. They're all very different at the same time obviously, but is there a harder-hitting, more powerful sound out there in the Jazz Fusion world? Where's the aggressive side of Jazz Fusion? Is there such a thing?

markosherrera wrote: colosseum,mahavishnu......

    

I've heard all the high-ranked albums on this site. I forgot to mention.

Mahavishnu Orchestra was one of my first. Colosseum is also great.

Kleynan wrote: So you've heard fusion Miles Davis then? Live-Evil is probably his heaviest. Bitches Brew is the best though.

Hey man, It's not THAT heavy. But yes I've heard Bitches Brew. Maybe I'll check out Live-Evil sometime

Gambale-Hamm-Smith is all I have to say.

oh, and Vital Tech Tones

Miles Davis - Black Beauty Live At The Fillmore West, Or The Isle Of Wight

Embryo - Steig Aus

Annexus Quam - Osmose

Planet X - 'Moonbabies'     absolutely spectacular progressive jazz metal
Colossueum II - 'Electric Savage'     tight and red-hot
Return to Forever - 'Romantic Warrior'     say no more

Niacin, excellent as they are, followed where Jonas Hellborg and the Johansson brothers had been : e  (hard Hammond dominated, bass heavy jazz rock fusion) and as the Shining Path with the death metal fusion of No Other World  (check out DEM/Bardo Records for both recordings). Hard brass rock/jazz rock fusion, (sorry to repeat myself but) said by many of those who have the record, is the best jazz rock of the 90's, Conrad Schrenk & Extravanganza's Save The Robots (check out Abstractlogix for this difficult to find but IMHO essential album). Located in the wrong place on the PA Electrocution 250 is jazz rock ultra-shred at 250 bpm.

Just remembered  I put myself (for in-car entertainment), an 80 minute burn of heavy  jazz fusion back in 2005 with the following track-listing, to provides some ideas of where to sample:

1.       Conrad Schrenk: 777 (ex. Save The Robots) - 666 and 888 are other interesting compositions/arrangement by guitarist Schrenk.
 2.  Gongzilla: Image (ex. Thrive) - Gary Husband guesting on drums provides the heaviness

3.       Fire Merchants: Sybil (ex. Landlords Of Atlantis), Brand X side project(??) - example of what was called 'grunge jazz fusion' in the early 90's.

4.       Niacin: Swing Swang Swung (ex. Deep)

5.       Electrocution 250: Brainscrapper (ex. Electric Cartoon Music From Hell)

6.       The Shining Path: My Turn To Lose (ex. No Other World)

7.       Ohm: Searching For The Suicide King (ex. Ohm) - what do you expect with Chris Poland ex Megadeth as lead?

8.       Black Light Syndrome: Dark Corners (ex. BLS) - aka Bozzio Levin & Stevens

9.       David Fiuczynski: Shafta (ex. Black Cherry Acid Lab). Probably the most interesting  of the  younger American guitarist around. Also check out his band Scream Headless Torsos.

10.   Alkemy: Underwater (ex. Da 63 Project)

11.   Gambale, Hamm, Smith: Bad Intent (ex. Show Me What You Can Do) - Stu Hamm better known for collaborations with Vai and Satriani, flexing his fusion muscles in excellent company

12.   Shaun Baxter: Make It Reel (ex. Metal Jazz)
London-based music teacher, toured with Carl Palmer in 2003-ish.

13.   Heavy Metal Jazz Concepts: What Once Was (ex. Heavy Was A Sweater)

14.   Network: Looking Into Space (ex. LNC). Cobham drum technician (etc.)  Steve Clarke's Network with a strange hybrid of  jazz fusion and Scandanavian death metal - and Jan Hammer apparently playing keys!

15.  Jonas Hellborg Group: Dead (ex. Jonas Hellborg Group) - two and a half minutes of heavy fusion pleasure - trio of future Flower King's drummer plus two bass players (4 and 6 strings respectively).

Examples for the curious on Thursday nights radio show.

.

Edited by Dick Heath - December 11 2006 at 06:30

I second Ohm, masterliness material right there.

I just want to state, as fact, that Conrad Schrenk Extravaganza is amazing.

Thanks everybody for posting!

Soft Machine - Bundles
Nucleus - We'll Talk About it Later
Quiet Sun - Mainstream

And I second checking out Embryo ('Steig Aus' and 'Father, Son, and Holy Ghost' are both great).