Welcome all to a new   thread dedicated to my favourite genre Jazz-Rock. Upcoming features will be a commented discography of the ‘Electric Miles Davis Period’ (1967-1975) and  the jazzier side of ‘Canterbury’ among other topics. I hope that lots of you will participate to keep this thread alive. I’ll start with two of my recent  discoveries.:

I haven't heard of  ‘Min Bul’ until lately,  when the name of Terje Rypdal on the cover draw my attention’Min Bul’ was formed in 1970 by Terje Rypdal (guitar, soprano sax), Bjornar Andresen (Bass) and Espen Rud (drums) and released their only selfnamed record in 1970. The record was re-released last year by Universal/ Norway and is IMO a major re-release!

In 1969 Terje Rypdal took part at the famous 'Baden-Baden Free Jazz Meeting', and the same year John Mc Laughlin released 'Extrapolation' which has similarities to the record and obviously influenced Terje Rypdal. Both records have the same instrumentation (TR overdubbs on soprano sax) a mixture of Free Jazz, Avant Garde and Jazz Rock. Some of the tracks are very Free and might not be everyone's cup of tea, but the more 'composed' tracks, often build around a ostinato bass line are fantastic, my favourite tracks  are 'Champagne Of Course' and 'Strange Beauty'.The recording is excellent : Oslo must be with New York among the citys with the highest level of recording quality. ‘Min Bul’ is together with 'Extrapolation' and the early Larry Corryel records a major guitar oriented Avant Jazz Rock record.

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Jazz rock is one of my favorite genres.

My favorites are: Weather report, Soft machine (3,4,5), Billy Cobham (Spectrum, Crosswinds), Mahavishnu orchestra, Passport, Brand X, Jaco Pastorius, Larry Coryell, National health, Jeff Beck, Zappa, Deodato, Miles Davis, John Mclauglin (Electric guitarist, Extrapolation), Brufford, Herbie Hancock (Headhunters, Man child), Return to forever (No mystery, Hymn of seventh galaxy, Where have I known you before),.......

I didn't heard the bands that you mentioned but looking forward to discuss more in this tread

very fun thread and good for checkin out ppl's lists too.....to keep as strictly as i possibly can to the understanding of 'jazz rock' here, i would suggest these releases to be checked out:

The following list come from the Jazz-Rock chapter of the ‘Dictionnaire du Jazz‘[Laffont] (1994) written by Xavier Daverat. I don’t agree with everything,  but in a whole it gives a good overlook over Jazz –Rock and the subsections make sense  in terms of developpment of the genre. Records are in quotations marks songs without.

1.Proto Jazz-Rock /British Jazz-Rock:

Graham Bond:  The Grass Is Greener (1963)/ Walkin In The Park (1966)

Colosseum : “Those Who Are About To Die Salute You” (1969)/ “Live” (1971)

Dada : “Dada” (1971)

Dick Heckstall Smith : The Pirate’s Deam (1972)

King Crimson :  Lizard (1970)/ “Islands” (1971)

Manfred Mann: “Chapter Three” (1970)/ “Solar Fire”(1974)

Matching Mole : “Little Red Record” (1972)

Mogul Trash : “Same” (1971)

Nucleus : “We’ll Talk About It Later” (1971)

Soft Machine : Out Bloody Rageous (1970)/ “Six” (1973)

Wizzard : Ball Park Incident (1973)

Robert Wyatt : “Rock Bottom” (1975)

2. US Jazz-Rock:

Carla Bley : “Escalator Over The Hill” (1968-71)

Gary Burton : Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly (1973)

Stanley Clarke : “Journey To Love” (1976)

Billy Cobham : “Spectrum” (1973)

Larry Corryell : “Spaces” (1969)

Miles Davis : “In A Silent Way” (1969)/ “Bitches Brew (1969)/ “ At Fillmore” (1970) / “Live Evil” (1970)

Al DI Meola : Suite , Golden Dawn (1976)

Jan Hammer : “The First Seven Days” (1975)

Herbie Hancock : “Fat Albert Rotunda” 1970)/ “Sextant” (1972)/

Keith Jarrett : “Hymn & Spheres” (1976)

John Mc Laughlin “ My Golas Beyond (1970)/ A Love Supreme (woth C. Santana) (1973)

Mahavishnu Orchestra : ‘Birds Of Fire” (1972)/ “Visions Of The Emerald Beyond” (1974)

Michael Mantler : “No Answer” (1973) / “Silence” (1976)/ “Movies” (1977)

Wayne Shorter : “Supernova” (1969)

Return To Forever : You’re Everything (1972)/ “Hymn To The Eleventh Galaxy” (1973)

Weather Report : Orange Lady (1971) /Boogie Woogie Waltz (1973) / “Black Market” (1975)

Tony Williams Lifetime : “Turn It Over” (1971)

3. Brass & Big Band Jazz Rock:

Blood , Sweat & Tears : Blues Part 2 (1969)/ “New Blood “ (1972)

Chicago Transit Authority : “ Live At Carnegie Hall” (1971)

Flock : “Clown (1969)/ “Dinosaur Swamps” (1970)

Ides Of March : Vehicle (1970)

Frank Zappa : “Chunga’s Revenge” (1970)/ “The Grand Wazzoo” (1972)/ Waka Jawaka (1973)

4. European Jazz Rock :

Burnin Red Ivanhoe : “ M144” (1969)

Krokodil : Looking At Time (1972)

Magma :  Stoah (1970)

Jean Luc Ponty : It Must Be A Camel (1969)/ Cantaloupe Island (1969)

Terje Rypdal : Keep It Like That Tight (1971)

Supersister : “Iskander” (1973)

pero wrote: Jazz rock is one of my favorite genres. My favorites are: Weather report, Soft machine (3,4,5), Billy Cobham (Spectrum, Crosswinds), Mahavishnu orchestra, Passport, Brand X, Jaco Pastorius, Larry Coryell, National health, Jeff Beck, Zappa, Deodato, Miles Davis, John Mclauglin (Electric guitarist, Extrapolation), Brufford, Herbie Hancock (Headhunters, Man child), Return to forever (No mystery, Hymn of seventh galaxy, Where have I known you before),.......

Very good!  Someone else mentioned Dixie Dregs - and you must add Romantic Warrior to your RTF collection.  Regarding whether jazz-rock is prog or not - if nothing else, it is "proto-prog," and bands like Colloseum, BS&T (only their first album) and Chicago (maybe only the first two albums) did their 'promo' work in introducing people like me to the (early) world of progressive music:  King Crimson, Genesis, Yes, etc.

well i havent heard Cream Live but i really think what the whole Phantom City project was abt was to take what Miles and Teo did on Bitches Brew, Big Fun etc one step further by having the musicians improvise with one another but not as a complete band in the same room/time, and then put the results together with a composer's or curator's ear.

Electric Miles (Part Three)

 ‘Bitches Brew’ (1970)

 ‘In A Silent Way’ was released in September 1969 and received a very positive critic in the jazz field as well as in the rock field. After the ‘Silent Way’ sessions of February ’69, Miles had already planned ahead and in august 1969 (19^th to 21th) he went back to the studio for new sessions, that would produce ‘Bitches Brew’ and a real chock in the musical world. 

In A Silent Way’ was a revolution, even so a silent one, and Miles wanted to go further in that direction. The august sessions would be less revolutionary in a certain way, but on the other hand Miles would push the limits started in February to an extreme. The basic principal stayed the same : invite musicians, let the tapes roll, try to find new paths, try out new combinations  with the perspective to assemble the recorded material afterwards and form a coherent ensemble out of the puzzle.

The first change concerns the number of musicians, after having played for a long time with a quintet, Miles used an octet  for the ’Silent Way’  sessions and  invited now thirteen musicians ,who didn’t play all at the same time, but on  most  tracks there are at least 10 musicians playing. [Miles : trumpet, Wayne Shorter : Soprano sax, Bernie Maupin : bass clarinet, Joe Zawinul : e-piano, Chick Corea: e-piano, Herbie Hancock : e-piano (all three played the  ‘Fender Rhodes’) John Mc Laughlin : Guitar, Dave Holland : Bass,  Harvey Brooks : e-bass, Lenny White; drums, Jack De Johnette : drums, Don Alias: percussion & drums, Billy Cobham: drums, Jumma Santos : percussion, Airto Moreira : percussion.]

Now the first thing that catches the eye is the large amount of drummers/percussion players. On all tracks play two drummers and on several tracks two drummers and two percussion players at the same time. Second novelty in terms of orchestration : the bass clarinet (played by Bernie Maupin) especially in opposition to Wayne playing the high-pitched soprano-sax and Miles trumpet. ‘Silent Way’ was an eerie record,(recorded in winter) : Wayne played soprano-sax and Tony Williams,(who left after the February sessions) played mainly on the cymbals or excecuted his trademark rim-shots, putting the overall sound-spectrum in the higher frequencies. Now on ‘Bitches Brew’, recorded on three hot summer days, the sound had come back to earth, to the jungle, an hommage to Duke Ellington’s growling sound. The sound was more grounded : the bass was often doubled, the drummers played a heavy, funkier rhythm (Miles tried to approach the sound of Hendrix drummer Buddy Miles) and the use of bass clarinet. 

As for ‘Silent Way’ the main musical material for these sessions consisted of short riffs or melodic segments (‘lead’-riffs often played by Miles on the trumpet serving as a guideline for the band, (there are only two ‘compositions’ on the record : “Sanctuary”  by Wayne Shorter [ a Shorter composition that was already in the Quintet live repertory] and “Pharao’s Dance” by Joe Zawinul). Miles would use the concept of lead -riffs (and assorted hand movements in live situations) to direct the band and give signs for tempo changes. During the sessions, Miles spend a lot of time with producer Teo Macero in the control room giving indications to the musicians and joined the band when the groove was already on the way.

Another change concerns the post production :  Miles and Teo Macero spend nearly nine months on the post production.(Bitches Brew was only released in April of 1970) choosing the interesting material and editing it heavily. The most famous example is “Pharao’s Dance “ (20:05) which contained nineteen edits , including the use of tape loops, reverb & echo chambers, a real masterpiece of studio technique and nevertheless not clinic at all.

Contrary to ‘Silent Way’ which had a very unique and dense atmosphere ‘Bitches Brew’ contains different atmospheres and elements announced by the beautiful Mati Klarwein cover : music full of earth, air, fire & water. “Pharaos Dance” and the title track “Bitches Brew” are the most ‘experimental tracks (especially in terms of editing), the tension on these both tracks is gradually mounting with a complexe percussion carpet underneath while the other instruments weave an melodic pattern on top. The overall rhythm on the record had become heavier, a binary heavy funk that, would announce the ‘Jack Johnson’ sessions. Miles is now practically the only soloist on top of a rhythmic and melodic patchwork, with a special mention for Bernie Maupin’s bass-clarinet playing.”Sanctuary”  is the swan song of Wayne Shorter (who would leave the band at the end of the year) a beautiful melody and Miles nostalgic goodbye to the quintet. “John Mc Laughlin” was an edit of the title track “Bitches Brew” and features the guitarist. “Spanish key”  a spanish flavored piece reminding “Flamenco Sketches” ( ‘Kind Of Blue’) and “Miles Runs the Voodo Down” , the most linear track with an on-going funky rhythm, that would announce the soul-funk material that Miles would elaborate soon.

When ‘Bitches Brew’ was released in April 1970, it would become one of Miles best-selling records and divided the Jazz world into two camps not unlike Bob Dylan dividing the Folk scene by taking up the electric guitar some years earlier.

(à suivre)