Matthew Reed Baker takes over the 33 1/3 blog this week with a deep-dive into his upcoming addition to the Genre series: 1970s Jazz Fusion. Today Matthew is blessing your playlists with a handy guide on what to listen to if you’re new to the jazz fusion genre.
by Matthew Reed Baker
How do you get into jazz fusion? Well, my short and self-serving answer is: Read my book!
Throughout its pages, I am writing about many different albums by many different artists, with the hope that I can pique your interest in any or all of them. Still, I was quite aware that mentioning several hundred albums can be a bit overwhelming for the new listener, so I have given readers short lists throughout the book.
First off, every book in the Genre series has a list of “10 Essential Tracks” at the end, so I have compiled that list to reflect at least one representative music sample of each chapter in the book.
I have also gone further and ended every chapter in the book with a “10 Essential Albums” list, which totals some 70 albums that you can choose from.
I did this so that readers can wade a little deeper into this genre, and also because jazz fusion may have had several popular singles, but it was primarily wonderful “album music.” So many artists designed these releases so that you can take time out and immerse yourself in their unique soundworlds for 40 minutes or more.
Still, 1970s jazz fusion is a vast genre that diverges into various disparate streams, whether jazz-rock or jazz-funk, whether it incorporates elements of Latin or Indian music, whether it’s raucous or mellow, electric or electronic, and so on. So often it helps listeners to first enter the genre through familiar gateways of music they already like.
And that is why I have created this handy flow chart below, to help pinpoint which jazz fusion album might be best for you at first.
All of these albums are referenced in my book, and to make sure that a wide variety of music is listed here, each artist is represented only once—I would encourage you to hear more of their music beyond these lists. From there on, I would beseech you to keep your mind wide open and start listening outside of your comfort zone. There’s too much cool music out there!
My flow chart is still a subjective list, of course, so as you dive deep into more jazz fusion, you might disagree with my choices. That’s completely wonderful, though, because it means that you’re now exploring on your own. Enjoy!
Matthew Reed Baker
has been a writer and editor for almost three decades. He was the research and arts editor at Boston Magazine for 14 years, where he is still a contributing editor, and has written for The Boston Globe Magazine, ForbesLife, and National Journal. He lives with his wife, two children, and their cat in the Boston area and Midcoast Maine.
1970s Jazz Fusion is available to buy in bookshops and online, including at Bloomsbury.com.
