City Libraries, City of Gold Coast

Birds of fire, jazz, rock, funk, and the creation of fusion, Kevin Fellezs, Ronald Radano, Josh Kun

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Birds of fire

electronic resource

Kevin Fellezs, Ronald Radano, Josh Kun

Refiguring American music

jazz, rock, funk, and the creation of fusion

This title brings overdue critical attention to fusion, the musical idiom that emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s, as musicians blended elements of jazz, rock, and funk., Birds of Fire brings overdue critical attention to fusion, a musical idiom that emerged as young musicians blended elements of jazz, rock, and funk in the late 1960s and 1970s. At the time, fusion was disparaged by jazz writers and ignored by rock critics. In the years since, it has come to be seen as a commercially driven jazz substyle. Fusion never did coalesce into a genre. In Birds of Fire, Kevin Fellezs contends that hybridity was its reason for being. By mixing different musical and cultural traditions, fusion artists sought to disrupt generic boundaries, cultural hierarchies, and critical assumptions. Interpreting the work of four distinctive fusion artists-Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock-Fellezs highlights the ways that they challenged convention in the 1960s and 1970s. He also considers the extent to which a musician can be taken seriously as an artist across divergent musical traditions. Birds of Fire concludes with a look at the current activities of McLaughlin, Mitchell, and Hancock; Williams's final recordings; and the legacy of the fusion music made by these four pioneering artists

specialized