How much jazz was there in these classic rock artists?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Andrew J, Apr 30, 2021.

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  1. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    I personally think Joni had much more Jazz influence through several albums especially those with Jaco.

    • The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
    • Don Juan's Reckless Daughter
    • Heijira
    • Both Sides Now
    • Mingus
    All have elements or outright influences of Jazz
     
  2. segue

    segue Psychoacoustic Member

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  3. StarThrower62

    StarThrower62 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Syracuse, NY
    Really? Ginger Baker worshipped at the feet of Elvin Jones. And Purple drummer Ian Paice is also a jazz influenced drummer.

    Steely Dan should be the first band on that list. And BS&T too.
     
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  4. ironbutterfly

    ironbutterfly Listening to marky mark in mono

    For goodness sake Phil Collins did a jazz album and tour in the 90s
     
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  5. drad dog

    drad dog A Listener

    Location:
    USA
    The Guess Who had a lot more than most
     
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  6. danasgoodstuff

    danasgoodstuff Forum Resident

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    Portland, OR
    When Randy was still there...
     
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  7. drad dog

    drad dog A Listener

    Location:
    USA


    Guess Who -Nashville Sneakers
     
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  8. Andrew J

    Andrew J Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    South East England
    Ginger Baker was a jazz drummer, Jack Bruce was a jazz bassist. I know the difference between jazz and blues, as well as where they intertwine.
     
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  9. Day_Tripper2019

    Day_Tripper2019 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    The jazz albums of the 50's and early 60's would have had a decent impact on the psychedelic rock age.

    Phil Lesh (bass player fron the Dead) was a student of jazz.
     
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  10. Umbari

    Umbari Strange Member

    Location:
    Indonesia
    So did Cream. IMHO
    Thanks to Ginger and Jack. :cool:
     
  11. Sluggy

    Sluggy Forum Resident

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    I'm surprised more isn't made of the jazz influences in ZZ Top's masterpiece, 'Tush'.
     
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  12. chervokas

    chervokas Senior Member


    I agree that Mitchell is the jazziest among these. You don't hear it at all in her early work, but from Hejira on, there's lots of jazz influence right on the surface of her music, from the musicians she's worked with (Jaco Pastorius, Pat Metheny, Wayne Shorter), to the way her late career singing become pure torchy jazz singing (in fact I can't much abide her early career singing but I love her late career singing), to her writing an album of lyrics to Mingus tunes.

    I think you can find some connection to jazz in many of them -- Dylan's basically written lyrics over Jelly Roll Morton songs ("Duquesne Whistle"), you can hear the influence of the jazz guitar tradition on the playing of Robby Krieger, the Grateful Dead were the swingingest rock band and improvised like a jazz collective (of all the artists on the list, I get the response I get from listening to jazz most from listening to a Grateful Dead live set than from any of the other artists on this list), Cream had a rhythm section who had played jazz before and who would go on to play jazz and the whole band was built around bravura improvised solos in an approach to popular music descended from the '30s emergence of the swinging bravura soloist in Armstrong's big band sides and in emergence of figures like Django Reinhardt and Art Tatum), the Byrds' "Eight Miles High" was inspired by Coltrane's extended modal workouts like "India," etc. Jazz was such a pervasive popular musical force in the 20th century, you'll find it's impact on a lot of the rock music of the 20th century, especially among musicians born in the '40s who grew up .

    That said, of the artists listed here, I think of Mitchell's music post 1975 and the Grateful Dead's mode of live performance and ability to swing mark them as the most jazzy (not listed but the Allman Brothers could really swing and jazz a melody). Cream, for all the influence jazz had on the musicians, doesn't sound very jazzy. But that's why I don't know how I'd make a hierarchy of jazziness out of the list. Jazz can go into a person's influences and come out in a range of different ways.
     
  13. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    If we're drifting into "list other bands that had a noticeable jazz influence," I'll mention Ten Years After.
     
  14. Lastomykind

    Lastomykind Forum Resident

    Location:
    north carolina
    See Idlewild South
     
  15. Lastomykind

    Lastomykind Forum Resident

    Location:
    north carolina
    Listening to Joni Mitchell and The LA Express “Miles of Aisles” this morning
     
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  16. Mark B.

    Mark B. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Concord, NC
    This.
     
  17. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    I know about Ginger and Jack. I have solo albums of rehears that clearly show jazz. Much more than Cream.
     
  18. veloso2

    veloso2 Forum Resident

    it depends on what you think for jazz?
     
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  19. pbuzby

    pbuzby Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL, US
    I'd nominate Spirit. Different jazz influences, Spirit sounded like they'd listened to Coltrane and Wes Montgomery while NRBQ are obviously Monk and Sun Ra devotees.
     
  20. Black Cat Surfboards

    Black Cat Surfboards Forum Resident

    Location:
    Delaware, USA
    Both of these drummers for sure and I would add Cozy Powell. Even while he was playing in a heavy style in bands like Rainbow and Jeff Beck group, you can hear his traditional grip, jazzy flourishes and high hat work coming through. It wasn't all triplets and hammering away.
     
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  21. I hear a jazz element in the Who’s live jamming during their 69-71 peak

    but here’s a more blatant case of Pete playing homage


    There’s a long thread waiting to be made about David Bowie and Jazz
    Long before Blackstar he gravitated to Jazz musicians
    Mike Garson, Dennis Davis etc etc
     
  22. Sgt. Abbey Road

    Sgt. Abbey Road Forum Resident

    Location:
    Graz, Austria
    I know that the Carpenters are Pop and not Classic Rock, but I want to mention that they were heavily influenced by Jazz. Karen Carpenter was influenced by Joe Morello, the drummer from the Dave Brubeck Quartet. You also can hear the Jazz influence in some of their songs like „This Masquerade“.
     
  23. davmar77

    davmar77 I'd rather be drummin'...

    Location:
    clifton park,ny
    Keep in mind drummer Ed Cassidy was a jazz drummer for many years before spirit formed.
     
  24. Hendrix had a fair amount of jazz influence and probably the only one on this list who in turn influenced jazz. He used feedback very much like the squalls of Coltrane, Sanders, etc., Wes Montgomery octave playing is all over Axis and Ladyland, as well as nods to Grant Green and Kenny Burrell. Of Course this is all laid upon Mitchell’s very Elvin Jones inspired playing. There are the tunes: South Saturn Delta, Voodoo Child (long version) Rainy Day Dream Away, etc., He played with Larry Young, Roland Kirk, John McLaughlin, Sam Rivers, Dave Holland, Barry Altschul, etc., Miles made nods to Hendrix’s influence with ‘Miles Runs the Voodoo Down’, ‘Mademoiselle Mabry’, etc.,
     
    Last edited: May 1, 2021
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  25. ostrichfarm

    ostrichfarm Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Apropos Pink Floyd, jazz -- specifically jazz harmony -- is probably the defining influence in Rick Wright's contributions to the band (credited and otherwise). He literally cribbed a chord from a Miles Davis tune for Breathe. He didn't have jazz chops as a player, but his love of jazz clearly informed his approach.

    The other band members, not really, though in the Syd years (and maybe a bit later) they did sometimes described what they played as "a kind of jazz". As a band, they were under no illusions that they actually played jazz or jazz-fusion.

    As for the Doors, Ray Manzarek was a legit jazz pianist (not a first-rate one, but still competent enough to gig). Krieger knows his way around too, while Morrison brought the jazz-adjacent crooner thing to the table, and Densmore is a well-rounded drummer who can play in the idiom.

    Yes, the River Knows is a straight-up jazz ballad, the solo section of Light My Fire is cribbed from Coltrane as has been noted, and they literally played Afro Blue live in concert as part of Universal Mind. And of course Manzarek directly quotes Straight, No Chaser by Thelonious Monk in We Could Be So Good Together.
     
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