Can anyone recommend great 80s/early 90s jazz and fusion albums? Particularly looking for stuff that came out between roughly 1983-1994. Stuff that's similar to John Scofield, Pat Metheny Group, Steve Khan, Chick Corea Elektric Band, Elements, Marc Johnson Bass Desires, Don Grolnick, and the albums they put out during that time.
This one would be late 90s, but I'm pretty partial to John Scofield - A Go Go, featuring the great Medeski Martin and Wood.
That's a great album, and one of my favorites by Scofield and MMW but that's outside the timeframe and style of what I'm seeking. Scofield's 80s albums like Still Warm, Electric Outlet, Loud Jazz, etc... are more the style I'm looking for. I'm looking for 80s sounding drums, airy keyboards, ethnic influences, drenched chorus on the guitars, etc...
Listening to one of the few great recordings released by Emily Remler. Emily Remler – Catwalk (Concord Jazz 1985)
Do you like Bill Frisell? Something like Have a Little Faith? There was a 1995 Graham Haynes album called Transition w/ Vernon Reid on guitar that I used to play quite a bit, but it's been awhile. Same with David Fiuczynski & John Medeski/ Lunar Crush. The President (Wayne Horvitz & Bobby Previte)/ Miracle Mile, another old favorite. Charlie Hunter's debut was in 1993....
I've only heard Frisell's ECM albums, and the Bass Desires albums. I haven't checked out anything after that. I enjoy Charlie Hunter's work. Actually listened to that first album earlier today.
David, thanks for posting the article, much appreciated. As an attorney, I’m astonished how he got away with selling rights to some of the material he taped without paying royalties.
Do you like Steve Tibbetts? The pair of Safe Journey and Exploded View might interest you. I also like his earlier Yr album from 1980.
Miles Davis - Porgy And Bess via disc 2 trks 1 to 13 Of Miles Davis & Gil Evans The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings
I’m listening to it now and have been since yesterday. The release was curated by Zev Feldman who did the remarkable Nat Cole Trio set Hittin’ the Ramp a few years ago. Revelations is not nearly as simple and laid back a listening experience as the other music I’d heard from the Fondation Maeght recordings, but neither is it as paint peeling as Greenwich Village or Slug’s Saloon. Simply great AfroFuturistic sound.
By that time the action was moving toward harmolodic music and Black Rock Coalition. Ornette Coleman Prime Time, Ronald Shannon Jackson Decoding Society, James Blood Ulmer, the hard edge Jazz fusion super group Last Exit. Pat Metheny briefly united with Ornette which produced the Song X album and tour. The album had second life with additional tracks and remix as Song XX, even better. Jack DeJohnette, who was in Song X, also had some enembles with a fusion focus and amplified instrumentation. Also see if you can find music by Greg Tate’s Burnt Sugar or Joseph Bowie’s Defunkt.
Wayne Shorter – Etcetera Label: Blue Note – B0029357-01, Blue Note – LT-1056, Blue Note – B1 7243 8 33581 1 3, Blue Note – 33581 Series: Blue Note Tone Poet Series Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Stereo, 180 Gram, Gatefold Country: US Released: Feb 8, 2019 Genre
I remember buying this as a big Pat fan but just wasn’t ready for such a radical departure from his more sedate music.
This is one of my fav ECM titles, a bit earlier than your timeframe and perhaps more avant garde, but worth a listen if you are not familiar with the title. Great drumming by Jon Christensen and guitar by John Abercrombie. Enrico Rava - The Pilgrim And The Stars (ECM 1975)
Freddie Hubbard - Hub-Tones (Blue Note/Analogue Productions CBNJ-84115 SA) Another Jazz evening, this time starting with Freddie Hubbard on Blue Note from 1963. Great band playing on this one. I love the combination of Hubbard and James Spaulding plus the rhythm section of Hancock, Workman and Clifford Jarvis,
If you are around Montreal on September 15 th 2022, this might interest you. Kurt Rosenwinkel at Jazz Upstairs. I have booked the second set. Calendar - Upstairs Jazz
Herbie Hancock - Takin' Off (Blue Note CDP7 46506Z-2) Is there a better debut album than this one ? If there's one unreleased XRCD that I'd like, it's this one.
I saw Rosenwinkel with his standards trio at the Bimhuis a few years ago. I wish I could have seen his Star of Jupiter quartet instead. I would have liked more of that band.