Stefon Harris and Blackout

[Alexander]

Bad news for all the straight-ahead purists. Vibist Stefon Harris has formed a new quintet called Blackout which plays funk and fusion. Harris joins Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, and Chris Potter, all of whom have released fusion albums in the last year. I know there are some here for whom words like "fusion" and "Fender Rhodes" are dirty, but I've gotta say that Blackout's show at the Egg in Albany, NY was one of the most exciting I've seen in ages. I'm really looking forward to this band's first album!

Here's a review:

Blackout Over Albany

[John L]

Yea! Bring on the heavy funk.

Jazz has got to start getting people on the dance floor again.

[John L]

Actually, this raises some interesting questions. Is the acoustic Marsalis-inspired back-to-the-pre60s "blues and swing" movement finally over?

Look even at W Marsalis' last release, "All Rise." That is anything but pure jazz in the pre-50s orthodoxy. It attempts to fuse classical, jazz, world music, your mama, your grandma, etc.

[Joe M]

Is the acoustic Marsalis-inspired back-to-the-pre60s "blues and swing" movement finally over?

Yeah, I think the last person that had been playing "pre 60's" blues and swing based jazz just quit last week, so I guess it's now officially "over".

It's all just hype, "movement" or not. They never stopped playing that music, and they never will. Maybe the media just isn't going to talk about it much, just like the didn't around 1973 or so.

What IS over is the era of the "young lions" on big record labels. But hard bop, bebop, whatever you want to call it is still alive and is being played by quite a few musicians, even many of those who have released "fusion" albums. For example Roy Hargrove has a new neo-soul cd, but he still has his quintet and continues to tour with both groups.

BTW, add Nicholas Payton to the list of those going down the "fusion" road.