Great Euro-Fusion and Jazz Rock Records

[Rabshakeh]

I'm down one of my periodic rabbit holes.

This time it is that particular style of European jazz rock and fusion music that flourished in the 1970s: lots of bands coming out of various hyper-local regional scenes, influenced by electric Miles and Mahavishnu Orchestra, and often with strong overlap with the more adventurous art rock scenes (like Canterbury, Krautrock, RIO, Zeuhl, Zappa, etc), often lasting for only one album. 

I don't think that we have a discussion on this topic (I had assumed that I had started one, but apparently I haven't, or if I have I can't locate it). 

The biggest names in the genre seem to be the British ones, particularly Nucleus, Brian Auger, Colosseum, Bruford, Brand X and Soft Machine. But there are hundreds, from largeish bands like the German Embryo, Czech Modry Efekt or French groups like Gong (post-Aellen), Cortex and Magma (pre-MDK), to one-off records by bands like the Algerian/French Rahmann. 

It's a fascinating genre. A lot of it does sound really quite similar. But there's a fun heavily electric sound to it that has never really been replicated. 

Any recommendations or thoughts welcome. (Obviously, this being the era of the internet, there are bonus points to be had if the band or album recommended is Czech or from the former Yugoslavia.)

Edited 19 hours ago by Rabshakeh

[T.D.]

Volker Kriegel is a name to look for. He founded the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble iirc. [Added: Barbara Thompson was involved with that ensemble at times. I have the BBC Barbara Thompson box, and she led or played with a lot of groups that should work for you.]

I recently bought VK's Spectrum, which is an excellent album though maybe not quite as electric as you're looking for. Some later recordings, including those by the aforementioned ensemble, should work.

I like a lot of the Euro "jazz-rock" I've heard, and (surprisingly) overall prefer it to US-based fusion. Although neither sector ranks among my most listened to.

I'd like to see Yugo recommendations, too. I've heard a couple of pretty good things that are more jazz-funk than -rock.

Edited 17 hours ago by T.D.

[rostasi]

 

 

After you've Czeched those out...

Croatian band, Time:

 

 

Slovenian band September:

 

 

These guys opened for a band I used to manage.
They're the Macedonian band, Leb i Sol: 

 

 

Korni Grupa (who changed their name to Kornelyans specifically to get a
larger audience with this, their final and more commercial album - sung in English too):

 

 

These should get you started...

[Rabshakeh]

5 minutes ago, rostasi said:

 

 

After you've Czeched those out...

Croatian band, Time:

 

 

Slovenian band September:

 

 

These guys opened for a band I used to manage.
They're the Macedonian band, Leb i Sol: 

 

 

Korni Grupa (who changed their name to Kornelyans specifically to get a
larger audience with this, their final and more commercial album - sung in English too):

 

 

These should get you started...

Now this is very much it. Bonus points all round. I'll be the hippest kid on Instagram. 

Jazz Q Praha is one of the few Czech jazz rock groups that I know of, from their album Watchtower and also a split that they did with Modry Efekt. 

[Niko]

Cos - Postaeolian Train Robbery

from Belgium, not sure if this obscure enough - and it sure is maybe too artrock to qualify... but I like it a lot... even more of a household name are their fellow Belgians from Placebo

I just love this video, the visuals show so clearly that this is not a band of hipsters but of seasoned pros 

another band that I like a lot is Extra Ball from Poland, maybe because of the hints of BNLA that one wouldn't expect to hear from so far east... again, this may not be fusion enough for your question... 

[rostasi]

I made a Spotify playlist of full recordings from a few bands.
Not all tunes will fit the definition, but the bands generally do.
Maybe, in the future, I'll pinpoint the tunes a bit more,
but for now, you can feel your way around them.

 

Edited 16 hours ago by rostasi

[Rabshakeh]

20 minutes ago, rostasi said:

I made a Spotify playlist of full recordings from a few bands.
Not all tunes will fit the definition, but the bands generally do.
Maybe, in the future, I'll pinpoint the tunes a bit more,
but for now, you can feel your way around them.

 

Oh cool. Thanks. A nice looking resource.

Edit: Just looked closer, and this is basically exactly it. 

Not European but currently listening to the Quebecois band Sloche's J'Un Oeil, which is very close to the mold.

Edited 16 hours ago by Rabshakeh

[rostasi]

Hafta revisit those two Sloche albums...

[Guy Berger]

Great thread.

[T.D.]

Lot of "big names" on this museum piece. Second tune is a Nucleus mainstay iirc (Ian Carr is in the band).

 

Edited 15 hours ago by T.D.

[Niko]

a few years later, Dutch Cool Jazz pioneers Frans Elsen and Wim Overgaauw would be back to giving Bebop workshops with Barry Harris, but in 1972 their minds were some place else... (as I said before, what I really like about that generation of European jazz musicians is that they were so willing to adapt... after learning bebop from records, fusion can't really scare you.... and growing your hair a bit longer is the easiest exercise if the music demands it... there was a Dutch Jazz Archive cd with that band recently as well)

Edited 15 hours ago by Niko

[jlhoots]

Not an area I'm deeply into, but Nucleus usually worked for me.

[Rabshakeh]

1 minute ago, Niko said:

a few years later, Dutch Cool Jazz pioneers Frans Elsen and Wim Overgaauw would be back to giving Bebop workshops with Barry Harris, but in 1972 their minds were some place else... (as I said before, what I really like about that generation of European jazz musicians is that they were so willing to adapt... after learning bebop from records, fusion can't really scare you....)

I don't really know either of them. What are some good records either side of the transformations? 

I am also fascinated by those changes but more by now overwhelming those zeitgeist shifts must have been between 1965 and 1980. We are all by now getting bored of the talk of the "vibe shift" by now, but imagine if the Kamasi Washington was suddenly playing back to playing jazz school bebop. 

4 hours ago, T.D. said:

Volker Kriegel is a name to look for. He founded the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble iirc. [Added: Barbara Thompson was involved with that ensemble at times. I have the BBC Barbara Thompson box, and she led or played with a lot of groups that should work for you.]

I recently bought VK's Spectrum, which is an excellent album though maybe not quite as electric as you're looking for. Some later recordings, including those by the aforementioned ensemble, should work.

Kriegel I know. And a very good shout. 

1 hour ago, T.D. said:

Lot of "big names" on this museum piece. Second tune is a Nucleus mainstay iirc (Ian Carr is in the band).

 

Great record. Amazing to see all those names and then hear them playing in that style.

[rostasi]

 

[GA Russell]

46 minutes ago, rostasi said:

 

I had that one!

I'm pretty sure I picked it up around 1980 from Steve Feigenbaum's Wayside Music.

2 hours ago, T.D. said:

Lot of "big names" on this museum piece. Second tune is a Nucleus mainstay iirc (Ian Carr is in the band).

 

When I think of The United Jazz + Rock Ensemble, I think of Wolfgang Dauner.

[T.D.]

Dauner's label Mood Records was extremely cool, and not just from a jazz-rock perspective. Pity there haven't been more (or any recent AFAIK) reissues.

[Guy Berger]

This band was Japanese but might be of interest to folks in this thread