Transcript Fusions: - KU Information Technology

Fusions:
Fusion
• As rock dominates popular music in
U.S. and Europe, other types of
music have to
–Reject influence
–Incorporate rock into national or
established styles
• = fusion
Rock Fusions - Types
• Fusion popular mostly in country of
native music
– Ex. Yoruban Highlife
• Popularity outside of native country
• Become part of rock mainstream
Jazz-Rock Fusion
• Jazz influence on solos, individual songs
• Bands or artists whose sound is heavily
influenced by jazz
– Ex: Chicago, Blood, Sweat and Tears
• Jazz artists incorporate rock beats,
ensembles into modern jazz
Miles Davis
• Jazz trumpeter
• Innovator of many different jazz styles
– Bebop
– Cool jazz
– Free jazz
• Album Bitches’ Brew primary testament of
jazz-rock fusion
– Ex: Pharoah’s Dance
World music fusions
• “World music” popular in U.S. from early
20th c.
– Afro - Cuban dances: mambo, rhumba
– Brazilian: samba
• Sixteen-beat style beat
• Complicated rhythmic interplay between parts
Latin-Rock fusion
• Little influence beyond Latin
rhythms, percussion
• More directly influences jazz, blues,
R&B
• Influence on rock delayed until
1960s
Carlos Santana (1947- )
• Mexican-born guitarist
• Forms Santana Blues Band in San
Francisco in 1966
– Fused blues and Afro-Cuban rhythms
– Heavy Latin flavor
Santana - Style characteristics
• Rhythmic layering
– Two conga drummers + auxiliary Latin percussion
+ rock drummer
– Drums frequently create cross-rhythms,
polyrhythms
• Little to no emphasis on backbeat
• Organ/electric keyboards integral part of
sound
• Lyrics sometimes in Spanish
Santana - Oye Como Va
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Cover of mambo by Tito Puente
Opening organ riff – Latin rhythms
As is bass riff – but don’t coincide
Guitar riff laid over that
– Distortion, pedal effects
– Riff drops out under vocals
– Forms basis for solos, bridges
• Most popular world music/rock fusion
• imported from Jamaica in early 70s
• Huge influence on rock, popular music
Roots of Reggae
• Jamaican musicians in late ‘50s-’60s start to
play American R&B
• Some bands fuse R&B and jump blues with
mento
– Jamaican folk music
• Resulting fusion = ska
Ska
• 4 beat style beat, like swing
• Accent on afterbeats = in between
beats (1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and)
– Creates overall sense of delay
• Little emphasis on the bass
Derrick Morgan - Lover Boy
• Most ska includes horns
– Influenced by Mexican Mariachi
• Often R&B influenced sax solos
• Another example – Prince Buster –
“Madness”
Rock Steady
• Emerges c. 1965
• Ska influenced by Stax soul
– Gospel influence, call-and-response vocals
– Heavier bass lines
• Slower, more flexible rhythmically
• Example – Derrick Morgan, “Tougher
than Tough”
Jamaican rock fusion in UK
• First: UK hit My Boy Lollipop - Millie
Small (1963)
– produced by Chris Johnson, founder of
Island Records
• More exposure on radio than in Jamaica
• Ska and rock steady disseminated via
“sound systems”
Toasting and Dubbing
• Sound system DJs lay down rhythmic patter
over intro to ska and rock steady records
= toasting
• DJs start to manipulate record to extend, alter
intro
– dubbing
• Eventually dubs (heavily produced remixes
of singles or new instrumentals) recorded in
studio
Reggae
• From Toots and the Maytals “Do the
Reggay”
• Slow, loping tempo
• Greater rhythmic complexity than rock
steady
– Supported by syncopated bass riffs
– normally avoid first beat of bar
Popularity of Reggae
• Reggae rhythms arrived in U.S., U.K. by
1970
• Johnny Nash, I Can See Clearly Now
• Paul Simon, Mother and Child Reunion
• First Jamaican reggae star Jimmy Cliff
– Several modest hits in U.K.
– Stars in 1972 film The Harder They Come
– Cult hit in the U.S.
Bob Marley (1945-81)
• Lead singer of the Wailers
• First album, Catch a Fire, first real
reggae album.
– Second – Burnin’ – hit in U.S.
– Exposure from Clapton’s cover of “I Shot
The Sheriff”
Bob Marley - Characteristics
• Lyrics political/social commentary
– Rastafarianism
– Social justice
• Keyboards crucial part of ensemble
• Jamaican percussion plays prominent
role
• Moderate to slow tempos
Bob Marley and the Wailers Get Up, Stand Up
• Very socially conscious lyrics
• Several layers of rhythmic activity
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Bass riff (different in verse, refrain)
Ska beat in cymbal, guiro
Keyboard
Drums (rock beat)
• Thick, dense texture
• Primary interest rhythmic
Reggae - Influence
• Reggae-inspired hits common in late
70s-early 80s: Paul Simon, Blondie,
Stevie Wonder, Police
• Crucial component of late ‘70s-early
‘80s post-punk new wave