Jazz Rock

Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz: Rock gathers ten fusion favorites, including Weather Report's "Punk Jazz," Chick Corea's "Armando's Rhumba," and Al Di Meola's "Electric Rendezsvous." Jean-Luc Ponty's "Cosmic Messenger" and Billy Cobham's "Moon Germs" are two of the other highlights from this collection, which does a fine job of showcasing definitive cuts from fusion's heyday in the '60s and '70s.

The United Jazz + Rock Ensemble developed from a group of jazz musicians that was formed for a 1974 to 1975 television show of Süddeutscher Rundfunk (South German Broadcasting). The group played mostly original compositions ranging from jazz to rock. During the twenty seven years of its existence the band produced fourteen albums, all of them on Mood Records. In 2002, the group went on their “Farewell Tour 2002”. Among the reasons was Barbara Thompson’s suffering from Parkinson’s disease. ~Jazzmessengers

Jaco Pastorius was a meteor who blazed on to the scene in the 1970s, only to flame out tragically in the 1980s. With a brilliantly fleet technique and fertile melodic imagination, Pastorius made his fretless electric bass leap out from the depths of the rhythm section into the front line with fluid machine-gun-like passages that demanded attention. He also sported a strutting, dancing, flamboyant performing style and posed a further triple-threat as a talented composer, arranger and producer. He and Stanley Clarke were the towering influences on their instrument in the 1970s. Born in Pennsylvania, Pastorius grew up in Fort Lauderdale, where he played with visiting R&B and pop acts while still a teenager and built a reputation as a local legend.

An amazing band that recorded occasionally over many years. The lineup is amazing and includes;

Barbara Thompson, Ian Carr, Wolfgang Dauner, Jon Hiseman, Volker Kriegel, Albert Mangeldsorff, Charlie Mariano, and Kenny Wheeler