No, sir. The only thing that gave Miles' 1969-70 fusion albums are real rock edge was the guitar.
For you see, not only was the guitar traditionally the dominant element in rock & roll, but it's crucial to remember that it was jazz that introduced the world to the electric guitar. Two big-band players, George Barnes and Eddie Durham, made the first-ever recordings with the instrument in 1938 (15 days apart); the following year, 23-year-old Charlie Christian auditioned for Benny Goodman as an electric guitarist, becoming a star and making the instrument famous.
When Chuck Berry made it the dominant element of rock & roll, his sound — raucous, abrasive, and gleefully unrefined — was easy to dismiss in favor of the elegant, delicate playing of jazz's archetypal guitarists: Christian, Barney Kessel, and Wes Montgomery. As usually happens, though, rock guitar’s technique became gradually more and more sophisticated... then came one musician who turned not just rock, but the whole music world upside down in the late 1960s: Jimi Hendrix, the electric guitar player who used his axe to produce timbres, techniques, and sounds that nobody knew existed on any instrument.
No form of music, or any other art, can survive long if it becomes so insular that it ignores developments and innovations going on around it. Between the Beatles and the psychedelic experimenters, the vocabulary of rock had become rich and deep... but aside from a few covers and Beatles tributes, jazz kept its distance from rock. But when Hendrix came along he made that impossible: this music that prides itself on cultivating virtuosity and originality had some serious catching up to do with its own progeny, the electric guitar.
Miles Davis knew this. He didn't specifically talk about electric guitar and its rock developments as the engine behind fusion... but in about the last year before In A Silent Way, the groundbreaking fusion record, Miles was introduced to Hendrix's music. He also was introduced to Hendrix himself, and though they never recorded together, Miles in his autobiography recalls how the two revolutionary musicians would get together and jam for hours with nobody else around. It doesn't take a genius to connect the dots between these private sessions starting in late '68 and Miles' first fusion records in early '69.
Article comments
1 - Pico
You didn't disappoint, Michael, this is very insightful study on Johnny Mac. The statement "He and Miles stand toe-to-toe in that sub-genre's pantheon: Miles, the man with the vision, and McLaughlin, the only one who knows how to execute it." hits the nail on the head.
His first three solo records "Extrapolation," "My Goals Beyond," and "Devotion" are all extraordinary and yet so diametrically opposed to each other, and unjustly overshadowed by his Mahavishnu work, IMO. But there's no argument from me that McLaughlin is a key figure in the development of fusion, and without him, fusion could have likely gone down a completely different path.
2 - Mark Saleski
great writeup michael....though i have to say that my favorite McLaughlin comes from the trio he had with Triloc Gurtu and...oh shoot, who was it now dangit?! uh, Jonas Helborg? a sort of mini-Shakti.
3 - zingzing
i am reserving judgment... reserving... man, it's pushing at me like a 2 mile line for the toilet the morning after octoberfest... all lubed up with coffee and nicotine... i can smell the judgment already, and it smells awful. awful judgment.
4 - Phil Peters
I don't necessarily disagree but your point about Bitches brew having a funk backbeat is correct. That was fusion... (I was listening back then, coming from Allman Brothers to Return to Forever & Mahavishnu Orch and backwards)not Jazz-Rock. Bass players, Harvey Brooks,Dave Holland and most especially Michael Henderson helped make Miles Electric Bands Fusion
5 - Michael J. West
Phil, what? I think you're either missing a negatory syllable or you added an extra one. You don't disagree, but you think I'm right?
Let me get to what I think you're trying to say: you will never, ever hear me say a negative word about Dave Holland's work. In addition to his brilliant bass on Miles' records from Bitches Brew on, and his breathtaking early solo records like Conference of the Birds (hasn't somebody, somewhere, done a piece on that at BC? Or am I misremembering?) he is to the best of my knowledge leading the single best jazz band in the world today. But he didn't play NEARLY the part that McLaughlin did in creating fusion, on Miles' records or anywhere else.
6 - Michael J. West
Pico and Mark, I'm amused (in a good way) that each of us agrees on McLaughlin's place in fusion's ranks, but that each person has a different favorite of his work. That, to my mind, is one of the marks of a great musician: he has so many different aspects, all of them great.
7 - Pico
"breathtaking early solo records like Conference of the Birds (hasn't somebody, somewhere, done a piece on that at BC? Or am I misremembering?) "
Why yes, Michael, someone has ;&)
clicky clicky
8 - Mean Bunny
I also agree that John McLaughlin is the most important figure in the "fusion" movement. His sense of abandon and risk-taking combined with his mind-boggling virtuosity and originality captured the "edge" of rock 'n roll combined with the harmonic sophistication of jazz in a way that NONE of his contemporaries (in either rock or jazz) could ever match. Putting all the descriptives aside, he simply was and is one of the most original, creative musicians of our times. What more could a music fan ask for?