Any jazz/ jazz influenced rock bands you guys recommend?

[JukeBoxHero]

I never really gave jazz a good try. I liked it from a side perspective but never got into. However this cover makes me want to break the barrier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IunmSZ1-1c&feature=related

So anyone recommend some great jazz/jazz influenced rock bands?

[Gowienczyk]

Frank Zappa's Shut Up 'n Play Yer Guitar is influenced by jazz and if you like rock centering on soulful guitar, then pick it up. Also:

Western Swing
Bar X Cowboys
Bill Boyd & his Cowboy Ramblers
Bill Mounce
Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys
Cliff Bruner & his Texas Wanderers
The Jubileers
The Light Crust Doughboys
The Sons of Dixie
The Texas Wanderers

Gypsy Jazz
Django Reinhardt
Joe Pass (For Django)

Jazz-Hop
Arts the Beatdoctor
Jazz Liberatorz
Nujabes
The Sound Providers

Also:
Bela Fleck & The Flecktones
Bill Evans
Cab Calloway
Dave Brubeck
Hank Jones
Miles Davis
Norah Jones
Oscar Peterson Trio
Renee Olstead
Thelonious Monk

[afterstasis]

"peter brotzmann - machine gun" and "miles davis - *****es brew" would be fantastic places to start.

[JukeBoxHero]

Alright guys, I'll start listening to these guys soon enough, just need to get a good time set in to do so.

[ShiningIdeal]

Graham Collier is a pretty amazing artist/composer. Also a fair scholar to the work - its British Jazz though. (I only put this up lest I catch a flame from a purist). He's seventy and still putting out some amazing music. Listen to Aberdeen Angus from the Graham Collier Sextet - written back in the late sixties or early seventies - not entirely sure. Its really really an amazing piece. Completely blew my mind when I first heard it.

[WhiffleBallTony]

Definitely check out Cynic. Here's "Veil of Maya":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsI-30k6uuA

[Gowienczyk]

Definitely check out Cynic. Here's "Veil of Maya":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsI-30k6uuA

Reminds me a little of Believer. :)

[OldFogey]

Steely Dan is the most noteworthy jazz influenced Rock Band. If you don't know "Aja" that's a must. Joni Mitchell has some really nice stuff. Her lineup with Pat Metheny, Lyle Mays and Jaco Pastorius is totally awesome ("Shadows and Light"). She also had a lineup with Robben Ford and the LA Express (Miles of Aisles) was also great. Go for the live stuff.

Actually, a better place to start might be with jazz-influenced blues players, Robben Ford being the most noteworthy example. Mike Landau also does a nice job crossing. His "Tales From the Bulge" is an underground classic that is well worth seeking out. Here's a sample called "I'm Buzzed":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4hhJoecLVs&fmt=18

But really -- I think you'd do well to just go right to the jazz players who've integrated some rock and other influences into their playing. Right off the bat some suggestions I would make are:

Mike Stern, "Play" -- Bill Frisell and John Scofield join him to give you three of the best in jazz guitar on one record. Awesome tunes. Very accessible.
Bill Frisell, "Good Dog, Happy Man" -- beautiful album. Amazing slide work from Greg Leisz. There's a whole bunch of great Frisell stuff. If you like this one, I can recommend at least 5 more right away that you'll get into.
Charlie Hunter, "Ready Set Shango" -- swings great. Awesome sax. Charlie plays a special eight string guitar that lets him play bass and guitar at the same time.
Pat Metheny Group, "Letter From Home" -- there's a whole bunch of great Metheny stuff out there. I picked this one from at least a handful of classics. Very very accessible. And Pat is a monster on guitar.

I also second the recommendation of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. Killer stuff.

And if you want to go back to more pure jazz stuff after that I've got a really long list for you. :D

[WhiffleBallTony]

Reminds me a little of Believer. :)

Believer is different. Cynic is very jazzy. Believer is just extremely symphonic.

Oh, and to give another suggestion, get Billy Cobham's Spectrum. It's a classic fusion album and is absolutely mindblowing.

[Gowienczyk]

Believer is different. Cynic is very jazzy. Believer is just extremely symphonic.

Yeah. I was more referring to that whole crossover thrash sound and vocal basis, mostly.

I know the difference between jazz and symphonic material, lol.

[afterstasis]

you have a really good list to work on so far, jukeboxhero.

i'm especially fond of the yellow-colored records oldfogey recommended.

[Gowienczyk]

Steely Dan is the most noteworthy jazz influenced Rock Band.

Not really! Chicago (early), The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Blood, Sweat & Tears are equally just as (if not more) noteworthy.

[WhiffleBallTony]

Not really! Chicago (early), The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Blood, Sweat & Tears are equally just as (if not more) noteworthy.

I'd say Steely Dan is more noteworthy. They've had more hits and are much more well-known than those groups. Maybe Chicago is close, but not quite there.

[JukeBoxHero]

Definitely check out Cynic. Here's "Veil of Maya":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsI-30k6uuA

I already got Cynic's Focus, it's not too bad, decent album. I'll have to check out the second release(when it comes out) because from what I heard, it fits my taste fairly well.

I agree I quite a bit to listen to, I'm thinking of listening to these bands on Monday primarily.(I got a history project I procrastinate on, so I need to get my pictures printed and the report done).

Question to OldFogey:Based on their sound and although they fit the progressive rock scene. I'm wondering if you consider Yes to be a band noticeably influence by jazz.(Guitar work, and drumming in particular).

[Jhail83]

Mahavishnu Orchestra
Return to Forever
Weather Report
Bill Bruford's solo work
and others named already. =)

Oh and Check out Al Di Meola's Elegant Gypsy...

Here is Race with the Devil on Spanish Highway.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atz9vzTAUh0

Elegant Gypsy Suite
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPyjAcsvhTY

Flight Over Rio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZrnJEFH9SI

Midnight Tango
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ScIILc2rA

Mediterranean Sundance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXmRtIvXm3Q

[Hungryfreak]

I've got my jazz compilation and Cynic compilation and Zappa compilation up in the forum blog. The former, though, really only covers the classics.

[ShiningIdeal]

Another wonderful artist - who really goes into the not for everyone category. Sun Ra.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sApYx27yfnw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfLpnXQpjvw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sfbk4QAjgXo

[afterstasis]

Another wonderful artist - who really goes into the not for everyone category. Sun Ra.


one of my personal favorites! :)

[SadistcMagician]

Definitely check out Mahavishnu Orchestra's first album, The Inner Mounting Flame. Excellent from start to finish. Here's the song The Noonward Race. Don't ask about the video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6JA_dZvVAM


Also check out the Alex Skolnick Trio, which plays mostly jazz covers of rock and metal songs (including Tom Sawyer, Electric Eye, War Pigs, and Floyd's Money). Here's their cover of Highway Star...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4n5ObYKLzz8


If you're looking for something heavier, there's always Atheist...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YjiVIQcq_M


And of course don't forget the band Gordian Knot, which is a side project of Cynic members and Bill Bruford...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2tIUzoQwcQ


Someone mentioned Return to Forever. I second that. Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy is superb.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CBP7RnZ4Ag




PS: add Niacin to that list. They kick major ass.

[ShiningIdeal]

one of my personal favorites! :)

Yeah - I put the first one in there (the first half of the documentary) just because some explanation is almost mandatory.

[JerryBrudos]

Wishbone Ash's Pilgrimage has a few Jazzy songs on it that I like a lot.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAaKZxB0ODg

[tofubot]

refused
mr. bungle

[DethBoxx]

Don't forget one of the originators of jazz rock, Jethro Tull.

[OldFogey]

Not really! Chicago (early), The Mahavishnu Orchestra and Blood, Sweat & Tears are equally just as (if not more) noteworthy.

Well, in the spectrum of rock bands influenced by jazz and jazz bands influenced by rock, I would have put Mahavishnu in the latter category, so I didn't really consider them as a rock band. But whatever you call them, they were definitely great.

Chicago and BST are good calls, real pioneers. But to my ear their stuff is more jazz-influenced in instrumentation than in musical style, especially Chicago. The progressions and rhythms are pretty standard rock stuff. Still, I don't think the output of either one can compare to the Dan's. For instance, Steely Dan is the first rock band I recall to get a five star rating from Downbeat magazine, and that was for Pretzel Logic.

[OldFogey]

I already got Cynic's Focus, it's not too bad, decent album. I'll have to check out the second release(when it comes out) because from what I heard, it fits my taste fairly well.

I agree I quite a bit to listen to, I'm thinking of listening to these bands on Monday primarily.(I got a history project I procrastinate on, so I need to get my pictures printed and the report done).

Question to OldFogey:Based on their sound and although they fit the progressive rock scene. I'm wondering if you consider Yes to be a band noticeably influence by jazz.(Guitar work, and drumming in particular).

Bruford, most definitely. But I always thought of Howe and esp. Wakeman as being more influenced by classical than jazz.

The other thing -- they don't tend to be very free in their improvisation. That's definitely a defining characteristic of jazz.

One band I forgot initially that definitely belongs is Sting's Blue Turtles band (the band from his first solo album). That's a hall of fame jazz lineup -- Branford Marsalis, Omar Hakim, Kenny Kirkland and Daryl Jones. Actually there were a lot of subtle jazz influences in the Police -- that's another rock band that got a five star rating from Downbeat for Ghost in the Machine. Andy Summers in particular used a lot of jazz chordings and voicings in his guitar work. Check out a tune like Murder by Numbers.

[OldFogey]

Don't forget one of the originators of jazz rock, Jethro Tull.

Actually I really loved what they were doing on their first album, This Was, which definitely shows what you're talking about DethBoxx. I was kinda disappointed when they went in a more traditional rock flavor direction -- but I came around :D