The Jazz-Rock Bridge

...Yes, in the drive, the intensity and the rhythm I had occasion to talk with Wayne Shorter before the concert, and asked him if the group had knowingly assimilated rock into their music He said he thought it could be heard "more m the way we make our statements We try to be more economical and not waste notes " He added, "For a long while you couldn't tell the difference between jazz and the classics the way the musicians went at it so tight and intense I think the main thing we've gotten from rock, though, is that it's improved our attitude so that we're not like that It's not that rock musicians are the greatest players, but they've got a good attitude, very optimistic This goes into the music Hard core jazz has a morose sound I don't think our music does " He's quite right there Theirs is spirited, dynamic music Whether it i?more jazz than rock doesn't really matter, tor most musicians working seriously in the two idioms aren't concerned with such categories Co-leader Joe Zawinul, tor one, absolutely refuses to put a label on Weather Report's style "It's just music," he says "If it's good, it's very good " Interestingly, their tans didn't seem to care about labels, either As the evening progressed, the group building its wall ot sound, percussive on electronic layer, the audience became more deeply involved emotionally The climax came with the final number, the long and very intense leadoff to Weather Report's latest album, Mysterious Traveller (Columbia KC32494) At its conclusion, the audience—white, black, bubble-gum kids to thirtyish couples —jumped up to give the performers a standing ovation American music is coming back together again The active imaginative, creative musicians on both sides of the jazz-rock gulf—if not necessarily those with the superstar reputations—seem to be pushing to a point somewhere toward a new center Crazy Frank Zappa is moving in that direction, and so is Larry Coryell From their separate points, so are Gary Burton, Leon Russell, Carlos Santana, and Alice Coltrane —and so are all those putative sons of mean Miles Davis Meanwhile, the audience for jazz-rock has matured m its taste, just as the rock musicians have matured It's an interesting time for music No one can safely predict what will come of it...

...Is the rock element really there...

...Headhunters (Columbia KC32731), with 700,000 copies to date Yet his work reveals a conscious playing-down to his audience—something you get from none ot the other jazz-rock men Although Hancock is a e'ever, fluent musician, much of what he plays comes out merely cute and tricky, sort of ' Fat Albert" music in the Bill Cosby vein, if you know what I mean T ^ here is no hint of concession from Weather Report Having seen and heard them recently in concert I can tell you the group does what it does with the precision and dispatch of a classical string quartet They play wild music—with percussive, thunderous rhythm (three drummers going all-out) and sudden shifts m melodic lines and tempos—but music that is intricate logical and, for contemporary jazz, genuinely unique Is it jazz-rock...

...On Music THE JAZZ-ROCK BRIDGE BY BRUCE COOK Carole King has a new hit The reigning princess of pop, a songwriter of some talent who sings her own material m rather dreary, uncertain tones, is near the top of the singles' chart with a cut from her most recent album, one that is interesting for what it reveals of her audience's changing tastes The song's title is "Jazzman " and it is a kind of eulogy to a jazz musician's power to lift and inspire a listener emotionally The feeling described is precisely that of Dorothy Baker's Young Man with a Horn and a dozen other fervid jazz novels from an earlier era What Carole King's record indicates is that after a hiatus ot about two decades, the jazzman has returned in the familiar guise of the artist-rebel, the culture hero Jazz is back and the kids are listening Eight, seven, even four years ago, such a development would have been considered unlikely, for the gulf that separated jazz from the rock audience appeared too wide ever to be bridged Well, the bridge is there today, and traffic is busily moving across it in both directions With hindsight, one can see that this trend was downright inevitable It should now be apparent even to a casual listener that jazz, rock and pop aie closely related?the latter two being harmonically simpler versions of the former In the beginning, of course, rock-n'-roll was very simple music indeed "Rock Around the Clock," ' Blue Suede Shoes" and most of the '50s and early '60s hits were created out of some elementary blues chords, a solid beat and a few punchy guitar licks Yet because it was so unsophisticated, rock didn't stay interesting for very long, especially to those who made the music As the performers became more skillful, they began searching for ways to advance, both m their playing and in their writing Ultimately, they looked in the direction of jazz Mike Bloomfield is a case in point A follower of bluesman B B King, he came out of Chicago with Paul Butterfield to become a real rock guitar virtuoso But when he got to know King personally, he found out that B B had learned from jazz guitarists—particularly from the late Django Remhardt, technically the most accomplished of them all—and Bloomfield began learning from them, too As early as 1968, his group, the Electric Flag, showed a marked movement toward the freer-flowing improvisations of jazz At the same time, other bands were also discovering jazz Some added horn sections and a couple—Blood, Sweat & Tears, and Chase—even included soloists who could blow impressively More surprising, though, was that just as the rockers were listening to jazz and adapting it to their needs, jazz musicians (the younger and more adventurous ones, anyway) were listening to rock, appreciating what it had to offer, and trying to learn from it (Musicians, after all, are far more open-minded than critics ) What mainly interested them was the music's texture Rock bands like the Grateful Dead, Cream and Santana, in different ways, made far bolder and more imaginative use ot electronic effects than had been tried in jazz up to that time Early attempts by jazz soloists to employ the new, electrically amplified instruments brought mixed re-suits at best Saxist Eddie Harris, tor example, had a short vogue blowing an electric tenor sax, it sounded sort of like a huge kazoo But jazz keyboard men started experimenting successfully with the electric piano, then with the synthesizer, and a few guitarists were willing to swap the cold precision of the Gibson jazz guitar for the Fender, with its louder sound and its fuzz and wah-wah effects Suddenly, people were talking about something called "jazz-rock " A lot of this experimentation went on in and around a group led by a musician who has been important on the jazz scene for over 25 years —Miles Davis One reason Davis has remained an innovator for so long is that he has always surrounded himself with the best young musicians he could find, and when we look back at the men who have worked with Miles from the late '60s onward, we can understand his immense influence The people who have passed through Davis' continuing workshop in this new music comprise practically a roll call of the leading figures in the whole jazz-rock movement keyboard men such as Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Zawinul, and Keith Jarrett, drummers Billy Cobham and Tony Williams, the English guitarist John McLaughlin, and saxist Wayne Shorter Zawinul and Shorter have formed the exciting six-man band Weather Report McLaughlin now heads the Mahavishnu Orchestra, which has about as many rock adherents as jazz enthusiasts Corea is leading a group under his own name, and has recently come out with an album, Return to Foievei (Polydor PD6509), that for me is one ot the most exciting and delightful releases in quite some time It combines the heavy rhythms and electronic weight of rock with the lyricism and intellectuality of jazz improvisation—and loses nothing m the bargain In fact, it actually gains This is my idea of what jazz-rock should be—a real case of two-plus-two-equals-five If it were up to me I would award Chick Corea the "Excelsior' banner and send him up to ride point for the whole movement But the public has evidently chosen Herbie Hancock as its champion —and he, for that matter, seems to have chosen it His group has recorded what is at present the biggest-selling jazz LP ot all time...