Birds of Fire

Jazz, Rock, Funk, and the Creation of Fusion

Kevin Fellezs

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9780822350477, 9780822350309
• eBook ISBN: 9780822394389
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Jazz Music

Birds of Fire brings overdue critical attention to fusion, a musical idiom that emerged as young musicians blended elements of jazz, rock, and funk in the late 1960s and 1970s. At the time, fusion was disparaged by jazz writers and ignored by rock critics. In the years since, it has come to be seen as a commercially driven jazz substyle. Fusion never did coalesce into a genre. In Birds of Fire, Kevin Fellezs contends that hybridity was its reason for being. By mixing different musical and cultural traditions, fusion artists sought to disrupt generic boundaries, cultural hierarchies, and critical assumptions. Interpreting the work of four distinctive fusion artists—Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock—Fellezs highlights the ways that they challenged convention in the 1960s and 1970s. He also considers the extent to which a musician can be taken seriously as an artist across divergent musical traditions. Birds of Fire concludes with a look at the current activities of McLaughlin, Mitchell, and Hancock; Williams's final recordings; and the legacy of the fusion music made by these four pioneering artists.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• One: Bitches Brew - Considering Genre
• Two: Where Have I Known You Before? - Fusion’s Foundations
• Three: Vital Transformation - Fusion’s Discontents
• Four: Emergency! - Tony Williams
• Five: Meeting of the Spirits - John McLaughlin
• Six: Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter - Joni Mitchell
• Seven: Chameleon - Herbie Hancock
• Conclusion
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index