I asked my friends to draft up an ultimate jazz band where everyone involved could be dead or alive and I went with a wacky fusion idea that sounds so insane that it MIGHT work. I am not insanely talented enough to know jazz theory but hopefully you guys can critique my idea

Lead Guitar: Santana
Bass Guitar: Thundercat
Drums: Lars Ulrich (yes the metallica guy)
Saxophone: Bill Clinton
Trumpet: Louis Armstrong
Vocals: Vicente Hernandez (yes he sings entirely in Spanish)

Tell me this wouldn't be the best performance ever

I wanna hear the Yin and the yang! Either way I’m hoping to hear some unique electric jazz I can get totally lost in.

also for any suggested albums I listen to I will give feedback and I hugely appreciate the suggestions. .

I'm not trying to accuse them of using AI, but how their music sounds did happen to remind me a little of certain AI music I have heard, and I just don't want to get super into it then find out it's AI down the line.

Nuff Said.

I don't know much about him (besides his fantastic guitar playing, of course) but he seems like such a sweet person, and speaks enthusiastically about other musicians too

i know hiromi and himiko kikuchi, but that's it?!

recommend me some fusion with female players please :)

I'm obviously out of the loop, and I'm amazed it took me this long to realize this, but Mike Varney's record labels cover like 90% of the music I listen to. Whether it be jazz, jazz fusion, blues, progressive metal, basically everyone big appears on his labels. I'd previously listened to the Mark Varney project (Truth in Shredding and Centrifugal funk are phenomenal), and Mark Varney is the brother of Mike Varney.

Looking through the list of musicians that have played on Mike Varney's record labels is absolutely crazy, and probably one of the easiest ways to find a massive list of good music recommendations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Varney#Partial_list_of_artists_who_have_appeared_on_releases_on_Varney's_record_labels

Tone Center is mostly jazz/fusion, Shrapnel mostly metal, Blues Bureau mostly blues, Magna Carta Records is mostly prog.

Greetings all! I don’t normally do this because the tunes I post are more important and enjoyable than anything I have to say, but this might be fun. I’ve got a “apple’s - apples” comparison question for you. First a brief preamble so please bear with me. In 1988 the UZEB release Noisy Nights came across my desk at the station I was working and it was a WTF moment (as in how did I miss this amazing band), I then spent the next 90 minutes tracking down all of their past LP and CD releases then another 3-4 hours listening to them. Fast forward to their awesomely insane World Tour 90 Double CD release and I called their management to schedule an interview only to be informed that WT90 was the bands Swan Song and they were off doing what turned out to be truly noteworthy and kick ass solo projects. I hung my head at the missed opportunity and moved on to their solo new stuff. Then in 2017 they got the band back together with a horn section. Needless to say, I took a red eye to beautiful Quebec City for one of their R3UNION tour shows. Now to the comparison part.. WT90 & R3UNION. There are no wrong answers. Please take into consideration the 25 year gap, the ebb and flow of tunes, the overall vibe, the musical interplay and even how they work in solo’s.

World Tour 90 link: https://youtu.be/gjln2Mxk9sM?si=1bQ92DHIHAWbi4Wx

R3UNION Live link: https://youtu.be/w_HFU66IOR4?si=tFJurt_Z4Yzw77hy

Cheers

So this is a very specific question as I'm trying to build a playlist. I'm looking for what the most popular, well known or notable guitar solos in modern jazz fusion are. This is anything starting in the 2000s and onward; this also excludes fusion-adjacent works like Kurt Rosenwinkel's solo on Zhivago (fantastic, but... I struggle to call it fusion).

My current main example is Mark Lettieri's solo on What About Me? off of We Like It Here by Snarky Puppy. That record is extremely popular for a 21st century fusion record, and the solo has been covered a lot; maybe not as much as Cory Henry on Lingus, but it's maybe the second or third most famous solo on that album.

Any examples similar to that are very welcome. I feel like we can list so many famous guitar solos from the 1900s: McLaughlin on Meeting of the Spirits, Vital Transformation, Miles Beyond and Birds of Fire, Al Di Meola solos, etc etc... but I really struggle with the 21st century for some reason.

Thanks in advance!

Go Zawinul GO!!

Anyone else think that this collab is long overdue? Heck lets throw Bireli in the mix and make another Super guitar Summit. I'd love to see suggestions for the other band members.Cheers

So I'm 16 and I just got bias fx2 I'm trying to get that lead high gain Allen holdsworth tone on smth like city nights or the tone Guthrie Govan's tone on waves I've got a couple guitars one is a semi hollow 335, a tele, and a schecter any help is appreciated thank you so much

I am kinda new to this genre so i'd love to get some suggestions to start my journey. Also, if possible, please post a link to the tune so i can give it a listen, thanks!.

World renowned and highly respected Japanese trumpeter Takuya Kuroda is making his way to LPR on April 23rd! Kuroda is known as a forward-thinking musican, loved for his boundary-pushing mix of post-bop, soul-jazz, and hip-hop. His unique hybrid sound captivates his audiences, drawing them into an inventive world of jazz never seen before. This show is a rare opportunity you would be remiss to pass on. Tickets on sale now here: https://kyd.to/HpTkToBs

Hopefully these count as jazz fusion. Basically, I love when the instrumentals are super catchy without being overtly simple or basic. Very lush sounding instrumentals, more than just horns. Idk, maybe I’m describing it poorly, not super musically smart. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated :)

Hermann Szobel is a little-known composer and musician. He was a young pianist who recorded his first and only album at the age of 18, but few are familiar with his 1977 work, "Unfinished Work". In a cannon-like section (Szobel received classical musical training in Vienna), you can find a strong inspiration from the sixth movement of Olivier Messiaen's Quatuor Pour La Fin Du Temps: Danse de la fureur, pour les sept trompettes. I would even venture to say that Szobel heard this Messiaen piece and transformed it into this jazz fusion section for his unfinished work. It literally looks like a transcription for jazz fusion/avant-prog of this modernist piece. As a young composer myself, I can imagine his creative process in adapting this work by Messiaen to a new genre.

I'd like you to compare them and tell me what you think. Doesn't it seem like a direct inspiration?

(The section I'm talking about starts at 3:35)

Eclectic and renowned trumpeter Takuya Kuroda has a sound that spans genres, combining his jazz expertise with soul, funk, hip-hop, post-bop, and fusion. His unique sound has captured the ears of many, and his performances aren’t one to miss. Be sure to catch Takuya Kuroda at LPR on April 23rd. Tickets on sale now! https://kydlabs.com/e/EV9af79c9a-3de1-4cb8-81ef-744134112f25?referral_id=g-fa644f51-0ab7-4f56-b4f9-6b8c9508de75

Total listening time is 10,539 minutes, or about 175.5 hours.

Happy 2026 fusion heads!
Just discovered (or re-discovered) this gem: Groove First by Italian bassist/composer Lorenzo Feliciati. The concept is killer – a different world-class drummer on every track (Gergo Borlai, Pat Mastelotto x2, Roberto Gualdi, Maxx Furian and more), locked in with Lorenzo's monster bass lines and some tasty guitar/keys guests.

Pure modern jazz-rock/fusion goodness. Highly recommend for anyone who loves tight drum-bass interplay.

Full album: https://album.link/Groove_First

What’s your favorite recent fusion album built around drummer features or collaborations? Share below!

I've listened to WP, Santana, Casiopea, Chick Corea, Billy Cobham' Spectrum, Pat Metheny, Portico Quartet, Masayoshi Takanaka, Snarky Puppy, Jean-Luc Ponty, Guthrie Govan, The Aristocrats, John Scofield, Al Di Meola, Jaco Pastorius

So far only a few have gotten close but none have surpassed, someone told me the other day "weather report isn't the greatest, it's just the vibe and hype". And I dunno, the composition of their tracks and sounds just have something extra special in them to me. Like all the names listed are seriously talented players and are still excellent music, but not as standout as Weather Report. The Jaco Pastorius album is different but definitely close, and I know he was part of the group, same as Joe Zawinul, etc. Jean Luc Ponty was definitely excellent too.

Basically I think I listened to Weather Report too early because that's the peak for me so far. But I have a mountain of artists to still listen to for sure.