It's time to explore what I consider to be the height of creativity, power, virtuosity, and style: Jazz-Rock fusion. (if you miss Thursday morning's show, be sure to get up early and catch in Sunday morning at 8:00 am)

I'm not talking about the elevator music that frequently comes to mind when people now mention that phrase. That's watered down cold fusion, and not the dynamic interplay between progressive jazz and boundless rock that is truly deserving of the name.

This week I begin at the beginning (more or less), with the breakthrough sounds of Miles Davis's 1969's "In A Silent Way," which featured Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, and some other young progressive jazz stars. YOUNG being the key--these were musicians who weren't afraid to play outside the swing boundaries of the jazz scene of the late 60s. They had been listening to rock music get better and longer, and begin to infringe on the boundaries of jazz. But to really merge the boundaries probably took someone with the credibility of Miles. After "In A Silent Way" the gates opened.

First out of the Miles chute was British guitarist John McLaughlin. After a couple albums with various musicians, he finally found the combination and sound he was looking for with Mahavishnu Orchestra: which, along with John (on loud, distorted, frenetically virtuoso guitar) included Jerry Goodman (electric/jazz/rock violinist formerly of The Flock), keyboardist Jan Hammer, and American-Panamanian drummer extrordinaire, Billy Cobham. The sound is electric; the effect on musicians worldwide was immediate, forcing everyone to improve or quit.

Following on Mahavishnu's heels in 1972 was Chick Corea, another Miles    alum, who teamed up with bassist Stanley Clarke (among others) and others to help define the new genre of Fusion.

The qualities in these tracks that is missing from much of what is loosely (perhaps too loosely) called Fusion, are high energy composition and improvisation. I miss that.