Jazz-Rock

by Stuart Nicholson

Over the last three decades, no musical innovation in jazz has been more important - or controversial - than the wedding of jazz improvisation with rock music. Nicholson's lively text begins with the impact of the Beatles and the British Invasion on American popular culture and how the unexpected rise of rock music in the 1960s almost overwhelmed jazz. He charts how young jazz musicians, growing up in the rock explosion, began experimenting with incorporating the best of rock's energy into their music. Players like drummer Tony Williams, guitarist Larry Coryell, vibists Gary Burton and Mike Mainieri, and pianist Mike Nock, all brought a young sensibility to a music that was in danger of becoming ossified. Meanwhile, rock returned the compliment with groups like Blood, Sweat & Tears, Electric Flag, and Flock, that incorporated horns and jazz improvisation, and brought a vast new audience of young fans to the music. But the real catalyst for change came in 1969 when Miles Davis leaped in