If you’re a fan of fusion—not the flaccid new-age drivel playing over the decrepit sound system of a declining department store, but the merging of stellar jazz musi- cianship and unpredictability with rocking tones and instrumentation—then you’re probably no stranger to
legendary drummer Tony Williams and his hugely influential band.
The Tony Williams Lifetime was arguably the first, full-on jazz-rock
fusion band, and in its many incarnations it was the launching pad
for some of jazz-rocks biggest giants. It was the band from which
jazz god Miles Davis—who, less than a decade before, had hired
Williams to man the skins in his band at age 17—somewhat controversially, plucked the young John McLaughlin, who would later
go on to form the mighty Mahavishnu Orchestra. It was also the
band from which Allan Holdsworth, following his stint with the
Soft Machine, would influence an entire generation of guitarists
with his startlingly fluid chops. (Perhaps most notable was his influence on Eddie Van Halen, whose phrasing, note choices, and tone
owe hugely to Holdsworth’s playing on Lifetime songs like the classic “Red Alert” from 1975’s Believe It.)
Of the many players influenced by Tony Williams, Jack Bruce
and Vernon Reid aren’t necessarily best known for their fusion work.
Bruce practically wrote the book on power-trio rock bass playing
with his groundbreaking work in Cream with Eric Clapton and
Ginger Baker. And Reid found fame as the ferocious fret-burner who,
along with his bandmates in Living Colour, was at the forefront of
the late-’80s funk-metal vanguard. However, as their discographies
