This year we’ve been celebrating the 50th Anniversary of fusion, as 1970 (ok, you can argue it was ’69 and I won’t fight you) was the year that jazz, classical and rock got together to create songs that appealed to music fans on all sides of the aisles.
Because this month we are featuring interviews with two artists that have made a career of releasing mostly instrumental music (a rarity for rock fans, but de rigeur for jazzers), I’ve put together a short list of some of the top “instrumentals” that crossed over from jazz to rock and vice versa.
I didn’t include anything from The Swing Era, as most of the popular songs by Ellington, Goodman, Shaw, etc . as that period was dominated by popular instrumentals like “Body and Soul” and “Take The ‘A’ Train”. I also didn’t include movie soundtracks, as that will be done another time.
So, we’ve mostly focused on material of the long playing album and beyond. It’s quite amazing that some of these songs caught the ear and imaginations of such a wide range of listeners. The interesting thing about each of these songs is that, besides being popular, they influenced musicians of all styles. Isn’t t hat one of the purposes of music?
Sit back and enjoy, and feel free to contact me on your own pleasure…
- Santo and Johnny: “Sleepwalk”-this little spartan gem of guitar and slide guitar has aged well, and still influences scores of guitarists
- Mason Williams: “Classical Gas”-A gigantic production of classical guitar and booming orchestra that is as exciting as cleverly arranged
- Stan Getz: “Desafinado”-the song that started the whole “bossa nova” craze, and made Getz a household name.
- Booker T. & The MGs: “Green Onions” and “Time Is Tight”-The Memphis-based house band for STAX
Records made a career of soulful instrumentals, and these two are cruising delights. - The Bar-Keys-“Last Night”-also from Memphis and STAX Records, this band created a horn riff that, once you hear, you’ll never get out of your head.
Jeff Beck: “Beck’s Bolero” and “Cause We Ended As Friends”-Yardbird alumnus Jeff Beck scored big on a rock instrumental hit as well as the sweeping fusion ballad
produced by George Martin
- Ahmad Jamal: “Poinciana”-at a time when people were abandoning mainstream jazz, Jamal was still packing them in with gorgeous
pieces like this. 
Ramsey Lewis” “The ‘In’ Crowd”-Lewis had a hit in jazz, soul and rock stations with this one, and the audience reaction is half the fun!- Dick Dale: “Miserlou”-Dale’s reverb guitar was the clarion call for every teenager learning
the six strings in the 60s - Hugh Masekela: “Grazin’ In The Grass”-The South African trumpeter, with “his horn as black as night” turned this soul tune into an anthem in the Summer of Love
The Shadows: “Apache”-this moody piece was a hit on the R&B charts as well as pop tunes.
- The Ventures: “Walk, Don’t Run”-A big hit by the band credited for creating “ Surf Rock” before the Beach Boys came along.
(maybe “Wipeout” by the Surfaris is a runner up, but they were a one-hit wonder)
- Weather Report: “Birdland”-even fusion got into the act, as Weather Report’s tune with Jaco Pastorius was a mega hit and showed that modern jazz can be accessible.
- Eric Johnson: “Cliffs of Dover”-like Weather Report, Johnson showed that people still
have an ear for instrumentals with style, class and virtuosity.