During our annual celebrations of those dear dudes we call dads, it’s quite common to stream some dad rock after firing up the grill and filling the cooler with a couple bags of ice. But for this Father’s Day, let’s pop on our pinched-front fedoras and explore a slightly smoother musical corner of a dad demographic not often talked about in beard-scratching circles: Dad Jazz & Father Fusion.
For all intents and purposes, dad jazz (aka father fusion) is basically jazz rock. Some music heads say that jazz rock was born from progressive or prog rock. Still, others believe that the advent of the fretless bass inadvertently invented jazz rock. Perhaps both are correct. I’d like to point out to anyone adverse to jazz that you can’t spell “jazz rock” without “rock.” So, yes… this genre actually rocks (more so if you turn up the volume). And while we’re celebrating all fatherly figures, living and immortal, let’s dig deep into the smooth sounds of this largely underrated subgenre with help from Chuck Mangione, Weather Report, Once And Future Band, Rickie Lee Jones, Steely Dan, Chicago, Soft Machine, and many more jazz rockers. Let’s go cruisin’ for some fusion (sorry… dad joke)!
Of course, as with any named music genre, there are outliers and not all dad jazz is jazz rock. Curtis Mayfield’s epic “Move On Up” is a great example of top-shelf soul jazz. And Joni Mitchell’s “Coyote” is straight-up folk fusion. Frank Zappa’s “Apostrophe” could be classified as “avant dad.” “Zombies” by Magma might be described as a prog opera fusion opus. And Mahavishnu Orchestra’s “Birds Of Fire” has been referred to as “acid fusion” – not to be confused with acid jazz, a short-lived and ultra-hip early ‘90s subgenre which drew more from disco, soul, R&B, and acid house – anyone remember the Brand New Heavies?
So, this Father’s Day, consider scoring a fretless bass or a shiny new flugelhorn for your old man. Or try to hunt down a big brown fedora like the one on the cover of Heavy Weather. Another consideration: does your dad’s sweaters have enough suede elbow patches? For the frugal father gifter, you can always save some dough by making a Father’s Day card and sending him this Pandora Story – watch him delight to the jam jazz of Medeski Martin & Wood, the six-string samurai fusion of Al Di Meola, the somber subtleties of Pat Metheny Group, the jazz odessy of Henry Cow, the hot-buttered saxual healing of Tom Scott, and of course the free flowing flute jazz recordings of the oil-chested Dionisius known by dad jazz scholars and father fusion afficionados as Herbie Mann. Stay smooth, y’all!
