20 Greatest Jazz Fusion Artists and Bands of All Time

These are the 20 jazz fusion artists and bands that did the most to shape the music, from Miles Davis’s first electric records in 1969 to Snarky Puppy and Kamasi Washington today. Miles Davis is No. 1: Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970) took fusion to a mass audience, and musicians from his 1969 sessions went on to lead Weather Report, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever and the Headhunters. The list is grouped by period and ordered by influence, and every entry names the records to start with.

What Counts as Jazz Fusion

Jazz fusion keeps jazz improvisation and harmony but plays them on electric instruments over rock or funk rhythms, usually with straight eighth notes instead of swing. The studio became part of the writing: producer Teo Macero built the released tracks of Bitches Brew from edited session tape. Jazz-rock (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Tony Williams Lifetime) leans on volume and odd meters, jazz-funk (the Headhunters, the Brecker Brothers) on the groove, and a later strand mixes jazz with R&B and hip-hop. For the history of the style, see our guide to where jazz fusion came from.

1969 to 1979: The First Wave

1. Miles Davis (Electric Period)

Davis’s electric period began with In a Silent Way (1969). Bitches Brew, recorded in New York in August 1969 with two bassists, two drummers, up to three electric pianists and John McLaughlin on guitar, became his highest-charting album (No. 35 on the Billboard 200), won a Grammy and went platinum. Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul (Weather Report), Chick Corea and Lenny White (Return to Forever) and McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra) all played on it. More in our ranking of the best Miles Davis albums.

Start with: In a Silent Way (Columbia, 1969), then Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970).

2. Weather Report

Zawinul and Shorter formed Weather Report in New York in 1970 with bassist Miroslav Vitouš, and the band recorded for Columbia until 1986. The early albums were loose and impressionistic; later the music rested on Zawinul’s synthesizers and tighter grooves. Heavy Weather (1977), with Jaco Pastorius on bass, opens with “Birdland”, which became a jazz standard. The album had sold a million US copies by 1991, and DownBeat readers voted it jazz album of the year.

Start with: Heavy Weather (Columbia, 1977) and the Grammy-winning live set 8:30 (Columbia, 1979).

3. Mahavishnu Orchestra

English guitarist John McLaughlin formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra in New York in 1971 with drummer Billy Cobham, keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jerry Goodman and bassist Rick Laird. The band set rock volume against complex time signatures and ideas from Indian classical music, and Birds of Fire reached No. 15 on the Billboard 200. The original lineup made two studio albums and a live record before McLaughlin broke it up in 1974. More players like him are in our list of the greatest jazz guitarists.

Start with: The Inner Mounting Flame (Columbia, 1971) and Birds of Fire (Columbia, 1973).

4. Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters

Hancock had played in Davis’s 1960s quintet and on In a Silent Way before he turned to funk. Head Hunters, with Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson, Bill Summers and Harvey Mason, opens with the 15-minute “Chameleon”, its bass line played on an ARP Odyssey synthesizer. The album reached No. 13 on the Billboard 200 and in 2008 entered the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry. Mike Clark replaced Mason for Thrust.

Start with: Head Hunters (Columbia, 1973) and Thrust (Columbia, 1974).

5. Return to Forever

Chick Corea founded Return to Forever in 1972. The first lineup, with Stanley Clarke, Joe Farrell, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, played light, Latin-flavored music built on Corea’s Fender Rhodes. From Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy (1973), with Lenny White on drums and later Al Di Meola on guitar, it was a loud jazz-rock band. No Mystery (1975) won the Grammy for Best Jazz Performance by a Group, and Romantic Warrior became its best seller before the band split in 1977.

Start with: Light as a Feather (Polydor, 1973), which includes “Spain”, and Romantic Warrior (Columbia, 1976).

6. Tony Williams Lifetime

Tony Williams (1945 to 1997) joined Davis’s quintet at 17 and in 1969 formed Lifetime, an organ trio with McLaughlin and Larry Young. Its debut, Emergency!, was recorded in May 1969 and released that September, months before Bitches Brew, which makes it one of the first significant fusion records. In 1970 the critic Robert Christgau called Williams “probably the best drummer in the world”. See also our guide to the great jazz drummers.

Start with: Emergency! (Polydor, 1969).

7. Jaco Pastorius

Pastorius (1951 to 1987) changed what the electric bass could do in jazz, playing fretless with a funk feel, lyrical solos, chords and harmonics. His debut Jaco Pastorius appeared in 1976, the year he joined Weather Report, where he stayed until 1981. Word of Mouth is his big-band record, with Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker, Jack DeJohnette and Toots Thielemans. As of 2017 he was the only one of the seven bassists in the DownBeat Hall of Fame known for electric bass.

Start with: Jaco Pastorius (Epic, 1976) and Word of Mouth (Warner Bros., 1981).

8. The Brecker Brothers

Trumpeter Randy Brecker and saxophonist Michael Brecker were busy New York session players, heard on records from Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run to Parliament’s Mothership Connection. As the Brecker Brothers they made six albums of horn-led jazz-funk for Arista between 1975 and 1981, and a 1990s reunion produced the Grammy-winning Out of the Loop (GRP, 1994). Michael, who died in 2007, won 15 Grammys; read more in our guide to the great jazz saxophonists.

Start with: The Brecker Bros. (Arista, 1975) and the live Heavy Metal Be-Bop (Arista, 1978).

9. Pat Metheny Group

Guitarist Pat Metheny founded the group in 1977 with keyboardist Lyle Mays, and the two wrote and arranged nearly all of its music until it stopped in 2010. Its sound was lyrical and open, with Brazilian influences. Offramp was the first studio album on which Metheny used the Roland GR-300 guitar synthesizer, and it won the Grammy for Best Jazz Fusion Performance. Metheny has 20 Grammys and is the only person to have won in ten different categories; Mays won eleven.

Start with: Offramp (ECM, 1982) and Still Life (Talking) (Geffen, 1987).

10. Spyro Gyra

Saxophonist Jay Beckenstein and keyboardist Jeremy Wall started Spyro Gyra in Buffalo, New York, in 1974, mixing jazz with R&B, funk and pop. Morning Dance reached No. 27 on the Billboard album chart and went platinum, and its title track reached No. 24 on the Hot 100. According to the band’s official site, Spyro Gyra has released 35 albums and played more than 10,000 shows on six continents.

Start with: Morning Dance (Infinity, 1979).

The 1980s and 1990s

11. Yellowjackets

The Yellowjackets began in Los Angeles in 1977 as the band Robben Ford assembled for his first solo album, with keyboardist Russell Ferrante, bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Ricky Lawson. Mirage a Trois earned a Grammy nomination, and the single “And You Know That” won one in an R&B category. Saxophonist Bob Mintzer joined in 1990, and he and Ferrante are still in the band. The band’s site counts 25 albums, 17 Grammy nominations and two wins.

Start with: Mirage a Trois (Warner Bros., 1983).

12. Steps Ahead

Steps Ahead grew out of jam sessions at Seventh Avenue South, the New York club owned by the Brecker brothers, and first recorded as Steps. Vibraphonist Mike Mainieri led it; on Steps Ahead he played vibes and synthesizer vibes with Michael Brecker, pianist Eliane Elias, bassist Eddie Gómez and drummer Peter Erskine. Modern Times went further into electronics, and the group has continued with changing lineups since.

Start with: Steps Ahead (Elektra/Musician, 1983) and Modern Times (Elektra/Musician, 1984).

13. John Scofield

Scofield joined Davis in 1982 and stayed three and a half years, playing on Star People and Decoy. He then formed a band with drummer Dennis Chambers and bassist Gary Grainger that mixed funk and blues with jazz harmony; Blue Matter, recorded in September 1986, was the first of three albums with that rhythm section. He has won three Grammys from nine nominations.

Start with: Blue Matter (Gramavision, 1986).

14. Mike Stern

Stern played with Blood, Sweat & Tears and Billy Cobham before joining Davis from 1981 to 1983 and again in 1985. His rock-inflected guitar drives Upside Downside, his first album for Atlantic, with Jaco Pastorius, David Sanborn and Bob Berg. He has released more than 20 albums as a leader; Guitar Player named him best jazz guitarist of 1993, and Is What It Is (1994) and Between the Lines (1996) received Grammy nominations.

Start with: Upside Downside (Atlantic, 1986).

15. Chick Corea Elektric Band

Corea formed the Elektric Band in New York in 1986 around drummer Dave Weckl and bassist John Patitucci. Guitarist Frank Gambale and saxophonist Eric Marienthal joined on Light Years to complete the best-known lineup, which recorded until Beneath the Mask (1991). Corea (1941 to 2021) won 29 Grammys from 79 nominations over his career; see also our list of the greatest jazz pianists.

Start with: The Chick Corea Elektric Band (GRP, 1986) and Light Years (GRP, 1987).

16. Béla Fleck and the Flecktones

The Flecktones formed in Nashville in 1988 with Béla Fleck on banjo, Victor Wooten on bass, his brother Roy “Future Man” Wooten on Drumitar and Howard Levy on harmonica and keyboards, mixing progressive bluegrass with jazz improvisation, funk and world music. The title of UFO Tofu is a palindrome, which also serves as a musical theme in the title track. The band has won Grammys in pop instrumental, composition and contemporary jazz categories.

Start with: Flight of the Cosmic Hippo (Warner Bros., 1991) and UFO Tofu (Warner Bros., 1992).

Since 2000: Jazz Fusion Artists Today

17. Snarky Puppy

Bassist Michael League formed Snarky Puppy in Denton, Texas, in 2004, while at the University of North Texas. It works as a collective: the roster has about 20 members, and more than 40 musicians have played with it. Several albums were recorded and filmed in the studio before a small audience, among them We Like It Here, made over four nights in the Netherlands. It has won five Grammys, four for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album (Sylva, Culcha Vulcha, Live at the Royal Albert Hall and Empire Central).

Start with: We Like It Here (Ropeadope, 2014) and Culcha Vulcha (2016).

18. Hiromi

Hiromi Uehara, born in Hamamatsu, Japan, in 1979, met Chick Corea by chance in Tokyo at 17 and was invited to play at his concert the next day. She later studied at Berklee, where Ahmad Jamal mentored her. Her debut Another Mind went gold in Japan. She went on to lead Hiromi’s Sonicbloom, with guitarist David Fiuczynski, and the Trio Project with bassist Anthony Jackson and drummer Simon Phillips, and won a Grammy in 2011 as a member of the Stanley Clarke Band.

Start with: Another Mind (Telarc, 2003) and the Trio Project’s Voice (2011).

19. Robert Glasper Experiment

Pianist Robert Glasper introduced his electric band, the Experiment, on Double-Booked (2009), with Casey Benjamin on saxophone and vocoder, Derrick Hodge on bass and Chris Dave on drums. Black Radio put the band behind singers and rappers such as Erykah Badu, Lalah Hathaway and Lupe Fiasco, reached No. 15 on the Billboard 200 and won the Grammy for Best R&B Album. Glasper also played keyboards on Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).

Start with: Black Radio (Blue Note, 2012).

20. Kamasi Washington

Tenor saxophonist Kamasi Washington grew up in Los Angeles playing with pianist Cameron Graves and the brothers Ronald Bruner Jr. and Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner, and several of those childhood friends make up his collective, the West Coast Get Down. The Epic (2015) runs nearly three hours, with a 32-piece orchestra and a 20-voice choir he arranged himself. The same year he played saxophone and arranged strings on To Pimp a Butterfly, which also features Thundercat and Glasper.

Start with: The Epic (Brainfeeder, 2015).

More Jazz Fusion Artists Worth Hearing

Japan built its own fusion scene from the 1970s. Casiopea, formed in Tokyo in 1976 by guitarist Issei Noro, had the Brecker Brothers and David Sanborn as guests on its 1979 debut and recorded Eyes of the Mind (1981) in the US with Harvey Mason producing. T-Square, also formed in 1976 and originally called The Square, recorded “Truth” (1987), the theme of Fuji TV’s Formula One coverage.

In London, saxophonist Nubya Garcia’s Source (Concord Jazz, 2020) was shortlisted for the Mercury Prize, and drummer Yussef Dayes and keyboardist Kamaal Williams made Black Focus (Brownswood, 2016) as Yussef Kamaal. For more current names, see popular jazz artists working today, and for the records, our ranking of the best jazz fusion albums.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is the most famous jazz fusion artist?

Miles Davis. Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970) reached No. 35 on the Billboard 200 and went platinum, and musicians from his 1969 sessions went on to lead Weather Report, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever and the Headhunters.

Who started jazz fusion?

No single musician. Miles Davis’s In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (recorded in August 1969, released in March 1970) are the usual starting points, but the Tony Williams Lifetime recorded Emergency! in May 1969 and released it that September, before Bitches Brew came out. John McLaughlin played on all three records.

Which jazz fusion bands are still active today?

Spyro Gyra (formed 1974), the Yellowjackets (1977) and Steps Ahead (1979) are still active, and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones returned in 2016. Among newer acts, Snarky Puppy, Hiromi and Kamasi Washington are active. Weather Report ended in 1986, the Brecker Brothers with Michael Brecker’s death in 2007, and the Pat Metheny Group in 2010.

Who are the best jazz fusion drummers?

The key names are Tony Williams (Lifetime), Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Jack DeJohnette and Lenny White (Bitches Brew), Harvey Mason and Mike Clark (the Headhunters), Peter Erskine (Steps Ahead), Dave Weckl (Chick Corea Elektric Band) and Dennis Chambers (John Scofield’s Blue Matter band).