On Jul 31, 2008, at 11:56 AM, John Howell wrote:
There were two VERY successful bands in the early '60s that pushed the limits of jazz/pop/rock'n'roll/classical styles and started a fusion movement that continued for at least 15 years (and may still be happening). ... The two bands I'm thinking of were, of course, Blood, Sweat and Tears and the original Chicago Transit Authority.
I can't for the life of me see how either of those bands can be considered as anything but rock groups, either musically or sociologically. And both of them are from the *late* 60s: Chicago from 1967or '69, depending how you count (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicago_Transit_Authority_(album)) , and BST from 1968 (Hardy and Laing: _The Encyclopedia of Rock, vol. 2_ [1976])
Frank Zappa, by contrast, was already recording music in 1960, and came to major public attention in 1966. His case is particularly interesting because his style gave him the choice of presenting himself equally convincingly as a classical composer, a jazzman, or a rock-'n-roller. He chose the last of these precisely because he wanted to reach the largest audience possible.
Jazz in the '60s was most definitely *not* a form of popular music, and CTA and BST developed huge audiences precisely because theirs *was* popular music. That's what popular means!
Andrew Stiller Kallisti Music Press http://www.kallistimusic.com/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
