International Society for Jazz Research

Zur Ökonomie und Ideologie

der sogenannten Fusion Music

After a brief survey on the musical and social implications of Free Jazz in the 60s some of the most relevant changes are discussed which have taken place in the jazz scene since the early 70s when – as far as popularity is concerned – Fusion Music became the dominating style.

Being a conglomerate of Jazz, rock, electronics and – in some cases – eastern musical forms of expression, Fusion Music is pushed by a gigantic record industry whose pressures not only shape the inner-musical structures of that style but also the ideological frame of reference in which the music is placed to make it more easily marketable.