Fusion Best 100: Deodato & Tom Scott
Hailey Bieber's grandfather and an ex-Blues Brother kick off a year-long exploration of jazz fusion albums.
Welcome back to Attenuator; I hope that 2025 has been good to you thus far. After a year in which I mostly neglected this newsletter, I’m hoping to find a more consistent rhythm in the coming months. To that end, most of this year’s issues will be part of a listening/writing project that I’ve set out for myself — over the next 12 months, I’m going to attempt to write about 100 records, devoting ~300 words to each. I’m sure I’ll quickly break my own rules, but I’m trying to find a way to write a bit less than I usually would in the name of publishing newsletters more frequently. There’ll be the occasional return to the “classic” format, but this newsletter will spend the majority of the Year of the Snake slithering to the rhythms of jazz fusion.
As I mentioned in my year-end newsletter, shortly before my son was born I imported a copy of the Japanese magazine Record Collectors that featured a list of the 100 best Western jazz fusion albums released between 1969 and 1989, compiled by 20 of the publication’s writers and editors. While I was learning how to correctly fasten diapers and gradually acclimating to sleep deprivation, I replaced the weekly ritual of hearing new music with listening to all 100 albums on the magazine’s Fusion Best 100 list (I’ve transcribed the full list here if you’re interested in seeing what made the cut). I had probably listened to roughly a third of these albums previously, so I got to hear a lot of really great LPs (and a few that I didn’t care for) for the first time.
I initially stumbled across Record Collector thanks to writer Patrick St. Michel’s great Japanese music newsletter Make Believe Mailer, which broke down a similar (and equally interesting) “Fusion Best 100” list ranking fusion albums by Japanese artists. The Western fusion list is interesting not just because it’s filled with records I hadn’t heard previously, but because it examines the jazz fusion canon from a distinct perspective, differentiated by the tastes of Japanese listeners (particularly the music journalists who voted on this list) and the industry machinations that brought records by Western artists overseas during a period when music was a decidedly physical product.
I’m not setting out to write about every record on the Fusion Best 100 list from the perspective of an expert (far from it, really), but as a fan of the genre hoping to learn more about each of these albums and consider why they might have resonated overseas (taken with a grain of salt, as I’ll be relying on rough Google translations of the magazine).
So, here goes nothing — I’m looking forward to listening to all 100 of these records (again), pouring over the liner notes on Discogs, and sharing some thoughts. Thanks for boarding the good ship jazz fusion, our first port of call is Love Island…
100. Deodato - Love Island (1978)
There’s an entire sub-genre of Japanese fusion and city pop inspired by tropical locales, housed on albums festooned with swaying palm trees and sparking ocean waves. Pacific by Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, and Tatsuro Yamashita is the one that immediately comes to mind, but there’s also Yoshiaki Masuo’s Sailing Wonder, Masayoshi Takanaka’s Brasilian Skies, Momoko Kikuchi’s Ocean Side, and many, many more. There’s just something about shimmering synth tones, wailing guitar riffs, and the occasional bossa nova rhythm that seems to evoke summer days and sand between your toes.
Though its creator hails from Brazil rather than Japan, Love Island fits nicely into this sun-drenched canon, filled with odes to Hawaii, Tahiti, and San Juan. To be entirely honest, I hadn’t listened to much Deodato before tackling the Fusion Best 100 list — I mostly knew him as the guy who recorded funky renditions of “Also Sprach Zarathustra” and “Rhapsody in Blue” (and I certainly didn’t know that he’s Hailey Bieber’s grandfather — thanks Wikipedia). Love Island is actually an interesting entry point to Deodato’s catalog because it’s predominantly original music that isn’t overshadowed by a showy interpretation of a popular tune — in fact, the laid-back cover of jazz standard “Take the A Train” that caps off the album almost feels like an afterthought.
Befitting an artist known for his talents as an arranger and producer, Love Island is a lush and expensive-sounding production, featuring horn and string sections as well as jazz fusion linchpins Larry Carlton on guitar and Robert Popwell and bass. Deodato even roped in four members of Earth, Wind & Fire as guest players on “Tahiti Hut,” a predictable lounging-on-the-beach track co-written by Maurice White — and he got George Benson to contribute a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it guitar solo to the album’s title track.
Love Island front-loads its most interesting tunes, with the undulating synths and guitars of “Area Code 808” giving way to the minor disco hit “Whistle Bump”. The remainder of the record unfurls much like a breezy beach read; engaging enough in the moment, but not entirely memorable once it’s all over.
99. Tom Scott - Tom Scott & the L.A. Express (1974)
Tom Scott was a twenty-something West Coast session saxophonist when he formed the original lineup of the L.A. Express via a weekly set at Los Angeles jazz club the Baked Potato, performing alongside pianist Joe Sample, guitarist Larry Carlton, and bassist Max Bennett (all members/collaborators of jazz fusion greats the Crusaders) as well as drummer John Guerin. Scott would later help found the Blues Brothers (he quit before the movie was filmed, allegedly over a pay dispute) and handle horn arrangements for Steely Dan’s Aja and Gaucho, but this foray into jazz fusion backed by the L.A. Express served as a roundabout springboard to those milestones.
Though it’s the only record to feature the lineup outlined above, the L.A. Express's 1974 debut is a footnote relative to the exposure the group received as the backing band on Joni Mitchell’s 1974 release, Court & Spark, which blends the singer-songwriter’s verbose folk rock with jazzy flourishes. Mitchell’s decision to take Scott, his sideburns, and the L.A. Express on tour likely sealed the band’s fate — Sample and Carlton left the group due to other commitments and Scott recruited the replacements you can hear on Mitchell’s live album documenting the era, Miles of Aisles.
Most of the technical, funky tunes that populate Tom Scott & the L.A. Express are indebted to the hook-forward, Fender Rhodes-drenched fusion of the Crusaders — unsurprising considering that three-fifths of this iteration of the L.A. Express played on the Crusaders’ 1973 release, Unsung Heroes. A sped-up read of John Coltrane’s “Dahomey Dance” and the subdued groove of “Spindrift” show off the group’s range, but the straight-ahead arrangements of “Nunya” and “Strut Your Stuff” are where the L.A. Express hits its stride. I doubt that any of the players on this record would count this among their best work, but it’s a solid collection of tracks and a great document of a fleeting confluence of musicians destined for greater things (for instance, making other records that show up on the Fusion Best 100 list).
The Fusion Best 100 journey has begun! If you have any fusion-curious friends, go ahead and share this post with them. See you next week with musings about a genuine “big in Japan” record and some forward-looking fusion overseen by a Mile Davis disciple.
It feels weird to write about Los Angeles without acknowledging the devastating fires that have destroyed homes and businesses throughout the city. The Los Angeles Times published a list of ways to aid those affected by the fires if you’re looking for a way to lend your support.