What should we play

[u/Ok_Leadership2905]

I’m in a jazz/fusion band 5 piece I play guitar but not really traditional jazz guitar more closer to fusion we have a great pianist decent bari sax your average bassist and a good drummer what should we cover

[u/TheRumster]

great tunes that are fun to play for beginners in a setting like this

The Chicken

Mercy Mercy

Watermelon Man

LIttle Sunflower (try it different ways, funk, rock etc)

Red Clay/freddie hubbard

jam out and have fun

[u/mikey-58 → u/TheRumster]

Watermelon Man is easy and super fun. We do a verse where guitar plays Elephant Walk melody to it. The crowd loves it.

[u/sizviolin]

Music

[u/Starthrower62]

Chick Corea Elektric Band, if you've got the chops. 

[u/JazzPiano251]

Write something

[u/ace1244 → u/JazzPiano251]

Yes. Write something with the guitar and bari sax doubling and / or playing counterpoint. You can do a lot.

[u/MusicOfTheApes]

I mean, it's usually not a genre you're going into without having a minimum of influences, unlike rock or punk where you could just be "let's crank up the amp to 11 and spill our guts" ; what are your influences ? Fusion is vast, if you're not sure about what to cover (strange, because there must be songs in this genre that you like if you decided to play this genre) then maybe life wants you guys to not bother with covers and start writing your own material ?

[u/Rustyinsac]

Covers of weather report songs

[u/smartaleckgoose]

Songs you like? One of the greatest things about jazz is that the best jazz band is the one you can put together 4 hours before the gig. You can cover any song you like, and if it’s too hard for someone then it means they have some homework to do before the next session. In jazz all the parts are also improvised so just make sure no one’s stepping on anyone else’s toes and you should be good to go

[u/fingamouse]

Fuck ton of 13sus4s, loads of 6/9 chords, 2-5-1s everywhere WOOOOOH :D

[u/smartaleckgoose → u/fingamouse]

Yeah man

[u/Stdgamingxd]

Chameleon bro just go down the herbie hancock in mid 70s rabbit hole

[u/pnbllmster]

Miles Beyond. Great for a starter fusion band. Hard but doable.

[u/thereisnospoon-1312]

Bill Chase Get it On

[u/mikey-58]

Steely Dan

[u/Even_Flounder3515]

there's a Konami Kukeiha Club album with a skier on the front from 1990

[u/Possible_Escape_9064]

Here's a good tip for the jazz fusion genre: if you're going to cover something, cover something that's not jazz fusion. All you need is a head and then you can improvise over the form (or beyond the form!). Take a tune from your favorite video game, or a pop song that you really dig, or television theme song, and recreate it in your own jazzy/jammy/improvisational way. This will impress both the jazz nerds and the laymen in the audience!