Jazz Rock

Jazz Rock has its roots in the jazz Fusion movement of the late 1960s and early '70s, but it wasn't until Miles Davis' Bitches Brew appeared in 1970 that the style truly took off. Although the innovative Davis was undeniably a member of the jazz establishment, Jazz Rock was often identified with rock performers whose material applied jazz's daring, improvisational approach to the basic rock framework. Folk-Rock artists like Van Morrison, Tim Buckley and Joni Mitchell embraced jazz at one time or another throughout their careers, while Steely Dan rode its implementation of jazz elements to platinum success in the '70s. Following the dissolution of the Police in the mid-'80s, Sting explored Jazz Rock territory with his Blue Turtles band -- gaining some commercial following, but only limited critical success. Many of today's popular Jam Rock artists -- Phish and the Dave Matthews Band, to name two of the most prominent -- owe a big debt to the Jazz Rockers before them.