<P> The music I was really listening to in 1968 was James Brown, the great guitar player Jimi Hendrix, and a new group who had just come out with a hit record, "Dance to the Music", Sly and the Family Stone...I wanted to make it more like rock . When we recorded In a Silent Way I just threw out all the chord sheets and told everyone to play off of that ." </P> <P> Two contributors to In a Silent Way also joined organist Larry Young to create one of the early acclaimed fusion albums: Emergency! by The Tony Williams Lifetime . </P> <P> Davis' Bitches Brew (1970) album was his most successful of this era . Although inspired by rock and funk, Davis' fusion creations were original and brought about a new type of avant - garde, electronic, psychedelic - jazz, as far from pop music as any other Davis work . </P> <P> Pianist Herbie Hancock (a Davis alumnus) released four albums in the short - lived (1970--1973) psychedelic - jazz subgenre: Mwandishi (1972), Crossings (1973), and Sextant (1973). The rhythmic background was a mix of rock, funk, and African - type textures . </P>

At the turn of the 20th century music was primarily provided by