Placebo
Open Sky Unit
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The 1970s
Although rock still dominated in the 1970s, musical styles began to interpenetrate. With Miles Davis, jazz electrified and flirted with rock. In the United States the new style was baptized "jazz-rock", giving rise to European bands like the British group Soft Machine. A number of Belgian artists are associated with this style, also called "Fusion": Philip Catherine, Jack Van Poll, Jacques Pelzer, Richard Rousselet, Robert Jeanne and Felix Simtaine. Some musicians of the new generation made it their niche: Marc Moulin, Michel Herr (piano), Charles Loos (piano), Paolo Radoni (guitar), Steve Houben (alt sax, flute), Janot Buchem (electric bass ) and Micheline Pelzer (drums). Typical for jazz rock is the replacement of acoustic instruments (guitar, bass and piano) by their electric version. These new sounds had the advantage of bringing the rock audience closer to jazz. The recording of jazz music took a new start, often by independent labels. Popular groups at that time were Placebo (Marc Moulin), Cosa Nostra (Jack Van Poll), Open Sky Unit (Pelzer), Kleptomania and Arkham (Radoni), Solis Lacus (Herr), Cos and Abraxis (Loos). In 1971, René Thomas returned to the forefront by joining Stan Getz' new quartet. Meanwhile, Toots Thielemans was touring and recording in the U.S., with Quincy Jones, Paul Simon, Bill Evans and others. In Flanders, Etienne Verschueren toured with his sextet.
Up to approximately the 1970s jazz history was more or less a succession of stylistic periods, a development that was entirely situated in America. Jazz had become an international language. From the late 1980s on it became difficult to describe the direction jazz has taken. So many different jazz styles and trends exist that the student of jazz does not get a clear view on this fragmented musical landscape.
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Placebo Showbiz Suite (1971)
Placebo was a Belgian jazz fusion band formed by Marc Moulin and active from 1969 to 1976 Written and arranged by Marc Moulin (1971)
Marc Moulin: keyboards Alex Scorier: soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, flute Johnny Dover: baritone saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, percussion Richard Rousselet: trumpet, flugelhorn Nicolas Fissette: trumpet Nick Kletchkovsky: bass Freddie Rottier: drums, percussion
Open Sky Unit Bass – Janot Buchem Drums – Micheline Pelzer Flute, Saxophone – Jacques Pelzer, Steve Houben Percussion – Michel Graillier Piano, Composed By – Ron Wilson Recorded Live at Jazzland, Liege, Belgium on October 4th 1974
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