Music Icons: Jazz Rock (Sky Arts)

I have watched this so you don’t have to. I watched it live and recorded it in anticipation of repeatedly enjoying a half hour of electronic Miles, Mahavishnu, Weather Report and Return to Forever amongst others. I had always understood that these were the keynote artists in Jazz Rock not least because Stuart Nicholson in his excellent 1998 book Jazz Rock, told me so. But no, not according to Sky Arts. The most important acts in the genre were in fact Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers and Boz Scaggs. Now, at a push and with a firearm pointed at my head I can just about accept Steely Dan as one of the fraternity, and indeed, they get a few mentions in Professor Nicholson’s book, but we’re not letting the others in the house and we’re certainly not elevating them to the medals podium.

The Music Icons series has provided some ankle deep analysis of several performers across the series and it’s often a rare opportunity to hear an artist you like whilst some talking heads talk bollocks in between the music. On this occasion the programme was bollocks from start to finish. Dave Sayer