Re: Fusion--or Polyrhythm

Alan Young ( aayoung@sonic.net )
Fri, 7 Feb 1997 09:07:52 -0800

Andrew Stapleton inquired:
>
>What about different methods of mixing them? Say drums in 4/4 and base in
>5/4 and both at the same beats per min. so that at every 5 bars you match
>your first beat. Or at different speeds so that the bars are of equal duration.

Well, that's not fusion, that's polyrhythm. Sun Ra's "Space is the Place"
does exactly that (melody in 5, bass in 4 and I don't know what the drums
are doing). The only drummer I know who has made a systematic practice of
this technique is George Marsh, who has recorded a couple of times with
Denny Zeitlin (another out-there inventive player) but is otherwise
obscure. Odd time combinations are rarely used together the way you
describe; I have no idea what song you're referring to with one player in
7/4.

Polyrythms are usually expressed within a count of 16 or 12 so you can hear
a regualr 4/4 if you choose, even though there are other combinations of
accents going on. The feel comes mostly from Africa, so you could call it
Afro-fusion, but it's pretty much mainstream now except when the counts are
odd, as you describe-- in which case it's too unusual to have a genre name!