rock/jazz fusion

Well, I must admit that I have not heard the "Jazz is Dead" CD you mention, although I think it's title is inaccurate. I'd also question whether this group is really a "fusion" jazz band in the sense normally understood by jazz fans. If you want to check out the "roots" of fusion jazz, here are some recordings you try:
1. Miles Davis: either "In a Silent Way" or "Bitches Brew" (already mentioned above) from the late 1960's, or "Live-Evil", "Black Beauty", and Agharta" from the late 1970's and 1980's.
2. Weather Report (arguably the pre-eminent fusion band of the 1970's, led by Joe Zawinul, with Wayne Shorter and Jaco Pastorius): either "Heavy Weather" or "8:30" (a live concert recording).
3. John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra: "Inner Mounting Flame", or "Birds of Fire".
4. Herbie Hancock: "Sextant", "Mwandishi", and "Crossings".
5. Recordings from the 1970's by Larry Coryell and Pat Metheny.
6. Billy Cobham also led his own group in the late 1970's, and released an album or two (sorry, can't think of the names).

I will add - any recordings by the David Becker Tribune group.

For a recent release, you could try Time Crunch by the group Niacin. They have a cover of one of those old Jeff Beck songs (Blue Wind). -Kirk

Buckethead smokes on alot of stuff (Transmutation is one of the best) Jonas Hellborg Octave of the Holy Innocents,is spiff too. I guess Buckethead toured w/ Buns & Hoses, but The Cure? What record is he on? The Jazz is dead stuff is tired old rehashed poop. The musicians on it(mostly greats) are not stretching themselves at all. If you wanna hear what Jeff Beck might be into if he'd have kept growing check out:
Gambale/Hamm/Smith- 1st
Larry Coryell- Cause and Effect
T.J. Kirk- 1st
Gateway- 1st
Greg Howe- Introspection
Richie Kotzen- Electric Joy
Guru Guru- Dance of the Flames
Embryo- Rocksession
Kraan- Live 74
Bozzio/Levin/Stevens- Blacklight Syndrome
Miles Davis- Agharta
Polytown- Polytown
Harriet Tubman- Prototype
Attention Deficit- (either one)
Soft Machine- Softs
Tony Williams- Believe It
Allan Holdsworth- Velvet Darkness
Left out tons of excellent recordings, hope of this works for you.

Did you try Jeff Beck's Wired? "There and Back" is not bad either. I second the Mahavishnu recordings, but include "Between Nothingness & Eternity" and "Visions of the Emerald Beyond". If it's guitar based fusion, check out Return to Forever's "Romantic Warrior" with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Al DiMeola. Also a lot of early DiMeola before he went "World Symphony". One of the above posts mentions Govt. Mule, and they have received several good writeups in Stereophile, but after purchasing a couple of their cds I just can't get into them like Jeff Beck, DiMeola, or Mclaughlin. Larry Coryell is too laid back for my tastes also. For some really innovative live albums check out some of Frank Zappa's "You can't do that on Stage anymore" series, especially vol 2. Zappa had a lot of good music interspersed in his bizarre career, and he was a very underrated guitar player.