'70s jazz fusion that sounds like Stevie Wonder's "Contusion"?

I would say quite a lot of Pat Metheny's "American Garage" does. Particularly because, like "Contusion", it is mainly guitar based.

Thanks, Geir... I checked out the sound clips over at Amazon... It's a bit more mellow and Weather Channel-sounding than I had hoped for.

What I like about the "Contusion" track is that it's got the fast, burning virtuoso lines I always thought (?) were a hallmark of '70s jazz fusion (again, I'm no expert of the genre). Plus, I find the standard mid-'70s instrumentation (Rhodes piano, analog synth) very appealing... It keeps fairly close to a pop/R&B song structure, yet never gets too polished like smooth jazz or dissolves into free form aimlessness. It's unafraid to be technically showy, but it doesn't use technique for technique's sake...

I suppose what I'm really looking for is that '70s Wonderlove album that Stevie Wonder apparently produced but never released... But I'd take anything that sounds something like it!

Any other suggestions?

Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters, Thrust and Sextant
Lonnie Liston Smith - Astral Traveling

If you haven't heard these records, they could be right what you are trying to find. It is more jazz than Stevie, but it is all very funky and soulful. There is some great Rhodes and analog synth sounds and playing all over these records.

Thanks for the recommendations. I rediscovered Head Hunters recently after last hearing it 10 years ago and it's close to (but not quite) what I'm looking for... Some of the tracks get a bit too far out there melodically for my tastes, though "Chameleon" is spectacular... I've heard a little bit of Sextant and it sounds interesting. I'm not familiar with the other two albums -- I'll need to check those out.

If you like the sound of Sextant, pick up Eddie Henderson's Anthology, Vol. 2. It compiles two albums he recorded with the same group of musicians (he was the trumpet player on Hancock's Mwandishi, Crossings and Sextant), except under his banner, the songs are mostly shorter and more groove-oriented. Also try his album Sunburst.

I'm surprised you didn't like Return To Forever. I just started listening to four of their albums - Hymn Of The Seventh Galaxy, Where Have I Known You Before, No Mystery and Romantic Warrior - and like them quite a bit. I hear them as an instrumental prog-rock group, for when I'm annoyed by Jon Anderson's vocals.

The Brecker Brothers' first record (1975?) is kind of "pop fusion", in that it has all that burning, virtuoso stuff, but the songs are generally pretty short, and it's all melody-based, and pretty funky. Actually, the Brecker Brothers were some of the first fusion I got into for that reason.

(their "hit" was "Some Skunk Funk" - so you kind of have to deal with some corny titles - but then, for some reason jazz guys don't have as much a problem w/corny titles as rock guys do)

And better/more fun/more funny that that Brecker Bros. album is HEAVY METAL BE-BOP! With TERRY BOZZIO on drums.

For something a bit more on the "rock" side of fusion, I'd recommend Jeff Beck's '75

(2nd attempt)...Jeff Beck's '75 Blow By Blow, and not merely because it contains an actual Stevie Wonder cover. It's fairly funky, not as showoff-y as some fusion, and has no singing, aside from a Framptonesque talk-box Beatles cover!

Of course there's always the golden era of Weather Report too, speaking of "Heavy Weather", "Black Market", "Mr. Gone", all of them great albums.

Billy Cobham's "Spectrum" is worth a listen in that vein as well.