This week’s HFLS features four excellent records from 1973 that highlight the massive influence that funk and rock were having on jazz. Blue Note was leaning heavily on the exceptionally tight jazz/funk orchestrations and production of the Mizell Brothers, featured on both Black Byrd and Blacks and Blues, Herbie Hancock was delving into funkier and far out experiments with synthesizers, as heard on Sextant, and Billy Cobham’s Spectrum leans into the acid-rock sound that was dominating a lot of FM airwaves at the time. And while “fusion” has often been derogatory,. there’s no arguing that these four albums were fusing seemingly disparate sounds into new and exciting expressions of jazz music.