Birds of Fire brings overdue critical attention to fusion, the musical idiom that emerged in the late 1960s and 1970s, as musicians blended elements of jazz, rock, and funk. Fusion never coalesced into a distinct genre; many artists and critics disparaged the music as amorphous and hard to define. Kevin Fellezs contends that fusion's much-derided hybridity was its very reason for being. By mixing different musical and cultural traditions, fusion artists sought to disrupt generic boundaries, cultural hierarchies, and critical assumptions. Fellezs develops his argument through rigorous analysis of the music of four distinctive fusion artists. Interpreting the work of Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, Joni Mitchell, and Herbie Hancock, he explores the challenges that fusion posed to generic conventions and considers the extent to which a musician can be taken seriously as an artist across divergent musical traditions. Fellezs concludes Birds of Fire with a look at the current activities of McLaughlin, Mitchell and Hancock; Williams's final recordings; and the legacy of the fusion made by the four artists in the 1970s.

凯文·费尔利兹（Kevin Fellezs），博士美国哥伦比亚大学音乐系、非裔美国人研究所助理教授，《跨现代性》《金属音乐研究》和《金属音乐与文化研究》期刊编委。毕业于美国旧金山州立大学、加利福尼亚大学圣克鲁斯分校。主要研究领域：流行音乐与身份之间的关系，特别是非洲裔、亚洲裔以及环太平洋岛屿美国社群的关系。他的研究涉猎广泛，从爵士乐、夏威夷松弦吉他、重金属到日本演歌。曾发表《奇特的相遇：亚裔美国人与流行文化》（2007）、《重金属：论战与反主流文化》（2013）及《创作歌手的剑桥指南》（2016）等论文。

刘研，天津音乐学院音乐学系副教授，科研与研究生处副处长，天津市宣传文化“五个一批”人才，美国哥伦比亚大学音乐系访问学者，中华美学会会员，中国音乐美学学会会员，西方音乐学会会员。毕业于华南师范大学、中央音乐学院，主要研究领域：西方音乐美学、实用主义与身体美学、美国流行音乐。曾发表论文《瓦格纳“整体艺术”观念的美学研究》《审美经验的复兴——身体实用主义美学与流行音乐》《通过身体思考——理查德·舒斯特曼身体美学及其对音乐研究的启示》等。