Blood, Sweat & Tears most notable for their fusion of rock, blues, pop music, horn arrangements and jazz improvisation into a hybrid that came to be known as "jazz-rock". Unlike "jazz fusion" bands, which tend toward virtuosic displays of instrumental facility and some experimentation with electric instruments, the songs of Blood, Sweat & Tears merged the stylings of rock, pop and R&B/soul music with big band, while also adding elements of 20th century classical and small combo jazz traditions. Al Kooper, Jim Fielder, Fred Lipsius, Randy Brecker, Jerry Weiss, Dick Halligan, Steve Katz and Bobby Colomby formed the original band. The creation of the
Rock with Bill Haley and the Comets by Haley himself, as he and his band later went on to Decca Records and recorded "Rock Around the Clock". All the songs on "Rock with Bill Haley and the Comets" were previously released as singles under the Essex banner, including several that were originally released when the band used the name Bill Haley and the Saddlemen. The album does not include any of the tracks Haley and the Comets recorded in 1954 before moving to Decca, nor are any of the tracks from 1951-52 included that Haley recorded for Essex's sister label, Holiday Records (although later releases of Haley's