Mahavishnu Orchestra
The Mahavishnu Orchestra is considered one of the most important jazz rock / fusion bands of the 1970s. It was founded in 1971 by John McLaughlin . In addition to McLaughlin ( guitar ), Jerry Goodman ( violin ), Jan Hammer ( keyboards ), Rick Laird ( electric bass ) and Billy Cobham ( drums ) played.
Band history
John McLaughlin had assumed the name Mahavishnu around 1970 under the influence of his guru Sri Chinmoy . Before founding the Mahavishnu Orchestra, he had a good reputation as a jazz guitarist and played with Miles Davis and Jimi Hendrix, among others . McLaughlin already knew bassist Laird and drummer Cobham from previous projects. The Mahavishnu Orchestra, formed with them as well as violinist Goodman and keyboardist Hammer, had great success with their first two releases, The Inner Mounting Flame (1972) and Birds of Fire (1973). The band had their first live performance in Europe at the Jazz Now Festival as part of the cultural program of the Olympic Games on August 17, 1972 in Munich. Rolling Stone magazine selected The Inner Mounting Flame in 2013 in its list of The 100 Best Jazz Albums at number 75. The group demonstrated their skills live on the album Between Nothingness & Eternity , which also attracted attention . Since McLaughlin became more and more distant from his fellow players, not least because of his orientation towards the Indian religion and his ties to Sri Chinmoy, the original Mahavishnu Orchestra had already collapsed in 1973 before the live album was released.
McLaughlin recorded the 1973 album Love Devotion Surrender with Carlos Santana , another Chinmoy supporter. In 1974 he reformed the Mahavishnu Orchestra with Jean-Luc Ponty ( violin ), Narada Michael Walden (drums, percussion ), Ralphe Armstrong ( bass ), Gayle Moran and Stu Goldberg (keyboards). For the first album with a new line-up, Apocalypse , George Martin was won as producer, and musicians from the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Michael Tilson Thomas participated . Two more albums were also recorded, but the new band no longer achieved the level and success of the first line-up, so that McLaughlin dissolved the Mahavishnu Orchestra again in 1975 to play acoustic music with Indian influences with his new band Shakti .
In the 1980s there was another attempt to revive the Mahavishnu Orchestra, this time and the like. a. with Bill Evans ( saxophone ), Jim Beard (keyboard), Billy Cobham (drums) and Jonas Hellborg (bass), but with moderate success.
Discography
- The Inner Mounting Flame (Nov 1971)
- Birds of Fire (Feb 1973)
- Between Nothingness & Eternity (Nov 1973, live)
- Apocalypse (Jan 1974)
- Visions of the Emerald Beyond (Jan 1975)
- Inner Worlds (Feb 1976)
- Mahavishnu (Jan 1985)
- Ad Ventures in Radioland (Jul 1987)
- The Lost Trident Sessions (1999, studio recordings from Jun 1973)
- Unreleased Tracks from Between Nothingness & Eternity (1999, recorded live Nov 1973)
literature
- Walter Kolosky: Power, Passion and Beauty: The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra . ISBN 978-0-9761016-8-0
Web links
Remarks
- ^ Power, Passion and Beauty, The Story Of The Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra
- ↑ Rolling Stone: The 100 Best Jazz Albums . Retrieved November 16, 2016.