It was late summer, 1971 and the word was out. Mahavishnu John McLaughlin was coming to town. Well actually he was coming to the village of Yellow Springs, OH, some 20 miles to the East of town with his new band. This would be his first gig out of the studio with The Mahavishnu Orchestra, playing at the Antioch College auditorium. A friend had tickets so a small group of us went, not knowing what to expect, other than being familiar with his previous work with Miles Davis and other jazz players.
John asked for a moment of quiet meditation before they started, and when it started it was like nothing I'd ever heard before. Billy Cobham was wearing his Memphis State football jersey and looked like an NFL linebacker. What a monster. It's hard for me to describe their music but the Jazz/Rock fusion with neo-classical overtones was off and running. John, Billy, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman and Rick Laird seemed like a jazz work shop that had reached Nirvana. A whole new level of musical awareness pressed me to my seat while my brain wandered around the stage. They even break into a slow blues shuffle, with a twist. Listening to it now I was reminded of how Hammer could sound just like McLaughlin and/or Goodman at any time.
The Mahavishnu Orchestra is not for everyone but if you grew up listening to Coltrane, Shepp, Coleman with Ron Carter and Elvin Jones and want the whole thing electrified, give it a try. I don't know how many times I've put this record on over the last 50+ years, but it still plays good.
John asked for a moment of quiet meditation before they started, and when it started it was like nothing I'd ever heard before. Billy Cobham was wearing his Memphis State football jersey and looked like an NFL linebacker. What a monster. It's hard for me to describe their music but the Jazz/Rock fusion with neo-classical overtones was off and running. John, Billy, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman and Rick Laird seemed like a jazz work shop that had reached Nirvana. A whole new level of musical awareness pressed me to my seat while my brain wandered around the stage. They even break into a slow blues shuffle, with a twist. Listening to it now I was reminded of how Hammer could sound just like McLaughlin and/or Goodman at any time.
The Mahavishnu Orchestra is not for everyone but if you grew up listening to Coltrane, Shepp, Coleman with Ron Carter and Elvin Jones and want the whole thing electrified, give it a try. I don't know how many times I've put this record on over the last 50+ years, but it still plays good.
