Classical Composer Reaction/Analysis to the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Live in 1972) | The Daily Doug
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ม.ค. 2023
- #mahavishnuorchestra #jazzfusion
In this edition of #thedailydoug, I'm listening to music from the Mahavishnu Orchestra for the first time on the channel. However, it's not my first time hearing this band or these songs. In late August, I reacted to their debut album The Inner Mounting Flame while following along with a score for my Patreon community. It's now been about 5 months since I've heard Meeting of the Spirits and You Know You Know, which are both on their debut album. Here, I'm reacting to a live performance the band gave on the BBC in 1972. I hope you enjoy! (Episode 513)
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I was 16 when this came out on BBC2. It fried my brain completely and I fell in love the Mahavishnu immediately.
Same happened to me with Visions of The Emerald Beyond, was around 15 when it came out, never been the same since lol
The BBC showed a lot of great concerts on a series called "Sight and Sound".. They also had a weekly Radio One hour long concert on a Saturday at about 6.30, a series which ran for a long time. Yes it was a bit mind blowing to see the Mahavishnu Orchestra on the telly at tea time on a Saturday night!
I turned 16 in 1972 as well! I listened to prog and was just learning about fusion.
This band literally changed my life. I became a violinist and went to music school because of Jerry Goodman.
Wasn't he a University of Miami guy, along with Bruce Hornsby, John Molo, T Lavitz and Steve Morse?
@@rik061154 Could be, I don’t know.
They make me wanna pick up every instrument in the band. My fingers aren't nimble enough for keyboard, unfortunately.
he was in the band The Flock. lots of soloing there too, but less interesting
Yes, I’m 62 and this band, this music, changed my life. I was 13, a passionate drummer, and a new world was opened up to me.☮️🙏🏽
I didn't know music could sound like this on my first hearing on an underground FM station after midnight. kind of a life changing experience.
Jan is pronounced “Yaan”. Jan Hammer was a key contributor to Jeff Beck’s second jazz rock album Wired.
I was just gonna post this.
Also did the theme to Miami Vice.
Jan Hammer is so much fun to listen to. 😎
Jan Hammer and Jerry Goodman did an album together as well.
"Like Children" in 1974. What I like about this period everybody was playing with everybody else. Great way to find other excellent artists.
@@eddyvideo I’m gonna check that out.
I saw this original band in 73, mind-blowing. An interesting anecdote. Ruth Underwood of Frank Zappa's band told of the time when they went to see Mahavishnu. After the show Ruth said she ran into Frank and that he was visibly shaken by the experience. After that Zappa started doing more fusion music. You've got to be doing something right to freak out Frank!
I saw them in '73 in Berkeley. Great show.
Actually, Mahavishnu Orchestra opened for Zappa at a number of shows. There is a 'Drummers of Frank Zappa' TH-cam out there where Ruth and Ralph Humphery talk about the experience. Bottom line, even though all of the musicians in Zappa's band were first rate, following MO scared the crap out of them. Especially trying to follow Billy Cobham.
I was lucky to see both Zappa and Mahavishnu on the same bill in Philadelphia, probably early '73. Probably the greatest concert I've attended. As much as I love FZ, NO ONE topped McLaughlin's band for those few years.
I saw them in September of that year in Phoenix. The set was similar to the one on Between Nothingness and Eternity which was recorded the month previous.
I saw Mahavishnu play a concert where they opened for Frank and the Mothers. Jean-Luc Ponty was with Zappa at the time- Cobo Hall in Detroit.
Carlos Santana was also a follower of the eastern mystic Sri Chinmoy. In fact he and John McLaughlin did an album together called, "Love Devotion Surrender."
Great album. I love their two different styles together.
Brilliant album. I’m a metal head, but I bought this album about 30 years ago and loved it. Santana was so chilled
Yup, got the original vinyl of that one, beautiful stuff.
AAaaaaaaaaaaaand, Mr. Cobham on the Drums!
I did know that. I know he hung out a bunch with Gabor Szabo and you can hear it in both their sounds. End of Black Magic Woman(Gypsy Queen) is a Gabor Szabo piece
Billy Cobham’s first solo album, Spectrum, is a fusion classic. The tracks, Quadrant 4 and Stratus are definitely worth checking out.
I still have my copy of Spectrum. The late great Tommy Bolin played guitar on that album.🎸🥁
Leland Sklar (the bassist on Stratus) has a video about it, here on youtube, that is excellent. th-cam.com/video/C1Z4ux1y1b8/w-d-xo.html There's also a video of Beck playing Stratus (with I think Tal Wilkenfeld on bass).
Love Cobham here, he is really playing off Goodman's solo the his own solo is so vocal.
Is Stratus the song Tommy Bolin plays on? Great album.
Tommy Bolin played guitar on every track except Spectrum and LeLis. John Tropea played guitar on those 2 tracks.😎🎸
I became fascinated over MO in 1975. It's never gone away. It's eternal music.
When Mahavishnu were on tour with Zappa, Frank realised he had some serious competition. Apparently, MO were off the scale loud, as well as seriously good.
At their loudest, they were indeed VERY loud (and I was seeing a lot of rock bands at that time). But then a moment later they'd be delicate and tender and you'd lean forward to hear them more clearly. Some bands are loud because they buy powerful amps -- some bands are just in complete control of their dynamics.
I was born in 90 so I never got to see them in their peak...but I've seen McLaughlin twice and I'm so grateful I got to see him. Just saw the Mahavishnu Orchestra Project, but not the same without the violin 😭
Yep,saw that tour and both bands were mind blowing. Jean Luc Ponty was on violin for Frank. Wish I could travel back to that night.
JOHN MCLAUGHLIN WAS A GENIUS .. SURROUNDED BY MUSICAL GENIUSES
Hey, we lost Beck, but let's enjoy hopefully, some more years of being able to speak of John McLaughlin in the present tense; we all have to go, but no need to hurry.
He still is playing at 81 years of age. Yorkshire lad from Doncaster. Must be something in the U.K. water we have produced a fair few brilliant guitarists: Beck, Clapton, MCCLAUGHLIN, GOVAN, Gilmour to name a few - plus Stephen Wilson, Gavin Harrison, Beatles, Floyd, BIG BIG TRAIN, Gabriel, Genesis, Yes …
Let us not forget Steve Hackett, Steve Howe, Jimmy Page..
@@ronjm945 absolutely an abundance of talent that it would take too long to list!
was? he is my friend,, hes still going strong :)
Fantastic! Mahavishnu changed my whole musical world when I discovered them in my late teens back in the 90s. Glad to see them covered on your excellent channel.
Definitely need to check out their "Visions of the Emerald Beyond". Amazing album!
Agree
The only record that could persuade this hardcore atheist there's a god.
Great album from the second incarnation of the band. Narada Michael Walden's drumming and Ralphe Armstrong's bass playing on that album is mind blowing. Sensational rhythm section.
INNER WORLDS, which followed, is also excellent and deserves more love.
I challenge any hard core rock or metal fan to top the first 30 seconds of Eternity Breath - that ripping guitar riff and Narada just busting down the door as he joins in - absolutely amazing
SO EXCITED! YKYK is one of my all time favorite pieces. I just saw Billy Cobham live in a small jazz club a couple months ago and he was fantastic.
Thanks to share this! May be you need to check the album Visions of the Emerald Beyond, it is quite a pinnacle of McLaughlin as a composer and the last of the Mahavishnu Orchestra with Jean-Luc Ponty in violin and a bunch of young (in that moment) musicians. Saludos desde Buenos Aires.
I totally agree.
I have followed McLaughlin and Cobham since they played together in Miles’ band. Miles suggested that they both form their own band. The Mahavishnu Orchestra was formed and the rest is history.
Btw, I consider Cobham the most creative and talented drummer ever. His background drumming is so perfect and tasteful. Thanks for sharing.
I believe that their second album was their best.
McLaughlin: great guitar player and composer. Iconic band of rock-jazz fusion.
A jazz fusion suggestion. Red Baron - Billy Cobham & George Duke Live. Absolute kickassery
I have been asking for Cobham for a long time....
@@alldayadventures5418 best drummer IMO
Wow! That was fabulous Doug! Please keep adding more jazz fusion to your channel!
You should do Shakti eventually. To me, that was the pinnacle of John McLaughlin's work by far.
Yes. Please.
Certainly his fastest
Love good seventies jazz fusion. First time I ever came across Mahavishnu was on the In Concert TV show. Was absolutely blown away and immediately searched out an album by them. What I found was an eight track of Birds of Fire and have been hooked ever since. With Jeff Beck passing away, I've been hearing of how he was inspired by Mahavishnu to delve in to fusion and so produced the awesome Blow by Blow and Wired albums, the second of those and a live album he collaborated with Jan Hammer (BTW, I always heard it is supposed to be pronounced Yon). Here's a request for you. When the first iteration of Mahavishnu broke up, Jerry Goodman and Jan Hammer put out an album together that gave those of us devastated by the breakup to get a little fix--Like Children. One of the cuts from that album, "Full Moon Boogie", appeared on the Beck/Hammer live album. Would love to see you do a comparison review of the song--both versions back to back.
Same here. That "In Concert" show changed my musical direction. Had never heard anything like it. I then got Birds of Fire on LP. I tell my jam friends that listening to Mahav is a master class in how to jam.
I love that you brought up that gem, "Like Children"; an amazing album and the only recording I know of to feature both the guitar playing of Jerry Goodman, the drumming of Jan Hammer, and of course their usual awesome playing of keys and violin! It's also the first time I think I have ever seen anyone bring up that unique piece of history!
It sounds like we probably have very similar tastes and possibly similar collections of records and CDs! Every individual, band, and recording you mentioned is one of my all time faves!
I bet you're a fan of Weather Report and Oregon, and Carnatic and Hindustani music as well, like McLaughlin and Shakti led me to checking out Debashish Bhattacharya. L.Shankar, and Mandolin Srinivas! It's endless once you start going down those awesome rabbit holes of creative genius with all those greats providing multiple generations of massive inspiration that lives on in young players like Matteo Mancuso and his band!
Apocalypse, the 3rd Mahavishnu Orchestra studio album, is a great listen, and was produced by the legend that was George Martin. He also produced Jeff Beck's fusion albums Blow By Blow and Wired in the mid-70s. McLaughlin also made an album with sitarist Ravi Shankar called Shakti, which also became the name of the group, so his involvement in and absorption of Indian classical music that you detect in his Mahavishnu music was well under way. No idea about all the technical stuff, the beats and numbers and all that, but I've been listening to this music for half a century, and I just go with the groove, the soundscapes, textures and shapes of it all. What key it's in is useful for identifying titles of classical music pieces, Mozart's G minor symphony, Schubert's E flat trio, whichever of Bach's Preludes and Fugues, but in the act of just listening, it's just the groove and the aural world it envelops me in.
John did not make any album with Ravi Shankar. L. Shankar, no relation to Ravi, did play some mind blowing violin with the original Shakti.
Not wired
'Meeting of the Spirits' is in the key of M.
...and was NOT a member of Shakti.
Jazz Fusion ROCKS!
They mopped the floor with almost any band in existence back in those day.
There’s a story that they got put on a brief little tour opening for the Eagles at about the time that the Eagles were starting to really hit. After the first show Don Henley and Glenn Fry had a talk with John and said from now on we open and you guys close. 😮
Wow! Thanks for doing this review - I'd encourage you to try out Vision's of the Emerald Beyond too (Lilas Dance is a favorite). And if you get bored of that try Shakti (Le Danse du Bonheur)
I love Billy Cobham. He’s a beast!
Mahavishnu was just loaded with virtuoso musicians....
Billy is an absolute monster……blown away
This is some of my favorite music, ever -- wonderful to see you doing a video on this, Doug!
I saw this line-up on their second gig of the 1972 UK tour at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. Possibly the best gig I've ever been to. I remember about 2 minutes into the gig John McLaughlin's amp blew. Cue roadies scurrying around and the 4 remaining members going into an improvised jam for 4 or 5 minutes while they changed the amp! Still sounded good!
R.I.P., Rick Laird (2021).
Genius,groundbreaking musicians
I love the music on this video, but also the editing and stage lights! Is an unique document , I probably seen it a hundred times ❣️
Sounds of my chilhood. Your enthusiasm for what you hear and break down made my day! Keep on....
Everything you said echoed my own thoughts, or was a great revelation; fantastic video!
Wonderful musicianship on these tracks.
Between Nothingness & Eternity is one of my favourite Mahavishnu albums thanks for this reaction Doug 😀
What's cool is Jan Hammer acquired a Moog after the album was released, so his solos have the Moog but it's not on the Inner Mounting album. Also I think Jan is pronounced "Yan". I remember when I first got into them, or sort of. I was intoxicated when I first heard this bootleg album and although I didn't remember the name of the band, my brother handed me the 8-Track of Birds of Fire. I asked what that was, and he said "That's the band you were digging last night- remember?" So I played it and was blown away and didn't know what it was. But I knew who Jan Hammer was from the Jeff Beck association.
Spectum by Billy Cobham is one of the best Albums ever made. It has Jan Hammer, Rick Laird, and the late Tommy Bolin on guitar as well as horns, and acoustic Jazz. Spectrum is what got me into all the other kinds of Jazz, although I did like Louis Armstrong before that.
For me it was Weather Report live album 8;30
I had the privilege to see this band when they toured Europe in the early seventies. They were E P I C!
Narada Michael Walden's first album is EPIC. Mahavishu Orchestra first got me interested in Walden. Walden also followed this guru too. Don't let the album cover scare you away. How many first albums have both Jeff Beck and Santana as guests on two songs?
Bravo ! Loved the all exercise.
Amazing, so insightful! I found your video from watching Mahavishnu videos lol thank you for the video! Subscribed!
thanks for this. really enjoyed it being a massive fan of Mahavishnu...
This music brings back so many memories...sitting on the concert lawn in Western Mass, while McClaughlin created lightning, and Cobham added crashes and rolls of thunder, and Goodman and Hammer were the rain. Rick Laird doesn't get enough credit, haha! It wasn't so much meditative as immersive. At the end of their concerts, you were wrung out and happy.
Awesome analysis. Bravo!
So deceptive is that pushed lick ..Fantastic take on this !! Thank you !!
Great band/tracks/performance and analysis - thanks, Doug!
Such amazing music. Thank you Doug!
Thank you for a great reaction. Phil Collins was in a Jazz Fusion band called Brand X. I recommend the track Malaga Virgen off their Moroccan Roll album. Features the great Percy Jones on fretless bass.
How about Nuclear Burn from Unorthodox Behaviour?
🤔 must check that out!👍
For having not heard before a lot of what you've been reviewing over the months, you have gotten quite good at throwing around adept comparisons to other pieces / groups 😃
Awesome! Reminds me of Jean Luc Ponty and Weather Report. Editing his analog sound during the piece. Very cool.
"Birds of Fire" was my introduction to MO as well as jazz fusion.
WOW.... this is an amazing live performance!
This is such an amazing performance
Love these live Mahavishnu sessions. Pure music, not encumbered by one genre, two, three, four. There’s a great recording of the “Apocalypse” material out there too.
Amazing group unbelievable, thanks Doug
Jan Hammer is the dude that partly revolutionized synth soloing by Adding that "guitaristic" pitch Bending to his sound. And he had a rhythmic approach to his soloing which I haven't heard been surpassed to this day, his pitch bend technique is also really difficult to emulate. A more conscious and "connected" synth player then a lot of the synth shredders of today. Jan, Chick, Duke, Zavod, Hancock, Emerson. All great players, but Jan was the Moog soloist!
Exactly. Jan had "lead" synthesizer sorted out better than anybody (George Duke and Chick Corea were close) and doubled down by going remote (Roger-Powell-designed-and-built "Probe" controller running an Oberheim 4-voice). He could and did go toe-to-toe with guitarists like Beck, Di Meola, and Schon. I remember a long time ago seeing an interview with Beck where he's talking - almost in an annoyed-seeming way - that Hammer was so *musical* that if he "fell on his arse" on a piano some magnificent chord would come out.
On a commercial note, Jan wrote and recorded the theme to "Miami Vice"
I saw this band 3 times and each time was monumental. And I will say, I have seen many great drummers- Tony Williams, Neal Peart, Christian Vander, Carl Palmer, but I have never seen a drummer more powerful than Billy Cobham, who I would watch simply slack-jawed in awe.
hey i love your analysis especially the buances of the upbeats and fownveats accents on terms of rhythmic displacement
I saw them perform Inner Mounting Flame & Birds of Fire a couple of times. Fondest memories of this HUGE band!
Thank you so much for this Mr. Helvering.
The comment about Rick Laird looking like the table next to him got their food first made me laugh outloud
Laird is underapreciated. He said in an interview when the band self-destructed he could not get any sort of work thereafter. ...The underappreciated bassist...
Love your sense of humor.
Passport, Jean-Luc Ponty and the Jeff Beck fusion albums would all be awesome to hear your thoughts on. Thanks Doug!!
I very much love John and his work with Shakti,I was lucky enough to have seen John 4X,and my friends and I were always blown away
I had only heard the studio recording until now and this live version is just infinitely preferable in every way. Melodic and rhythmic structures are clear and under-embellished. I saw this lineup of the band 2 times in 1972-3 and have to confess my mind was not quite up to the task. I was impressed by the burning, what I later felt was the least important aspect of the music. Thanks so much for this bit of pure gold, Doug.
Thanks for this Doug!
These guys were trailblazers for sure.
Thank you for the counting!
Great commentary thanks.
This band just fried everyone's brain back in 1972. Everybody went crazy on Fusion after that. Even King Crimson, Gong and everyone shifted their styles after hearing them. What a band! Both incarnations.
Great stuff...changed my whole attitude as a drummer....
I have a book of scores for the first two Mahavishnu Orchestra albums. I bought it as a teenager when I was first starting to learn guitar. Now, after 40 years of playing guitar, this music is still beyond my ability.
so nice to know or see something else who can see the pure greatness of mahavisnu orchestra who i have listened to since i think i was 18 in 1978 i still air guitar with perfection to him
Fantastic set of musicians. All of them.
Ich bin jetzt 76 Jahre. Diese Musik von J.Mc.L höre ich von Anfang an bis heute. Sie hat den Wert von klassischer Musik, die mich immer wieder begeistert und mich wirklich verjüngt, auch optisch.
I fell in love for the Mahavishnu Orchestra by accident. Found a copy of the Inner Mounting Flame with no case 20yrs ago. It blew my mind with the virtuoso musicianship of the whole band. Still a favourite album of mine.
These musicians shared a very special relationship. To me their music is a religious experience, and I'm pretty sure a lot of other people feel the same way...
When I was about 16, there were 2 guitar players that really floored me among so many other great guitarists: John McLaughlin and Jeff Beck. I'm not a guitar player, but these guys really fascinated me. McLaughlin plays with so much soul and feeling, and I've been a huge fan ever since. I got to see him with the trio a few times in the early 90s and it was such a great show. I'd love to see some more Mahavishnu reactions, especially Visions Of The Emerald Beyond, which is probably my favorite by them. Thanks as always, Doug.
I Saw Billy Cobham in Madrid with a Salsa band. I was amazed by his drumming.
I saw this very concert in Montreux in 1972 and this was the opening song which blew our heads off. The basic arpegio just flows and with the complex beats of the drummer gives an extraordinary effect. I immediately signed up for guitar lessons with a teacher who loved Mclaughlin … many years ago !
Oh great to see you react to mahavishnu orchestra
John McLaughlin still plays You Know, You Know. At 81, he is still truly amazing.
I saw them at the Gaslight Cafe for that 1st NY appearance in '72 before the album came out and many times after that. I am a guitarist and knew their music in and out. STILL, it took me years until I finally got the deceptive timing of You Know You Know. Nice review.
Awesome. More fusion jazz please. I would love to see you cover something from Alain Caron or his original band UZEB.
The fact that the the theme of You Know You Know begins and ends on an upbeat takes it away from the four-square and makes it ethereal - even though it is still 4/4.
I wish I could have double thumbs up this one. Spot on.
Yes. About time.
You Know you know is a song of theirs I've always loved because it is a meditation. So simple that even I can play that riff (not many others of Johns), and playing it over and over is so meditative.
Yes! Thank you! Keep the jazz fusion music coming!
Nice one Doug, I watched this on TV when it was first shown. This and Focus in the same year man! You don't seem to see many musicians of this calibre any more. Just a suggestion Doug, Allan Holdsworth, Devil Take The Hindmost (or anything really), all the best.
C'est incroyable d'imaginer tous ces monstres de la musique ensemble dans un studio: John Mc Laughlin, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman, Billy Cobham et Rick Laird, hallucinant !!!! Merci Doug !!!
These guys were and still are huge influences on me.
I think it's so cool that Jan Hammer would later go on to score Miami Vice, effectively giving the 1980s a soundtrack.
Check Jeff Beck's version of You Know You Know. He and McLaughlin toured together in 1975. Mahavishnu influenced him and so many bands in the 1970s.
Next level stuff.
I've been waiting for Doug to do some Mahavishnu and some Return to Forever (especially the Hymn of the Seventh Galaxy album).
I first heard "The.Inner Mounting Flame" in the Summer of ,'72. I had been camping for about 2 weeks, in the Catskill Creek in Upstate NY. My friend Sally stopped by with this on cassette, and I can still remember it echoing off the 70ft cliffs across the creek. A Magical Time. She also had the new Deep Purple 'Machine Head "album!
I saw the Mahavishnu Orchestra at the Capitol Theater in Passaic NJ.🎼🎸🎻🥁
If I may be so bold, You reacted to the wrong MVO. I was lucky enough to see them in 75 supporting the "Visions of the Emerald Beyond" album. The warm-up act was Jeff Beck supporting "Blow by Blow." To this day, the best concert I've ever heard. I would love to hear your reaction to "Eternity's Beath, " both parts, and/or "Lila's Dance"--which has a really neat time signature--and puts every other "power trio" to shame. you'll enjoy it.
I saw them at Winterand, SF billed behind Emerson, Lake Palmer. Breathtaking! half the crowd came for MO & many of us left after ELP's first number. Not even in the same ballpark.
Great reaction sir! At some point you should check out their album Apocalypse. It's stunning! Apocalypse is the Mahavishnu Orchestra's fourth album and third studio album, released in 1974. It is performed by the second line-up of the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas. It was produced by George Martin, who regarded it as "one of the best records [he had] ever made". The song Hymn to Him is the radiant jewel of this masterpiece.
The Lost Trident Sessions with the first line-up would have been the 3rd srudio album. The compositions by McLaughlin on it are very much worth hearing; the others' contributions not so much IMO.
Cool that you’re doing this one, Doug. Different outfit but just peaking- “Visions of the Emerald Beyond” and “Apocalypse”. Narada Michael Walden (drums) and Jean Luc Ponty (violin). Can’t say I like them better than Billy and Jerry, but the performances are equally stunning.