The Mahavishnu Orchestra was a jazz-rock fusion group led by John McLaughlin, active during 1971–76 and again in 1984–87 after major line-up changes.
The band's original lineup featured "Mahavishnu" John McLaughlin on acoustic and electric guitars, with members Billy Cobham on drums, Rick Laird on bass guitar (although Tony Levin was the first person McLaughlin called to join the band), Jan Hammer on electric and acoustic piano and synthesizer, and Jerry Goodman on violin. This first incarnation of the ensemble was a multinational group: McLaughlin is from Yorkshire, England; Cobham from Panama; Hammer from Prague, Czechoslovakia; Goodman from Chicago, Illinois; and Laird from Dublin, Ireland. This group was considered an important pioneer in the jazz fusion movement. McLaughlin and Cobham met while performing and recording with Miles Davis during the Bitches Brew sessions. McLaughlin was also influenced in his conception of the band by his studies with Indian guru Sri Chinmoy, who encouraged him to take the name "Mahavishnu" which means "Divine compassion, power and justice." or simply "Great Vishnu", an aspect of Vishnu.
McLaughlin had particular ideas for the instrumentation of the group, in keeping with his highly original concept of genre-blending in composition. He particularly wanted a violinist as an integral contributor to its overall sound. As the group evolved, McLaughlin adopted what became his visual trademark — a double neck guitar (six-string and twelve-string) which allowed for a great degree of diversity in musical textures—and Hammer became one of the first to play a Minimoog synthesizer in an ensemble, which enabled him to add more sounds and solo more freely, alongside the guitar and the violin.
Their musical style was an original blend of genres: they combined the high-volume electrified rock sound that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix (whom McLaughlin had jammed with on his initial arrival in New York as part of the Tony Williams Lifetime), complex rhythms in unusual time signatures that reflected McLaughlin's interest in Indian classical music as well as funk, and harmonic influence from European classical music. The group's early music, represented on such albums as The Inner Mounting Flame (1971) and Birds of Fire (1973), was entirely instrumental; their later albums had songs which sometimes featured R&B or even gospel/hymn-styled vocals. In the aforementioned two albums, the group goes from an energetic fusion of upbeat genres (a representative example of which is the song "Vital Transformation") to very serene, chamber music-like tunes, such as "A Lotus On Irish Streams," a composition for acoustic guitar, piano and violin, and "Thousand Island Park," which drops the violin and incorporates double bass; or from low-key to extremely busy in a single piece, such as "Open Country Joy." (From wikipedia)
Mahavishnu Orchestra
Le Grand Theatre De Quebec
Quebec City, QC, Canada
January 24, 1973
2CD]
Format: FLAC
SBD recording A-
Lineage: SBD > ? > CDR(x) > EAC > WAV > FLAC
Musicians:
John McLaughlin - Lead Guitar
Rick Laird - Bass Guitar
Jerry Goodman - Violin
Jan Hammer - Keyboards
Billy Cobham - Drums
Setlist:
Disc 1
101 Meeting Of The Spirits (13:14)
102 You Know You Know (9:59)
103 Vital Transformation (9:52)
104 The Dance Of Maya (17:50)
Disc 2
201 A Lotus On Irish Streams (8:49)
202 One Word (17:47)
203 Resolution (3:26)
204 Hope (1:32)
205 Awakening (6:22)
TT - 88:54
Enjoy!!!
Support the artists!
Download links in comments
