Original Mahavishnu Orchestra

[DJ Bebop]

I saw this tour.

 

[Jeff Scott]

I've only seen George once, with Zappa in 1972 (yeah, JLP was there, too).

 

[bherman]

Around 1975 or so I was in a band that played straight-ahead jazz as well as covered Mahavishnu Orch stuff; I pretty much played Rick's parts and was definitely the anchor in the band. If I was wanking around like the keys, double-neck guitar, and drummer, we would have been lost. As it was, it worked pretty well. Tough stuff to pull off, though. Had a great drummer that was a Billy Cobham fanatic.

 

[red_rhino]

I saw Mahavishnu Orchestra open for ELP at Winterland in SF (1972, i think?) I saw the violin player and crewcut guitar player walk out and thought, "Oh great, country music." They literally stunned the audience. I've never seen a crowd of people collectively look around and wonder "What was that?"

Rumor was that ELP kicked them off the tour a few weeks later, tired of being upstaged.

If the original Mahavishnu Orchestra had a bassist who was any less bedrock than Rick Laird they would've floated away in a miasma of cacophony. Somebody had to hold the thing together.

Yeah, I have to agree. He was the right player for that iteration of the band. Not sure there was room for much else.

 

[Davbassdude]

I saw Ralphe Armstrong with Jean Luc Ponty in the late '70s. That was a good matchup.

I saw them at the Palladium in New York in about 1979. I immediately went home and started playing some of his runs and was very happy with what I stole (I love Ralphe)!

 

[Ric5]

Ok, who’s with me? Wouldn’t the Mahavishnu Orchestra have been much better with a more progressive bass player? Ralphe Armstrong was awesome but I love to imagine him on the first 3 albums.

I saw them in the 70s … original lineup … people did not go to see the bass player … they went to see the virtuoso guitarist

The band was very good and the bass player got the job done. I don't remember what bass he played, but he did have an impressive Sunn amp stack, Bottom cab 1x18, top cab 4x12, and a Sunn Head

 

[REV]

I would think at that point McLaughlin could have gotten just about anybody he wanted. He used Rick Laird for a reason. With the second Mahavishnu Orchestra he had Gale Moran on keyboards so things opened up a bit and he could use someone like Armstrong. I also understand that Michael Walden and Armstrong had some history together.

 

[pbass2]

Loved Laird's playing with them. His classic "Fender Bass" tone, the works--thought he was awesome. He really grounded everything and made it feel deep, and made some of that music swing - no small feat!

 

[pfschim]

yeah, I'm with the "Rick was just right" crowd on this one.
I'm a huge Mahavishnu fan from the first recordings and I agree that an added busy player on the low end would have just made sonic mush out of many of those tunes.

At the same time, as John M moved away from the power quintet of the original Orchestra of Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire (and The Lost Trident Sessions), and into Apocalypse and Visions Of The Emerald Beyond .. the busier rhythm section worked great.

FWIW, On The Way Home To Earth is still a tune that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck.
and I have told my wife (and have written into my will) that when I finally shuffle off the mortal coil, that I want Thousand Island Park and Hope played at whatever memorial might be held to mark my passing. Such great music.

I was in a band in highschool (early 70's). We played the usual mix of early 70's rock and pop stuff, but we also used to play Resolution at parties and such and people actually danced (!) or tried to ... guess that says something about the times, but I'm not sure exactly what.

 

[InhumanResource]

Ok, who’s with me? Wouldn’t the Mahavishnu Orchestra have been much better with a more progressive bass player? Ralphe Armstrong was awesome but I love to imagine him on the first 3 albums.

Only if the replacement was helping out with composition.

 

[jerry]

When I first saw them around '72 they gave a sonic facelift to the audience, it definitely was a 'be afraid, be very afraid' moment for whoever the headliners were.

 

[StereoPlayer]

Thanks OP for the insightful topic. He’s never been back to this thread.

All of these guys are my early influences.

 

[Jeff Scott]

Thanks OP for the insightful topic. He’s never been back to this thread.

You noticed that, too!

 

[DJ Bebop]

Rick Laird - Wikipedia
Rick Laird Interview

 

[DJ Bebop]

Only if the replacement was helping out with composition.

Trouble is, about that...

The quintet released two landmark albums, "The Inner Mounting Flame" and the gold-selling "Birds Of Fire" [both available on Sony Legacy] as well as the live "Between Nothingness and Eternity", but its offstage chemistry quickly grew as tempestuous as the music. "We were five testosterone-filled, immature young men suddenly thrust into the spotlight by a shrewd manager," Laird explains. "We were neither given nor did we take the time to rehearse or develop the music. As a result we ended up destroying the band by our own hand without reaching our full potential."

Another problem came to light with the discovery of the master tapes of Mahavishnu's unreleased third studio album, which Sony Legacy has just issued as "The Lost Trident Sessions". "We had finally convinced John to let the rest of us write -- but he wasn't too happy about it." While everyone except Cobham contributed to the disc (which includes Laird's 'Steppings Tones'), McLaughlin's domineering, Stravinsky-meets-Indian-music vision is firmly in place. The unit broke up in '73, soon after the Trident sessions. "Overall, Mahavishnu was a very valuable learning experience, musically and personally," Rick stresses. "I'm proud of our albums."

Rick Laird Interview

 

[Passinwind]

When I first saw them around '72 they gave a sonic facelift to the audience, it definitely was a 'be afraid, be very afraid' moment for whoever the headliners were.

Yep, Buddy Cage from the NRPS had a great story about that. At the first MO show I attended they opened for T-Rex, and were actually third on the bill.

 

[Passinwind]

I saw this tour.

Me too. Scofield went to high school with some friends of mine and was already a local legend before he even started touring.

 

[CryingBass]

Seen Billy in Chicago a couple of times in the last few years. For a guy that's older than me, he still kills it.

Must be that military trainin'

And Billy has penned a few good tunes of his own over the years, IMHO. He is NOT bad on keyboards!

 

[CryingBass]

Happy New Years guys.

 

[Sid Fang]

Second Mahavishnu gig I saw, they opened for Zappa and the Mothers....on Mothers Day, 1973. Not the right crowd for McLaughlin to ask for moment of silent meditation before they started. My main memory of the performance itself was that Jan Hammer did a solo that was so intense that I thought he was having a psychotic episode.

And of course, Zappa had to play "Cosmik Debris"...