CAUGHT IN THE ACT
THE MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA
By Jagajivan
(Reprinted from Down Beat magazine: June 8, 1972)
Winterland, San Francisco
Personnel: Mahavishnu (John McLaughlin), electric guitar; Jerry Goodman,
amplified violin; Jan Hammer, electric piano; Rick Laird, electric bass;
Billy Cobham, drums.
Even upon first meeting, players in this echelon are capable of uncanny
rapport. Last August, at Greenwich Village's Gaslight, the Mahavishnu
Orchestra, together only three weeks, so mesmerized audiences that it
immediately was held over. It is only a testament to its mammoth
musicianship that in the spring of this year the band did not sound
drastically improved, although surely it honed the fine points of shading
and interplay. Their first album,The inner Mounting Flame (Columbia),
captures the group's genius even though it went down on tape just after the
stay at the Gaslight. And primed by the frequent airing of the record and
by word-of-mouth reports from back east, the people of the Bay Area were
warmly receptive. Mahavishnu commented: "These people are beautiful; they
met us right in the center."
The Orchestra appeared after the newly resurrected Blues Project and
before Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It felt as though the people were at least
as enthusiastic about the Mahavishnu band as about EL&P, the main
attraction. Hendrixian histronics (the EL&P organist kept rocking his
instrument back and forth, then went behind it, let it topple, and
continued playing while pinned under it) seem to have lost their savor.
Although EL&P had some "heavy" moments, one sensed that the center of
gravity lay in the Mahavishnu Orchestra - to be exact, at Billy Cobham's
drum throne. There was no other applause on either evening like that which
went out to Cobham, who played with overwhelming passion and power. No
doubt he and the others cleared up for many people the distinction between
talent and true gift.
Mahavishnu opened: "We would like to dedicate our music to the Supreme
Lord, the Supreme Musician," and what followed was straight-on playing.
The qualities were starkly apparent: these men are virtuosos, and they are
true artists. Whereas so many groups, even if competent, betray a
commercial perspective, the Mahavishnu Orchestra conveys the feeling that
they have transcended "practical" mundane considerations.
Thus their music was instantly attractive to an audience aware of the
"real thing" through exposure to such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane, and
when they played, there was awe in the air at Winterland. On the second of
the band's two nights, impressario Bill Graham introduced them with these
words: "Once in a while we're able to present really great musicians. And
tonight we have five great, great, great musicians - the Mahavishnu
Orchestra."
If memory serves, on both nights the Orchestra began their set with
Meeting of the Spirits. The piece seemed to be in 12/8, and within each
solo there was a build from eerie-peaceful arpeggiated guitar work to a
chugging violin pattern to wailing upper-register guitar. In this manner,
the intensity went full-circle within each solo, all the way back to the
eerie-peacefulness, and the people showed vigorous appreciation of this
dramatic touch. Meeting of the Spirits embodied some of the group's most
attractive features. The sound coming from the interplay of guitar, violin,
and electric piano varied from broiling to lilting. (One might have wished
that the Orchestra had spotlighted the latter quality more by doing a piece
calling for acoustic guitar, as A Lotus on Irish Streams on their record.)
Mahavishnu, Goodman, and Hammer all soloed with articulate musical and
emotional direction and with ingenious use of electrical sound-benders. In
particular, Hammer often made his piano lines ring and buzz and break up as
though the axe had gone blissfully berserk. Throughout, bassist Laird was
rock-solid - a firm foundation never to be taken for granted. (On one later
piece he soloed, refreshingly free of the usual
"oh-my-God-look-how-fast-he-plays-the-bass!" approach, with simplicity
and impact.)
Whether supporting or soloing, drummer Cobham was spellbinding in his
fleetness, imagination, and sheer energy.
The repertoire for the two evenings consisted of the aforementioned
Meeting, Vital Transformation, Dawn (a melancholy theme alternating with a
shuffle - all in seven), Awakening, You Know You Know, The Noonward Race,
and an as yet unrecorded piece. The writing, all by Mahavishnu, sounded
direct and clear and evoked a breadth of feeling. The odd meters of most of
the pieces sometimes conjured a sensation of floating, or - as in the
shuffle-seven part ofDawn - of everything being fly-reeled back each time
a new bar began.
(At the same time, it would be a pleasure to hear them really lay into
some walking four-four once in a while. Mahavishnu has played with Tony
Williams and with Miles Davis, Hammer has played with Elvin Jones, and
Cobham has played with Davis and Horace Silver. The band can swing if they
wanted to.)
On both nights, there were several standing ovations after individual
pieces, and, also on both nights - with stamping and clapping and whistling
and cries of
"MORE!" - the people demanded and got an encore. Mahavishnu told them,
"How can we refuse?" After the final note they lavished applause as
Mahavishnu introduced the band members, with an extra burst for Cobham.
How beautiful that at last music of this quality is being heard and taken
to heart - not just by the few but by the many.
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