Lots of great recommendations here! While not same-for-same as Mahavishnu but generally jazz-fusion, look into Snarky Puppy! If you are attracted to the musical fusion of different styles and cultures and stellar musicianship, please find them on YouTube and go from there...hold on to your seat! Enjoy! |
The extended soloing Cream and Mahavishnu featured that some posters above have decried comes from John Coltrane’s "sheets of sound" style of lengthy soloing that explored the tune being played to the point where you could hardly find any connection to the original melody at all. Yet, many times, the playing did manage to come back to the song itself, but there have been occasions where, particularly under the guise of "free jazz," it sounded like there was more self indulgent noise than actual music being played. Ymmv. Studio recordings of the Mahavishnu Orchestra were obviously structured with shorter pieces and no long solos. The Inner Mounting Flame, Birds Of Fire and Lost Trident Sessions are the 3 played by the original group, with Apocalypse and Visions of the Emerald Beyond by the second one, featuring Jean-Luc Ponty in place of Jerry Goodman. The original ensemble also released a live album, Between Nothingness and Eternity, with a second disc of it being released by Columbia as part of a 2011 Mahavishnu Complete Columbia Albums Collection. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahavishnu_Orchestra:_The_Complete_Columbia_Albums_Collection If you've not heard all of these, you should, although Apocalypse is by far the weakest of the bunch. Advice for similar sounding music would lead to hearing the post MO recorded output of Messrs Goodman, Cobham and Hammer as well as to The Dregs (once known as the Dixie Dregs), whom Goodman played with as well. There are many musicians out there with the skills the band had back in the day, but few have the emotion and fire-Al Dimeola being a prime example. |
Nice post, ethiessen1. I think it should be added that the second group, with Ponty, had none of the original members except John. With mostly different material and sometimes with strings and horns in tow, it was an entirely different animal IMO. Great stuff, but for the most part nothing like the first group. Inna, Mclaughlin's pre-Mahavishnu acoustic release "My Goal's Beyond" is a milestone in realm of modern guitar recordings. It changed the direction of jazz guitar as much as the original Mahavishnu Orch. set the stage for all the fusion bands, good and bad, that followed. |
Coltrane's influence is clear. John himself said that the two biggest influences for him were Miles Davis and John Coltrane, he also liked Charles Mingus. I am familiar with all McLaughlin's official releases of that time and couple of bootlegs. In my perception di Meola has more elegance than fire. McLaughlin has both, Paco de Lucia mostly fire but he was a flamenco guitarist. Some of McLaughlin/de Lucia concerts in the 80s were simply spectacular, di Meola was not needed. I only listen to Inner Mounting Flame and Visions on a regular basis, along with Miles's Bitches Brew where McLaughlin played quite well already. All other Mahavishnu releases are much weaker, though the composition " Sanctuary" from Birds of Fire album is great and "John's Song" from Trident Sessions is pretty good. " Inner Worlds I&II" from Inner Worlds okay, "Birds of Fire" from Birds of Fire okay too. |
This is from his second Shakti group. That mandolin bothers me a little, but John is great. Sound quality is not good. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVdgNXXbm_k |
