One of the premiere fusion groups, the Mahavishnu Orchestra was considered by most observers during its prime to be a rock band, but its sophisticated improvisations actually put its high-powered music between rock and jazz. Founder and leader John McLaughlin had recently played with Miles Davis and Tony Williams' Lifetime. The original lineup of the group was McLaughlin on electric guitar, violinist Jerry Goodman, keyboardist Jan Hammer, electric bassist Rick Laird, and drummer Billy Cobham. They recorded three intense albums for Columbia during 1971-1973 and then the personnel changed completely for the second version of the group. In 1974, the band consisted of violinist Jean-Luc Ponty, Gayle Moran on keyboards and vocals, electric bassist Ralphe Armstrong, and drummer Michael Warden; by 1975 Stu Goldberg had replaced Moran and Ponty had left. John McLaughlin's dual interests in Eastern religion and playing acoustic guitar resulted in the band breaking up in 1975. Surprisingly, an attempt to revive the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1984 (using Cobham, saxophonist Bill Evans, keyboardist Mitchell Forman, electric bassist Jonas Hellborg, and percussionist Danny Gottlieb) was unsuccessful; one Warner Bros. album resulted. However, when one thinks of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, it is of the original lineup, which was very influential throughout the 1970s.
We are very excited about playing at such an awesome jazz club. We have some great sets lined up for you, so don't miss it. Friday and Saturday November 20th and 21st, 5:00-8:30p at Andy's Jazz Club in Chicago
Aaron Koppel -Guitar, Matt Nelson; (Lupe Fiasco, Matthew Santos) -Keyboard, Graham Czach; (Chicago Afrobeat Project) -bass, Robert Tucker (Matthew Santos) -drums
Imagine: You are an North-African immigrant to Spain or a South-American trying to get into US who has not much more than a few suitcases, his ability to work hard, willing to pay with slavery and to do dirty work - work that no inhabitant of the country you want to go to would even think of considering.
You already travelled a far way and left many good friends behind that you maybe never will see again.
You stumble out of the nearly falling apart bus or the smuggler boat, where you had to pay your income of a half year to that grim looking people with hearts of stone - just to take you aboard.
You are sighing gladly that you survived the travel and now take your first steps in your new home country.
And you are soon aware: You are disrespected, treated badly, your woman is seen as a kind of cheap prostitute, other people's children don't want to play with your children.
You are thinking of your former homecountry with feelings of sentimentality and you know there is no hope: you cannot go back...
Hello! This music is timeless and always inspirational. To see this band live was a life changing event for many of us! I've seen hundreds of shows. Only Mahavishnu lived up to the hype! They played your spinal cord like the dronal strings of a sitar. It was deep and cliche free. We need to revisit this music! Love and Peace, Jeffrey Normal
Thanks for the friendship! Welcome on Board on our trip to Planet Rock Buckle Up! We gonna party real hard Play real fast Duty Comes Last Deputy Mike P.D.
Americans had this hideous weakness, they had this desire to be OK, fun guys and gals, and they haven't come to terms with the reality of the situation: we were not created equal. Some people can do carpentry, some people can do mathematics, some people are brain surgeons and some people are winos and that's the way it is, and we're not all the same.
This concept of one world-ism, everything blended and smoothed out to this mediocre norm that everybody downgrades themselves to be is stupid. The '60s was merchandised to the public at large... My pet theory about the '60s is that there is a sinister plot behind it...
The lessons learnt in the '60s about merchandising stupidity to the American public on a large scale have been used over and over again since that time. -ZAPPA
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