John McLaughlin, Mahavishnu Orchestra - Mahavishnu

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Music reviews of Mahavishnu

Music Review: an uneven album ( highly influenced by Weather Report )
Rating: 3 Stars

"MAHAVISHNU" has a mysterious history. First there was the album title, starkly evoking the name of the famed "fusion" band from the 1970's. Then there was the somewhat bizarre original album cover, with its prominent display of the title taking 50% of available surface area and featuring an unidentified photo of McLaughlin in the center. Drummer Billy Cobham ( McLaughlin's bandmate in the original Mahavishnu Orchestra ) was on hand for the recording sessions that produced the album but not for the subsequent tour in Fall 1984 ( when Danny Gottlieb took over the spot ). Finally, this recent re-release by the Wounded Bird label is the first time "MAHAVISHNU" has appeared in CD format, an absence of almost 20 years that has puzzled many of John McLaughlin's longtime admirers.

As if to further emphasize the unique aspects of this recording, McLaughlin moved away from the acoustic nylon-string guitar he had been using almost exclusively for the previous four years and started experimenting with a guitar-synthesizer ( "Synclavier II" ). This guitar was, at the time, state of the art technology and while a "standard" solid-body electric was used on a few tunes, the majority of the time McLaughlin employed the "Synclavier". As might be expected, some of his synthesized sounds ( "patches" ) are more intriguing than others and at times the combination of McLaughlin's guitar-synth with Mitchell Forman's keyboards seems to muddy the ( electric ) waters. However, those familiar with McLaughlin's playing should have no trouble distinguishing his improvisations, as his choice of scales, intervallic patterns and rhythmic ideas are characteristic of his well-developed, "horizontal" playing style. It is quite fascinating to hear McLaughlin's playing on this particular album, as the guitar-synthesizer allows him even more liberty to phrase in the linear fashion so redolent of the horn players ( Coltrane, Miles ) that influenced him.

Billy Cobham's contribution is absolutely crucial, his tightly controlled and explosive drumming providing a powerful backdrop for the compositions played by a band that features ( in addition to Cobham ) McLaughlin, Bill Evans ( saxophones ), Mitchell Forman ( keyboards ) and Jonas Hellborg ( electric bass ).

"Radio-Activity", beginning with a rock-solid electronic vamp, features a soft yet piercingly menacing upper register line, giving way in turn to a burning, modally constructed solo by McLaughlin ( a la "Birds of Fire" ) and a darting, filigree improv by Bill Evans on soprano sax.

The aptly named "Nostalgia" opens with a beautiful raga-like call and response ( played over a pedal point "drone" ) by Evans and McLaughlin, who uses a reedy synth "patch" that perfectly catches the mood evoked in the title of this haunting composition.

"Nightriders" is a forgettable pop tune with a particularly unappealing keyboard obbligato.

"East Side West Side", an up-tempo tune with quasi-bop changes, features an exciting series of trade-off exchanges with Bill Evans ( the latter very much influenced by Michael Brecker ).

"Clarendon Hills", written by Bill Evans, is the weakest tune on the album, cloying and alarmingly close to a style that has been termed "fuzak".

"Jazz" is a hip, coruscating piece, a kind of homage to Wayne Shorter and Joe Zawinul as is "The Unbeliever", yet another tune reminiscent of Weather Report.

"Pacific Express" has a breezy, lyrical melody that somewhat redeems the noodling sections that bookend the piece.

The last tune, "When Blues Turns Gold", is a strange beauty. The band used in the 8 prior tunes is absent, in its place a one-time gathering where Katia Labeque's opening cadenza on classical piano morphs into a haunting blend of Hariprasad Chaurasia's flute, Zakir Hussain's tabla and McLaughlin's strummed acoustic steel-string guitar ( a la "Shakti" ), with the subtle backdrop of a chanted mantra appended to the closing moments. The effect, drawing on the analogy used at the beginning of the review, seems to indicate that "night" has ended its course and broken through yet again to the burnished beginning glory of yet another new "day".

After listening anew to "MAHAVISHNU", it is apparent that only McLaughlin and Cobham really operate at the same level. The group ( not surprisingly ) lacks the cohesiveness so characteristic of Weather Report and the ( original ) Mahavishnu Orchestra: a degree of communication that is very rare indeed and constitutes the gold standard of "fusion" groups. One more ( uneven ) album with the same band ( minus Cobham ) was cut in 1985.Years down the line ( 1997-98 ), McLaughlin would be far more successful with a similarly constructed "fusion" band ( "The Heart of Things" ) which, for the short time it was together, displayed the type of interplay and dynamism lacking in the group active in the mid 1980's.

Description of Mahavishnu

Jazz CDs

• Music > Styles
• Pop
• Rock