I saw MO at Trinity College, Hartford in 1973 when I was 15. That show made an indelible impression and led me straight into electronic jazz and the broader jazz world. Within the year I was listening to Corea, Miles, Larry Young to name only a few. Seeing and hearing MO was transformative.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra also changed my life when I was 16. Just started reading your book recently and I'm enjoying it so much.

THE most interesting clip on YT! Thank you gentlemen!! 🙏🙏🙏🙏

Jan hammer is super important too because of the Early Di Meola records that are still popular, to the point right now Al is touring with that material (Elegant Gypsy, Casino, etc.), easily as big as MO and RTF. One thing is not mentioned in this interview (unless I missed it) was that John was called by Claude Nobs to fill in for an opening act that cancelled last minute….he was given a FENDER STRAT, and he played MO tunes with BILLY!! That was 2010 and there are clips of it on KZfaq. To me that is absolutely the MO reunion that people have wanted.

I saw them first at that Central Park concert and it was phenomenal. I prefer these renditions and arrangements much more than the later Studio release. I also saw the 2nd incarnation at Constitution Hall in DC. When i heard the 1st album in 71 at 15 I was completely blown away and awestruck. It was a music revelation that defined FUSION in the most cohesive way anyone had experienced. It defined a brand new evolving genre. John & Jan's sound define the quintessential fusion guitar and synth sound. No one yet had heard Jerry's style of violin before and Billy was the most precise, rapid and melodic drummer I'd ever seen up to that point. I think they created the concept of 'fast and furious' in new jazz

Great interview. I really enjoyed it. Love The Mahavishnu Orchestra. The Inner Mounting Flame and Birds Of Fire were seminal albums for me starting in high school. Both albums just blew me away. The musicianship in the band in all incarnations is incredible. John McLaughlin's guitar playing is sublime.

Fantastic! Thank you for this. Especially enjoyed the tidbit on Carlos, I didn't know that he was a connoisseur.

im a massive mahavishnu/mclaughlin fan,enjoyed this

I was at the Council Rock High School show in PA.. I got there early and caught the sound check.. John played the drums for part of it.. I sat only a few feet from John on the floor.. I will never forget.. never..

Walter mentions, in passing, that for years stayed John away from playing any Mahavishnu music. But...somewhere in the early nineties (I think), I saw the John McLaughlin Trio at the Bottom Line in Manhattan. John was playing a long solo and out of nowhere threw in (for maybe seven seconds, at most) a very recognizable riff from either Inner Mounting Flame or Birds of Fire. The crowd went nuts. John just grinned, as if to say, `I was just testing you guys.` Recently, my wife and I bought a painting from a local artist, in Glenties, Ireland, of a small brook, running through the woods. When it finally goes up on my wall in Florida I`ll tell everyone who sees it, I call it `A Lotus on Irish Streams.`

Billy ACTUALLY came out with Spectrum during Mahavishu Orchestra

Thank you

My favorite band!!! Love jerry Goodman!!! He's awesome!

I find it unforgivable that Sri Chinmoy was not mentioned in a 62 minutes conversation about the Mahavishnu. Like it or not his philosophy permeates the three records they made. Life & death, love and hate, creation & destruction. Time & repetition and the ecstatic breakthrough of going beyond limits. For me, Sri Chinmoy was the guiding light of MO. He was the 6th member. And yes I know John diverged from the guru and Chinmoy ended up being an abuser but in the early 70s, his influence was quite irrefutable.

I enjoyed this. Walter reviewed my first album. Best wishes Roch

So to update this a bit ... I ended up pulling this Ebook off the market after a few weeks because of a tremendous amount of electronic piracy! It was made available for free downloads before it even appeared on Amazon! (Inside job.) I am working on two new Mahavishnu oriented projects (books), one of which I will try to incorporate material that was found in this one. The plan is to have them available in print. Thank you for all the kind comments.

Can you talk about how the group was taken too far, too fast, and too soon, by Nat Weiss? These young men were under SUCH economic pressure, and it was not necessary. MBB, a Maha Tribute band player...

4:10 SHOULD READ: The Inner Mounting Flame . . .

The Tony Williams original Lifetime(Emergency)with Mclaughlin and Larry Young was blending rock and jazz BEFORE the original Mahavishnu.

PS music for serious musicians!

Is Jan Hammer alive?

Billy Cobham broke more drumsticks than Kentucky Fried Chicken ever did.

At the risk of sounding a discordant note (something McLaughlin never worried about): a discrimination must surely be made between supreme technical competence and musical value. The MHVO's output veers wildly between extremes in both. Some of it is sublime, some of it ridiculous, and it behoves us to recognise the difference and not just descend into hagiography. There are outright mistakes on Birds of Fire, for example, and any number of over-extended solos on 'Inner Mounting Flame'. Of course, subsequent iterations of the band produced great variations on the overall MHVO theme, but even McLaughlin mused ruefully in retrospect that 'we sure played some weird stuff back then...' For 'weird' read 'unpleasant'. Conversely, who can hear McLaughin's diminished chord sequences without being touched in their depths by the innovation of a musical genius. Rick Laird was, by his own admission, never more than an average bassist in regard to soloing ability, but he could keep complex time signatures. To my mind, the genius of the band lay in the unlikely marriage of disparate artistic sensibilities, which, when combined, fused explosively, Hammer and Goodman added extraordinary melodic quality - you'd never accuse McLaughlin of being melodic in the classical sense, he was far too a-tonally inclined - and Cobham was a revelation. As an average Jo, do I still listen to all - or even most - of my MHVO albums? Absolutely not. Do I still thrill to some of the music on them? Ask my wife 'play that stuff while I'm out.'

Why deny yourself the joy of listening to bootlegs? Some of them are great sounding tapes. If the band wants to recoup money, they need to "beat the bootleggers" and release some of these shows that they have on tape. If they don't want to release this stuff, then what choice do fans have? The members should release stuff warts and all. They're human like everyone else and made mistakes or had days when they didn't play well. Why try to keep up a facade? Just my .02

It’s pronounced Veen-uh. Just sayin’.

John McLaughlin was married to an Eve Kolosky. I wonder if they were related

I guess It bothers me that I've never heard him John M. play a challenging set of changes. Like his version of Pork Pie hat avoids the changes for the solo.

Arthritis turned out to be a bald faced lie

This is probably the worst contribution to McLaughlin's legacy that I have ever come across. It is just a promotion of dull, unprinted books. But it has confirmed again that I wish McLaughlin had promoted his lyrical side much more. The last time I saw him play was in Zürich, where he played two nondescript identical sets either side of the break over the pa - no amplifier for him on stage. And with his physical problems (Loss of hearing? Gout?), I would strongly recommend that he started playing slower and more meaningful notes. He can, but does so only once on an an 8 disc compilation of his Montreux concerts (and when tuning his guitar at that). Also, why play a guitar with scalloped frets if you are not ready to give the notes some time ... What a waste.