A double DVD of jazz-rock fusion band The Mahavishnu Orchestra recorded during the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1974 and 1984 respectively, LIVE AT MONTREUX 1974 & 1984 is perhaps a release aimed more towards the groups more die hard followers.

Led by virtuoso English guitarist John McLaughlin, The Mahavishnu Orchestra were a band founded in 1967, pioneering the whole jazz-fusion movement, a somewhat revolving door outfit who during their career boasted such musicians as Jan Hammer, Billy Cobham and Billy Evans amongst their line up.

The two performances here feature almost entirely different line ups from each other, the slick 1984 Mahavishnu Orchestra seeing the band's members bolstered to an unwieldy eleven piece outfit.  Its this performance that finds the band in embarrassingly slick and polished form, a definite eighties sounding version of the band, where smooth keyboards solos and any semblance of charm or spontaneity has been ironed out of the group.  A stale sounding experience that plays to all the traditional jazz rock clichés, far too polished, smooth and devoid of attitude to matter.

The 1974 performance at least finds the band sounding like they mean it, a more rough around the edges and spirited Mahavishnu Orchestra, the slender five piece line up a much more invigorating and inspired sounding version of the group.  John McLaughlin is on blistering form, spitting out virtuoso solo after virtuoso solo whilst drummer Danny Gottlieb hits the drums with all the complex power needed to bring the songs to life.

A release surely only for the real diehard fans of the band, LIVE AT MONTREUX 1974 & 1984 throws up both some interesting footage of The Mahavishnu Orchestra in their prime and some rather less than interesting material from the tail end of their career.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra was a jazz-rock fusion group that debuted in 1971 and dissolved in 1976 and reunited briefly from 1984 to 1987.

Contents

First Mahavishnu Orchestra

In its first version, the band was led by "Mahavishnu" John McLaughlin on acoustic and electric guitars, with members Billy Cobham on drums, Rick Laird on electric and acoustic bass, Jan Hammer on electric and acoustic piano, and Jerry Goodman on violin. The group is best known for their two most popular albums: The Inner Mounting Flame (1972) and Birds of Fire (1973).

This group was considered an important pioneer in the jazz fusion movement. McLaughlin and Cobham met while performing and recording with Miles Davis. McLaughlin was also influenced in his conception of the band by his studies with Indian guru Sri Chinmoy, who encouraged him to take the name "Mahavishnu."

McLaughlin had particular ideas for the instrumentation of the group, in keeping with his highly original concept of genre-blending in composition. He particularly wanted a violinist. As the group evolved, McLaughlin adopted what became his trademark double-neck guitar (six-string and twelve-string), and Hammer added a Moog synthesizer, which enabled him to bend notes, mimicking the phrasing of McLaughlin's guitar.

Their musical style was an unprecedented blending of genres: they combined the high-volume electrified rock sound that had been pioneered by Jimi Hendrix, complex rhythms in unusual time signatures that reflected McLaughlin's interest in Indian classical music as well as funk, an improvisational concept that was rooted in jazz as well as Indian music, and harmonic influence from European classical music. The group's early music was entirely instrumental; their later albums had songs which sometimes featured R&B or even gospel/hymn styled vocals. In the aforementioned two albums, though, the group goes from this intense fusion of upbeat genres (the best example of which is "Vital Transformation") to very serene tunes such as "A Lotus On Irish Streams" and "Thousand Island Park", which are pieces for acoustic guitar, piano and violin, or from low-key to extremely busy in a single piece, such as "Open Country Joy."

The split of the original line-up

Due to the pressures of sudden fame, exhaustion and a lack of communication, the original band began to fray at the edges as 1973 rolled on. Stresses in the band were further exacerbated during a disastrous recording session at London's Trident Studios as some of the players were not even speaking to each other. The project was never fully completed. The last straw came as John McLaughlin read an interview in Crawdaddy magazine in which Jan Hammer and Jerry Goodman expressed their frustrations with John's leadership style. Though an effort was made to fix things back in New York; it just could not be done. Almost 30 years later, during the beginning of a renaissance of Mahavishnu's music, the incomplete album from the failed London recording was released as The Lost Trident Sessions.

Second Mahavishnu Orchestra

After the first version of the group dissolved, it reformed in 1974 with a new cast of musicians behind McLaughlin: Jean-Luc Ponty (who had performed with Frank Zappa and the Mothers) on violin, Gayle Moran on keyboards, Ralphe Armstrong on bass, and Narada Michael Walden on percussion, amongst others. This "new" Mahavishnu Orchestra (which McLaughlin has reportedly called the "real" Mahavishnu Orchestra) changed personnel slightly between 1974's Apocalypse and Visions of the Emerald Beyond in 1975. The band was then reduced to a four-piece for 1976's Inner Worlds.

Later developments

After the dissolution of this version of the Orchestra, McLaughlin formed another group called Shakti to explore his interest in Indian music; following that, McLaughlin went on to form other bands including The One Truth Band & The Translators, and a guitar trio with Al Di Meola and flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia.

In 1984, McLaughlin reformed the Mahavishnu Orchestra with Bill Evans on saxophones, Jonas Hellborg on bass, Mitchel Forman on keyboards, and original member Billy Cobham on drums. Cobham participated in the sessions for their self-titled 1984 album, but was replaced by Danny Gottlieb for live work, and Jim Beard replaced Mitchel Forman for the latter period of this band's life. This band's overall sound was radically different from the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, in particular because of McLaughlin's extensive use of the Synclavier synthesiser system.

McLaughlin then worked with a number of incarnations of The John McLaughlin Guitar Trio all of which featured Trilok Gurtu on percussion, and, at various times, Jeff Berlin, Kai Eckhardt, and Dominique di Piazza on bass. He then formed The Free Spirits, a guitar/organ/drums trio, with Joey DeFrancesco on Hammond organ and trumpet, and Dennis Chambers on drums, as well as touring and recording again with Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía.

Billy Cobham went on to perform as a solo artist, cutting many albums including Total Eclipse, Crosswinds and Spectrum and toured with the George Duke Band for many years.

Jan Hammer went on to collaborate with Jeff Beck together with Narada Michael Walden in Beck's acclaimed album Wired, compose several solo albums and a live album with Jeff Beck and the theme from the hit 80's TV show, Miami Vice.

Jerry Goodman recorded the album Like Children with Mahavishnu keyboard alumnus Jan Hammer. Starting in 1985 he recorded three solo albums for Private Music and went on tour with his own band, as well as with Shadowfax and The Dixie Dregs.

Rick Laird played with Stan Getz and Chick Corea as well as releasing one solo LP, Soft Focus, but retired from music in 1982 and has worked as a photographer ever since. There has been a significant resurgence in the popularity of the Mahavishnu Orchestra in recent years. There have been no less than five major tribute recordings released. In addition, a very comprehensive and critically acclaimed book “Power, Passion and Beauty – The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra” by Walter Kolosky (AbstractLogix Books) has been published. It contains interviews with all of the band’s members and quotes obtained specifically for the book from many famous admirers such as Jeff Beck, Pat Metheny, the artist Peter Max, Bill Bruford, and many, many more. The book conveys the excitement of the times and the band’s continuing influence on today’s music world.

Synopsis

Formed by John McLaughlin in 1971, the Mahavishnu Orchestra pioneered the fusion of jazz elements into rock music whilst still undeniably retaining the power and muscle of a full on rock band. With McLaughlin as the ever-present, the line-up went through various phases and these two concerts from Montreux showcase the band at distinctively different times of their career, with the seventies show featuring later stars Jean-Luc Ponty and Michael Walden and the eighties concert featuring saxophone maestro Bill Evans.

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