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The Mahavishnu Orchestra is an epic jazz-rock fusion group that debuted in 1971 and dissolved in 1976. The band was led by "Mahavishnu" John McLaughlin on a double-necked or acoustic guitar, with members Billy Cobham on drums, Rick Laird on electric bass, Jan Hammer on keyboards and piano, and Jerry Goodman on violin.
The group is most well known for their two most popular albums: The Inner Mounting Flame (1971) and Birds Of Fire (1973).
Their musical style is hardly classifiable into any of the major genres. All of the group's music was instrumental. In general, their songs have the drive and the beat of hard rock thanks to McLaughlin's skill, yet they each display near-Baroque virtuosity in jazz-structured solos. In the aforementioned two albums, though, the group goes from this intense fusion of upbeat genres (the best example of which is "Noonward Race") to very serene tunes such as "A Lotus On Irish Streams", which was wholly a keyboard and acoustic guitar piece, or "Thousand Island Park", or from low-key to extremely busy in a single piece, such as "Open Country Joy."
The group dissolved once in 1974 only to reform with a new cast of supporting musicians behind McLaughlin: Jean-Luc Ponty on violin, Gayle Moran on keyboards, Ralphe Armstrong on the bass, and Narada Michael Walden on percussion. This "new" Mahavishnu Orchestra (which McLaughlin has reportedly called the "real" Mahavishnu Orchestra) released only one studio album, Visions Of The Emerald Beyond.
After the final dissolution of the Orchestra, McLaughlin formed another group called Shakti.
Discography
