Featured in Michael Fremer's Heavy Rotation in the February 2009 Issue of Stereophile!
As British bands like Yes, ELP, and Genesis extended the borders of rock & roll, John McLaughlin had seized the opportunity to do the same with jazz. The first stars of the jazz/rock fusion camp, the Mahavishnu Orchestra played sellout concerts, sold records in quantities previously unheard of by jazz musicians, and captured a crossover audience of forward-looking jazz devotees and progressive rock fans.
The music on The Inner Mounting Flame is incendiary and highly improvisational. Well-conceived unison melodic passages structure each tune, and McLaughlin and company play like the virtuosos they are throughout. "The Noonward Race" features a bluesy, yet harmonically dissonant solo from McLaughlin, and the frenetic drumming of Billy Cobham. In contrast, in "A Lotus on Irish Streams," McLaughlin soars passionately on an acoustic guitar, while violinist Jerry Goodman adds a simple, folky melody.
Features:
180g Vinyl
Musicians:
John McLaughlin, acoustic & electric guitars
Billy Cobham, drums
Jan Hammer, Fender Rhodes, ring modulator, piano
Jerry Goodman, acoustic & electric violins
Rick Laird, electric bass
Selections:
1. Meeting Of The Spirits
2. Dawn
3. The Noonward Race
4. A Lotus On Irish Streams
5. Vital Transformation
6. The Dance Of Maya
7. You Know You Know
8. Awakening
As British bands like Yes, ELP, and Genesis extended the borders of rock & roll, John McLaughlin had seized the opportunity to do the same with jazz. The first stars of the jazz/rock fusion camp, the Mahavishnu Orchestra played sellout concerts, sold records in quantities previously unheard of by jazz musicians, and captured a crossover audience of forward-looking jazz devotees and progressive rock fans.
The music on The Inner Mounting Flame is incendiary and highly improvisational. Well-conceived unison melodic passages structure each tune, and McLaughlin and company play like the virtuosos they are throughout. "The Noonward Race" features a bluesy, yet harmonically dissonant solo from McLaughlin, and the frenetic drumming of Billy Cobham. In contrast, in "A Lotus on Irish Streams," McLaughlin soars passionately on an acoustic guitar, while violinist Jerry Goodman adds a simple, folky melody.
Features:
180g Vinyl
Musicians:
John McLaughlin, acoustic & electric guitars
Billy Cobham, drums
Jan Hammer, Fender Rhodes, ring modulator, piano
Jerry Goodman, acoustic & electric violins
Rick Laird, electric bass
Selections:
1. Meeting Of The Spirits
2. Dawn
3. The Noonward Race
4. A Lotus On Irish Streams
5. Vital Transformation
6. The Dance Of Maya
7. You Know You Know
8. Awakening
