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From: druman44
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  • People keep saying Jan Hammer looks like Elton John, but could it be that Elton John looks like Jan Hammer? .. lol

  • ON FIRE does not describe this adequately.

    Has anything of much value happened since then? NOT.

  • Is it just me or does Jan Hammer look like Elton John?

  • This audio is incredible for the time.

  • my favorite mo tune, that melding of the melody, and the two other parts the end

    always kills me.

  • who is Mars Volta ????what the fuckkkkkk

  • @lostbluenj yeah, I know! there can be more than one intense, awesome band...

  • what vomit eater would dare mention garbage like mars volta here.....thats for the mindless & talentless.

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  • @FictionaryMusic

    666/perf/form1

  • This is music beyond category. The only word for it is Great!

  • @florafox i'm finding that "master of counterpoint" comment hard to believe. This is a great composition, no doubt, but limited counterpoint. This ain't bach, josquin, dufay, or monteverdi. This ain't no fugue, this is jamming over different rhythms and chords progressions in a masterful blend of dynamics, harmonies, and interplay between musicians. Counterpoint in jazz is more in the charles mingus realm of things. McLaughlin rips it and probably learned plenty of counterpoint 7:07 = jan cpoint

  • @GoldyLocks397 thanks for your comment. The term counterpoint covers a wide field. If you mean polyphony i agree that Bach is by far the greatest master. But regarding the structure of "dance of maya" (melody, harmony and rhythm of the theme) you can see that counterpoint is developed far beyond the rules of Fux and Palestrina, but all elements are well balanced which is the highest rule. John went even one step further with his piece "vision is a naked sword"--work of a genius.

  • Lol...Jan Hammer looks like Elton John @1:22!

  • @egyptianminor i wonder if jan ate jizz as well.

  • Jan Hammer looks like Elton John.

  • @tmmmviii totally,dude I just wrote that and I hadn't seen your post!

  • The performance on the above link is really incredible.

  • Cobham pre-Fibes! I heard Inner Mounting Flame aged 16, at a party, the greatest musical bomb in my entire life. What a moment! After that, Purple, Zep, Genesis, et al took somewhat of a back seat. Back then the possibilities seemed endless, before the rock thought police took over (especially in the UK) and deemed the ability to solo, or improvise, politically incorrect!

  • jerry just tearing it up at 1.57!

  • i love how cobham always keeps things moving. besides, look how much fun he's having

  • to write such a piece of music like "dance of maya" one needs to be a real master of music, that means a master of COUNTERPOINT like Palestrina or Fux.

  • I've always loved how Mahavishnu sounds like a garage band of geniuses. This is the best footage I've seen yet. Props to whoever posted this video!

  • A that time McLaughlin could put more notes in a bar than any guitarist on the planet. Total speed demon.

  • The insane shredding that begins at about 4:30 in is beyond words.

  • JM solo here is nothing compared to the album solo.

  • wow. My brain orgasmed

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  • mars volta wouldn`t be worthy to carry their guitar cases.

  • Oh jeez....Yeah, the TMV really suck compared to The Mahavishnu Orchestra... these guys could kick the Beatles asses, too. I think you would have to get like Rush, Sonny Rollins, Wilco, Vincent Crane, Esteban, King's X, and then maybe Cecil Taylor and Waylon Jennings, all together at once to be worthy to carry the Mahavishnu's guitar cases.

  • @florafox

    they aren't worthy enough to carry their own guitar cases man

  • ok Goeffrey was there in 1974 and all others in 1972.Dosen t matter.Jerry has an early violin.And the sound of MO was in progress.Hear them 2 years later.

  • Exactly, this band split in 73 to my knowledge...

  • Sorry, this is 1974 (I was there). Look at Billy Cobham's tee shirt. SU '74.

  • Geoffrey,

    I am going to have to disagree with you on the date. By 1973 JMac was playing the doubleneck Rex BOGUE and Cobham was playing the clear Fibes double bass drum kit. None of this is in this video.

  • Some utterly fantastic interplay between John and Billy - and this was 1972!!!

  • billy is the rock of gibralter AND tinkerbelle!

  • WOW !!!

  • Master musicians fer sure;I saw them perform 2x in one weekend in the summer of 1972! First was the Bushnell in Hartford,CT,next was a free(!!) concert in the Student Union Ballroom @ UMass,Amherst; too much musical intensity for one weekend! I was fortunate enough to meet Billy Cobham after this show(I was a beginning drummer at the time)& I naively asked him how they could play such improvised & complicated passages in harmony,he cryptically answered,"We're just all thinkin' the same thing."

  • the whole thing is a rythm thing

  • cherokee

  • Great to see Elton on keyboards

  • Still looks like Jan Hammer to me!

  • He does look like Elton, doesn't he? Especially with the glasses :-) Jan Hammer on keyboards.

  • ok I went to google and watched video..thanks for link!!!! heard MCGLAUGLIN say song is in ten,,so if you want to send me crow to eat I`ll have baked!! I find Cobham even more impressive w/ a smaller drumset....paradiddles for days!!!

  • thanks for clip druman44,,,,,this song is in seven( 7/4)  and we all love it

  • Count again my friend.

    Dance of Maya is 10/8.

  • is this like two bars of 5/4?

  • Actually, 10/8 would be one bar of 5/4.

    Actually, the phrase is 20 16th beats long.

    Phrased thusly:

    6662

    It could be written in 5/4 but this would make for some tough reading. Easier to lay it out in 10/8. This is how it is transcribe in the Mahavishnu Book of yore. (I have a copy, does anyone else?)

  • Ok, I understand now.

    20 16th beats phrased 6662. ok, great!

    Thanx!

  • Where did you get this book and what is it?

  • Its aboo called john mclaughling and the mahavishnu orchestra k 152 pages long with 25 of his tunes written out showing all instruments... its fantastick goes through modes and scales and some theory too. they sell it on ebay Alfred publisign compnay ISBN: 739042556

  • think "boogie beat" with quick" ta da-da" flipoover at end of three bars!

    if flips the pedestiran beat every other time to become downbeat then all upbeat....really fun love to jam on thisriff with other musicians rf to throw everyone off kilter - they hate it...ha alteranting bars one played in air one down to earth is othe way to look at.

    I memorized the whole intro in high shcool 35yreas ago still know it

    "Glof" is the greatest

  • I have ALL Mahavishnu recordings. However, it is time to deconstuct. Very simple underlying rhythms, repeated themes and the worst of all featureless 'hackings' from the AXEMAN

  • the guy behind the camera shown at 1:30 is like " where did these guys come from" this music cannot be of this earth it is too amazing. it is so complex. music like this is what really gives you an outer body experience, life changing stuff here.

  • Johnny and Billy get lots of credit, as they should, but don't forget ...

    Jerry Goodman - voted the best american born violinist of alltime, 3rd in the world.

    Jan Hammer - keyboard genius

    Rick Laird - bass extrordinare

    The Mahavishnu Orchestra !!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Those McLaughlin/Cobham duet sections are like atomically charged particles zinging in all directions--you can also hear this on "Dream" from "Between Nothingness and Eternity".

  • Now that's playing.

  • Cobham just tears shit up.

    Laying down the dirt.

  • i saw them live too.. Thx for posting it! What a great gift to all...!

  • I saw and heard them live this same year ,1972 , for free! at the University of Miami , blew my mind , what incredible chops back then !

  • These guys, Return to Forever, the Headhunters and most of the major fusion bands of the late 60s and 70s (all jazz musicians) took rock music to a whole new level. There isn't a band then or today that can touch them as far as composition and stage performance

  • This is one of the most kick ass bands to ever play upon this earth! That's all there is to it!

  • Can you imagine being the guy in the background behind McLaughlin tuning and checking out his acoustic guitar? I wonder what he was thinking. Unless he was a roadie with JM, I bet he was not a happy camper following the Master.

  • I failed my A-Levels listening and watching these....Unbelievable and STILL gives me goose bumps...

  • RAAAH! ****** Awesome!

  • Is that Jerry Goodman of The Flock on violin?

    Great stuff

  • dance of the Mayami vice. that was great!

  • This is one kick ass musical ensemble.

  • Is This a joke? thiese people are the first, the last , the only one´s

  • A friend gave me this LP in 1978. My head flew away. I was 14 years old. It modified the matrix of my musical tastes for the rest of my life.

  • holy holy Lord God Almighty

  • That looks like Elton John on the keyboard.

  • It's even better: Jan Hammer

  • A journey into the unknown realm of true talent.

  • I don't normally type in all caps, but that was ABSOLUTELY MIND BLOWING. And I particularly enjoy that it comes from a deep intentional spiritual devotion (as obviously evident in the song titles, album names, and band name).

  • gosh, I admit there are a gazillion great drummers, but Billy will always be above 'em all. He's so amazing.

  • Billy Cobham is a god.

    Mahavishnu gathered a small group of musicians who can actually make music, unlike the shit we see nowadays.

  • @Gretgor666 I couldn't agree more!!

  • Their daunting improvisational flair is only surpassed by the profundity of their group musicianship.

  • Is Rick playing an EB-3?

  • WHOA

  • Best group of musicians ensambled in a band ever. That's one of the reasons they created the best music ever.

  • Oh fuck me does this get good.

  • you can see the whole set/show. its in the description box!

  • I was one year from being born. damn I missed it!

  • Wow

  • What a gig!!

  • McLaughlin's unstoppable!

  • actually, the song is in 20/8 time which is like 3 measures of 6/8 with two eighth notes tagged

  • Yeh man (elmaria), thats right !!

  • Man I miss these guys! Billy Cobham is easily one of the top 3 drummers alive today.....

  • Dude that may be the craziest @#$% ever on youtube- I wish i was around to see those guys- I used to cover that track in a High school band- Cobham is out of his skull on this clip

  • Yes it is. The rotating speaker is an example of an analog amplifier effect, in this case the Doppler effect.

  • What is that rotating in the cabinet at the back of Jan Hammer at 1:32? Is that a Leslie speaker? Sorry for the question but I have heard of it but never actually seen one.

  • Wonderful sublime fantastic

  • music my sweet sweet music.

  • INFO The web site JAZZ FUSION TV (just do google serach on "jazz fusion tv" to find it) has hundreds of hours of fusion concerts , including at least 10 mahavishnu concerts . the CLEVERLAND 1972 concert has long version of "dance of maya" with reasonable audio quality.

  • Lol. Jesusdetoledo may have a point, gents. Enough with the avid pursuits, ostentatious ramblings and ferocious stateliness.

    Just say ´that solo was THE BALLS'

  • fuckin' A, man.

  • As an active musician during the fusion phase, I recall it was a very exciting developmental period. I myself pursued it avidly. Unfortunately, today much of it seems like ostentatious rambling!

  • why muthafuckas allways gotta say that type of shit. enjoy yourself. check out your mind. been with you all the time.

  • hahah straight up man!

  • Good grief, Mahavishnu plays the blues! (almost). Thx for posting.

    Funny ... they took a blues groove, tacked on an extra beat, threw in a wild guitar-drum improv in the middle and Viola! ... it turns into Mahavishnu music, in all its ferocious stateliness, that's a mile from the Mississippi delta.

  • good job, a big improvement to the other bnw vids of the same show. can you do the same for the others?

    looking for more, thanks!

  • whole show available in the vid description.

  • Great,great stuff! Hammer has his Elton glasses on.

  • Just like Return to Forever an impressive lineup of musicians! Between the two you had what eventually became like 10 different well respected bands! Amazing!

  • That's a lot of Marshalls for a Jazz band!

  • 10/8

    what a ridiculas time signature! so hard to play haha. amazing

  • yeah i cant think of it that way, ive always felt the way the way its phrased 6-6-6-2 (6+6+6+2=20 divided by 2 = 10, so he says 10/8 but i feel /count it 6/6/6/2 at least but that just personally me/ thats the easiest way i approached that tune so i could play along with it etc.

  • Yeah that's how they're playing it druman, 6-6-6-2

  • 10/8 is just two extra eighth notes per measure. On its own, 10/8 is not very difficult -- what you do within 10/8 makes the difference, as it does here.

  • videos a little out of sync, sorry bout that, for the whole show!!! theres a link in the video description!!

  • Man oh man, what a combination of players.

  • We can only admire how they enjoy the MUSIC

  • la mahavishnu es increible, tiene algo de esquizofrenico, una suerte de locura interna, esto le pasa apocos ,violeta parra , dali.catarcico

  • "the mahavishnu is incredible, they've got a frenetic energy, an internal locus of strength, this pases (timelessly?), violent for, (dali?). catarcico"

    pardon the poor translation

  • frenetic.. you couldn't have used a beter description... I worked next to the paramoun theatre in 73 and got fired because I kept slipping over to the place to hear them,, shit, who could pass that up instead of a round of shakes?

  • I always try to learn from all kinds of music. My mother got me this 12 set record collection that had all kinds of music when i was 5yrs old. So i've always liked all kinds of music. I am in my late 50s now & iam still the same cat. I was the only kid in my hood back then who knew who Beethoven was. Check my favorites to see what i am into.

  • "Cannot compare" sounds like if King Crimson and Fripp belong to a lesser league than Mahavishnu, which is not the case,them both belong to the highest one. And you are right saying "cannot compare"in the sense that they are different. I say to you: You shouldn't compare.

  • If you "cannot compare" then how can you judge that they are both in "the highest class"? That implicitly involves comparing both bands to other acts. If they can be compared to other acts, why not to one another?

  • You just Know, when a band have reached certain level, you hear it and then you just know it,now don't ask me about the specifics because I don't even know. Once on that level comparations dissapear, so there you can't judge anymore. I'm pretty sure this answer won't satisfy you, but it's the only one I have for you.

  • Okay, thanks. I disagree, however.  However subjective, I believe you can always compare.

  • Let's say in my opinion I consider that Miles Davis, King Crimson, Yes and let's say Bjork have reached the highest level of artistic creativity, can you honestly tell me you still can compare one to another? What type of parameters would you be using?

  • I would use4 subjective parameters, just as you have used or would use subjective parameters to place them "in the highest level of artistic creativity." What's important to assess will vary from person to person, of course.

  • No ricrisci you have miss understood me my friend. Iam not compareing the two Guitarists. It's not a who's better than thing. I am saying that they both have made original & unique musical statments on the guitar.They are both good in their own unique way. Ok? I also agree with InfernalApocalypse comment as well.

  • Mr Fripp is Good in his own way . He Has made his own (unique musical statments) over the years. And (he is still standing after all these years.) For that alone one should give the man a ( big standing applause & bravo !!!) Peace.

  • Fripp and Mclaughlin are not only contemporaries, they are fans of each other. They both do things very differently, and are good at what they do. They're my favourite guitarists, by far.

  • After Jimi Hendrix , This was the other man who made me want to play guitar.

  • Posture and grace, chaos and rhythm... I love it.

  • right on!

  • Hard rock snarl & raw power combined with Classial & jazz virtusity & finesse interwoven in mystical intrigue. They were The first. They were The best. Thats my story & iam sticking to it.

  • "They were The first. They were The best."

    No arguments here!

  • I am just really thankful to the people who are posting all these great live concert videos. Because i never got to see these guys live for what ever resasons at the time. & i that regret very much. So a big (Thank you!) to all who are posting videos of this great group of vanguard musician's. peace

  • awesome jazz rock fusion with that perfect classical influence... sweet

  • As far as iam concerned these cats are the only ones who ever really put Jazz & Rock together proper .

  • (In response to blk59's comment) I agree these guys were fantastic at putting Jazz and Rock together, but i dissagree they are the only ones that have done it sucsessfully. What about the late Great Frank Zappa? He was surely a Jazz-Rock master (not that im trying to compare the two, or say that one is better than the other).

  • The Big Bangs of modern Electric Guitar Alchemy are : Jimi Hendrix , John Mclaughlin,Eric Clapton,Jimmy Page ,Calos Santna, frank Zappa,Duane Allman,Tony Iommi, ED Van Halen,Ywgwie Malmsteen, Randy Rhoads,Stevie Ray Vaughan,Dime Bag Darrel. All these guys turned everybodys heads

  • Amazing!

  • This is like being mashed in a tornado.

    This energy is incredible

  • These guys were radical!

  • were are thoose space cakes when you need them!

  • Wow! They were really that good.

  • Jesus, he looks so young...

  • Jan looks so much like Elton John here !

  • I saw this group do a free concert that very year at age 15. Since I was pretty much only into blues/rock I was not that impressed. I thought they were playing too many notes and was kinda overwhelmed by the complexity of the music. Looking back, it was because my musical tastes had not yet developed enough to understand and appreciate their stunning virtuosity. I wasn't into the Grateful Dead then either but I eventually saw the light of both bands. Alas, I never saw M.O. as a fan:~(

  • Awe inspiring.

  • it´s one of the greatest pieces of music ever. I love it when John is repeating only one note and Jan does the counterpoint coming up from below.

  • I love this footage! its so raw! I'ts like McLaughlin

    before he became really famous. and he JAMS! I get a kick out of the telephone poles in the backround.

  • Your wrong about that. Anybody whos played with John should consider themselves blessed by the gods. He is one of the greatest musicians there will ever be.

  • Incredible when that all start "grooving" at just over a minute in... wow... these guys were "locked" togehter... thanks for this priceless clip!

  • The part with just John and Billy jammin' reminds me alot of To Whom It May Concern by The Tony Williams Lifetime.

  • John and Billy remind me of "Right On" from the same album.

    John's one lucky mofo; he gets to play with SO MANY of the world's greatest drummers.

  • love the telephone pole in the background.

  • The venue was in a natural amphitheatre located by the Ski Lodge, on the south campus of Syracuse University, now known as Skytop. The date was April 29th 1972, a perfect saturday in the early spring.

    Ravi Shankar opened accompanied by Ali Raka(sic). Even if you didn't understand the Indian format of sitar, drone and and percussion, it all made sense that day. Thanks for the posting.

  • Jan Hammer was great.

    the best concert was first: King Crimson, then Mahavishnu Orchestra, and heading the bill was Frank Zappa.

    Check out John Mac on Miles Davis's "On The Corner."

  • Today's guitarists overdo it in the gymnastics department. But Cobham is such a powerhouse--even today, he has no equal on drums for pure technical ability.

  • Johnny Mac Is Raping The Guitar As Usual

  • damn, sick guitar work. amazing

  • Priceless!!

  • this is not an orchestra, it's a pop group.

  • are you kidding me? they're the opposite of pop

  • Jazz musicians in a fairly strict arrangement. They may not be a symphony orchestra, but they are most definitively not pop music.

  • You don't understand what so called "pop' music was in 1972. Todays pop is just garbage. This is during the time when album oriented rock were literally creating the music stage. Musical programming was NOT limited then how it is now.