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From: bazonics
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  • The Ohio State University...Billy Cobham...drum and bugle corps to the max!!!!!!!!!!!

  • Love Cobham's kit. I played an identical set of Fibes drums for a couple years and by far the best tone of any acrylic brand. Zycos and Ludwig suck in comparison. Unfortunately the quality of the recording does not do justice but an amazing video. Piece of history. Thanks Bazonics. 

  • isso é, Mahavishnu.

  • martinho da vila, na batera

  • Cobham plays open handed. As far as I know he is right handed but has developed his left to the extent that he rides with it. Similarly Lenny White, Simon Phillips etc.

  • MARAVILLOSO!!

  • i love that blue violin,

    cobham is lefty???

  • the best band but cobham is wearing a buckeye t shirt wolverines will forgive

  • enough to make you cry with the knowledge that no matter how much you practice you will never achieve anything this perfect

  • @jesuscomplex 

    Bullshit, these guys practiced a lot and it paid off, same would happen to anyone.

    You just have to practice and have your heart completely into it and it will pay off.

  • Comment removed

  • Goodman just absolutely slays.I honestly think this date ranks as one of the great performances in fusion history.

  • The sound here is somewhat distorted due to the compression, but when you saw these guys live they were amazing, in their virtuosity and stamina, and the sound was amazing. The times I saw them play their sets lasted over 3 hoursand then they would add an encore [sometimes 2]. The patrons were blown away by them. A shame they were never properly recorded and filmed during their tours, but I don't think they really cared about that. And they came from such disparate backgrounds. Again, amazing.

  • @jomiqutoall The recording of their 1972 Cleveland Concert is nearly perfect.

  • I LOVE the psycadelic sound the violin gives in this

  • I was reading a recent an article with John and he was saying how disappointed on how Jazz has become so boring in the past few decades and how no one is innovating anymore. I don't know if that is true. I think it is just that the record companies have lost their souls. They are run be people who love money rather then music. People who write interesting music do not get signed and promoted.

  • @sharkb0yJ0hn

    I saw that interview too and it is true.

    The only problem is that JM is amongst that statistic.

  • @Samsgarden

    In his time he was very innovative. Mahavishnu , Shakti... Very few people have had this type of range. He has gone places that few have revisited or bettered. You also can't forget that he was part of the Miles Davis band that invented fusion.

    The sad thing is that there are thousands of talented people doing creative things that you have never heard of. Today's record companies are all not brave enough to sign and promote the people who have the talent and the balls to do it.

  • @sharkb0yJ0hn

    Record companies were always interested in volume sales -nothing's changed. Problem is, JM is not that creative anymore, nothing to do with the former.

  • is that a foot controlled MXR phaser pedal That J Mc  is using?

  • Cobham is a beast

  • @DONDIVA1969 a monster, exactly!

    

  • @DONDIVA1969 was a beast. When Gadd & Vinnie invented new ways of playing in the 70s Cobham kept playing his old techniques & stayed where he was while every other serious pro drummer copied Gadd & Vinnie & advanced to a higher level. I still love Cobham's 70s sound better than Vinnie's but his technique got mastered, improved on & outdated. Vinnie is the head beast now & that's why he plays with McLaughlin & Corea. Vinnie & Chambers. Best Chambers is on Steve Khan Suitcase Live in Koln.

  • It's a shame there is such a lack of good live video and audio of this band. I spent an awful lot of time in the 70s listening to them.

  • ha..dig the ohio state shirt

  • Just amazing...but whoever was the camera director forgot that Jan Hammer and Rick Laird were also on the band...Why is it that the bass player seldom gets on focus? We bass players also like to see a master´s techique, LOL!!! Simply amazing!!!

  • Thank God. Finally good quality. Thanks for posting.

  • John is one of the best guitar player every.

  • Was captivated by John's gifted playing, ever since Tony William's Lifetime.

    Even the fact that he reminds me of Stan Laurel, doesn't detract from his brilliance.

    Sorry John....and I'm not even from Yorkshire.

  • Amazing!

    Is this from '73?

  • Lets see PAGE play a double neck like that.. hehehe

  • Music before it was written by marketing executives and emo teens with no concepts of theory.

  • every single mahavishnu fan should check out the band Ohm. they got Kofi Baker (ginger baker's son) on drums, and chris poland on guitar and rob pagliari on bass . they are mind blowing and definitely have similarities to mahavishnu orchestra

  • @SirJamestheIII Just went on an excursion to listen to Poland Utube clips. IMO, not at all similar to this. In fact all I heard was just another hyper shredder with little melody and harmonic devlopment. It seems with my limited listening, and in the world of "shredding" (?), Poland could use some Shawn Lane schooling on right-hand technique. Oh well...

  • @dorian411 IMO Chris has the best string bending out there. I think the parallels between Ohm and Mahavishnu where apparent and obvious. Even if you think he is a shredder, he isn't just another guitarist with chops. It is much easier for me to emulate John's playing buit it is near impossible to sound like Chris. His licks are fresh and unique. Here are some of his solos: /watch?v=EC9m7v_7shM This vid has both his metal and jazz stuff

  • @dorian411 duuuuude..... how can you be so close-minded. imo john's good at different things and chris at others. I love both of their styles but I actually don't think I can pick one over the other. but still, THEY KICK ASS FOREVER :D

  • Cobham is God.

  • "BRAINS ARE LIKE PARACHUTES, THEY ONLY WORK WHEN THEY ARE OPEN". Folks, check out MY version of "Birds Of Fire" up on my humble little channel.

  • @binnyman Do you work for 7 eleven, with that channel name? L.O.L. There is but one steering wheel here, if you listen carefully. I like your analogy, even though I don't think it is applicable to the mighty Mahavishnu Orchestra. I don't want to sound elitist here, but VERY FEW people of todays age, especially, understand the musical relationships and dynamics that are being woven like an ecadorian sweater!!!  How's that analogy, eh?

  • my god, what energy

  • @alwaysopen: If an auto had that many steering wheels, then the journey would be amazing diverse---or maybe not, and the destination would, in its' own right, be the correct one to arrive at. Enjoy all music, I say. Peace:-)

  • @binnyman

    Knowing people, a car with that many steering wheels would end up in the oncoming lane or on it's roof in a ditch.

  • @chrisdgoldie: My original point exactly. Peace:-)

  • long live billy cobham

  • Jesus Christ on electric violin...what's 'fast', what's 'slow'? there's only faster than... or slower than... I disagree about B.B's quote, although he's a great player, all his own; some may say Sco fits in the 'slow' category, compared to ,say, JM or Pat Metheny, but then again try playing some of his lines any faster; one wouldn't either be able to or if they did, it would sound like shit & not swing.

  • @Shakrai Dream theater is amazing.

    Now that I've got that out of the way, Mahavishnu is also amazing.

    Now that I've got that out of the way, let the argument stop.

  • Man, this camera crew has no freakin' idea who to shoot man! They're always pointing at the wrong person when somebody's taking a solo!!

  • @pageshadow I think they were high brah! :)

  • Haha, B.B. King said that quote, a guitarist that has been playing for DECADES and STILL cannot play faster than most guitarists who have been playing 1/10 of the time. He is one of the least diverse musicians I have ever seen, which is just pure laziness considering the time he has had to learn. Slowhands will always argue that speedy playing is boring and lacks emotion, because they can't comprehend it.

  • @Shakrai Haha that quote was from B.B. King, the guitarist that after DECADES of playing STILL can't play fast. If playing fast were really that simple, why can't he do it? He's had ass loads of time? I love that whole argument about quick playing lacking emotion or being boring, its just made by slowhands who can't appreciate anything they can't comprehend.

    BTW, I do like slow playing. Hendrix, Miles Davis, John Scofield and SRV = gods.

  • is this from a dvd? gotta own this!!!!!!!!!

  • You can still get high quality guys.

    add &fmt=18 to the end of the link for the full-res version.

    peace.

  • cobham is god.

  • Billy Cobham... The Best Who Ever Throned A Set of Drums

  • just think what would have happened if the Mahavishnu Orchestra jammed with Frank Zappa...

  • Well Jean Luc Ponty played with both of them so if they did play together I'm sure JLP would be invited.

  • I saw Frank Zappa and the Mahavishnu Orchestra on the same night at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. Early 70s. And no, they didn't jam. Too bad.

  • I saw both on the same tour in Philadelphia. Doesn't get much better than that.

  • @TheLasher500 I saw them both on what must have been the same tour at Kent State. Think it was in the spring of '73. Same thing happened...they didn't jam that night either.

  • this band was immence.I remember a quote of blue oyster cults drummer when they played the central park dates he thought they were a folk band on the undercard when one nite he made the mistake of checkin them out before they went on his quote the band did not want to go onstage mesmerised.

  • I'm not going to go back and read this entire argument and try to get thoroughly engaged, but I will say this: it seems that you can create emotion in music by simplicity or complexity. Both have their place in the wide spectrum of music, and it is up for the listener to listen to which moves him or her more.

    (This bickering is pointless.)

  • Exactly.

  • @chrisdgoldie Well said {:>

  • @chrisdgoldie

    Good point. I enjoy Mahavishnu some days and other days I enjoy Bauhaus. Depends on the mood.

  • @chrisdgoldie

    That's some of the best statements ever made about the magic of music. :)

    Cause you cannot otherwise explain why would you get goosebumps or start tearing in your eyes by listening to a jazz fusion guitar solo.

  • @Shakrai everyone has their own style. if everyone played simple song structures, music would implode in on itself and become boooorring(not that alot of music today isnt boring enough already). b.b. king is a great musician, but hes not the all encompassing authority on music. no one is really. some of us like 'notey' music because we appreciate the attention to detail. its like admiring a highly complex painting or sculpture. besides, dream theater arent the most notey band in any case

  • That's a HUGE assumption. What if your hitting all the right notes VERRRY fast? The rare thing about JM.. incredible architect with incredible speed. Many folks think JM's too flashy, neglecting the fact that musical occurrences vary in there nature at different levels of energy much like chemical reactions. For some musicians, playing very fast may be the only way to create the right conditions for tapping into and expressing certain forms that would otherwise never come about.

  • well, B.B. King might have said what he said but these guys are hittin the right notes....fast!

  • B.B. King is GOD

  • B.B king.. smooth and mellow.. but as far as his technical ability goes, he would get ass raped by MANY other players like J.M, Paco De, ... many others. His range is relatively narrow, his style very refined.. If you say you like his style above all others, its subjective and i can't argue with you, but if guitar playing was an athletic event, he would get hammered by a lot of folks who are just as artistic.

  • What concert is this? Where can I find a recording or download of it?

  • @Shakrai

    See the movie "Amadeus" and get back to us. B.B. King is not all-knowing.

  • @rosskolnikov

    I saw this and have to ask - "Why, what light will that flick shine upon the topic?"

    Mozart was light years ahead of any other composer to date. You can't compare anything he did to what would be considered dregs.

  • @alwaysopen The Dixie Dregs were wonderful, too.

  • @rosskolnikov

    meh...

    Deep Purple used to be a real band.

  • *Sigh* you miss my point, though it is understandable. Too many notes can destroy the beauty of music, but not in MO's case. BB King, as great as he is, has never captured my attention due to his tone, which I find quite lacking. One must strive to find the balance, and play the notes that are the right ones to play, regardless of the quantity, or lack thereof. MO, IMHO, never "overplay", inspite of the fact that they play copious amounts of notes. Peace:-)

  • I played this for a friend once, so long ago. And he asked me: "Why do they play so many notes, and so fast?"

    There was a brief pause before I replied: "Because they can".

    Thank you, God, for giving me the ability to appreciate greatness like this, and for allowing me to be alive to enjoy it !!! :-) Peace

  • @binnyman

    Do you know why people will pay $3 for a bottle of water?

    Because they can.

    I have been a musician most of my life and have played several genres of music with several different people. This type of disconcerted jamming seems senseless to me at times though I can appreciate what they do at times.

    There isn't room in a tune for that many different melodies to conflict with each other for an extended period.

    What if your car had a steering wheel for each occupant inside?

  • @alwaysopen Ummmm.... i think you just don't like it?

  • @alwaysopen It is absolutely amazing that all of this seeming cacophony is planned. Listen to the original studio recordings and you will see that there is very little jamming going on here. They have reproduced the tune to an amazing degree. Your ignorance betrays you.

  • WOW..INCREDIBLE..!!

    Hey Bazonics.. Thanks..!!

    Try to remix this and upload it again to utube..??

    Boost the entire audio..

  • Cobham and his machine gun rolls are his signature style no other drummer does.

  • Spot the weak band member??

    Trick question- there isn't one.

    Awesome.

  • 1:15 just made me shit my pants

    that riff is fucking incredibal

  • hellz yea...that riff tops the song off

  • 0:33 is just classic.

  • bilLAY!

  • nothing will ever come close to this.

  • well maybe, i have 2 cd's coming out playing MO and miles davis music. one of the cd's has the late buddy miles on drums revisiting the devotion album done with mclaughlin in the early 70's, as well as this song and dance of the maya, and yes with buddy miles on drums. the second cd has music of miles davis when mclauglin was in the band, lenny white on drums kei akagi piano(both ex miles players)using a rex bouge double rainbow, les paul bursts, 68 les paul custom,max les pauls.

  • @osumb17 (sorry im french)

    everyday, we just have to cry, when we heard all shity-commercial-non sense "music"

    hopefully, Mahavishnu was, and will be a way of free mind music!

    so much emotion in this...unbelievable!

    they totally change many visions in my life, applause them!

  • There is another super group in this kind of music nowadays.... check out

    Screaming Headless Torsos....beyond believe!!

  • Somebody please tell me: what happened to this kind of music and this kind of musician? It's all gone, a thing of the past. Why?

  • a collective lack of attention span

  • I don't think so. there are plenty of badass young (and old) players out there today away from the mainstream scene and the 70s had more than its share of dumb pop as well.

  • Please name some of the recently made music that you are referring to that compares to Mahavishnu.

    Thanks..

  • christian mcbride, kurt elling, josh redman, alan baylock, stanton moore, all of the marsalis brothers, charlie hunter, kurt rosenwinkle, roy hargrove, bill stewart, matt garrison, brian blade, nicolas payton, dave fuczinski, terreon gully, hiromi uehara, are all artists that got there careers started in the late 80's onward Not to mention all the amazing older players like herbie hancock, chick corea, and john mclaughlin himself who are still creating new music with new bands.

  • there are many amazing and innovative musicians and crass, boring pop in every generation. the list above are just the more famous people that I thought of off the top of my head. There are many extremely gifted players who play locally or regionally that never get a taste of the spotlight who are equal or better in skill to the household names.

  • and russell gunn too. I almost forgot him but he's just too badass to leave out

  • Well, thanks. I'll check out some of the music you mentioned, and I'll try to keep an open mind.

    There's one tip, though, that you and I are thinking about different things, and that's your reference to "skill" and "badass." I'm looking for music that is creative, intense, and fresh, but not necessarily made by technically skilled players showing off their speed, etc. I hope to find the compositional genius, not just the instrumental chops.

    Thanks, again.

  • now you're putting words in my mouth. I never said that skill meant technical skill only. I meant broader musical skill such as phrasing, time, listening ability, and ability to create listenable melodies from complex chord changes. If you want to hear real compositional genius study the works of wayne shorter, horace silver, or frank foster. Hate to break it to you, but there are way better composers than mahavishnu.

  • Okay, I've been checking out some of these people, and as "good" as they all are, none of them even remotely compares to Mahavishnu, and I don't mean skill-wise. That is not an issue. I was hoping to find the "outside" harmonies, the electricity, the intensity, and the raging improvisation. These people you mentioned are playing along with computer time, or metronomes. Nobody is going outside, taking chances. None that I heard in these samples. Don't get me wrong. These are fine, but...

  • you can't find outside playing from ANY of those people? sorry, but you need to do some more listening before I can take your opinion seriously. many of those players, particulary branford marsalis and josh redma are well-known for their use of outside soloing and harmonies. as for "no intensity"? You obviously haven't seen many of these people live. hiromi goes batshit crazy with her and christian mcbride, who I have seen many times, always looks like he's run a marathon at the end of his shows

  • We are now far away from the spirit of my original comment and there is no point in continuing this thread. Thanks anyway for your listening suggestions.

  • do u like peter hammill?

  • Rick sounds awesome on this version..

  • dude upload as HQ!

  • Respect for bazonics,thanks for this masterpiece!

  • Great feeling each of these musicians must of felt knowing the others were there. I am sure JM felt very driven having BC juggernauting away while the textures and virtuosity of JG and JH swirled about on top of a VERY secure bottom of RL.

  • definately overdid the acronyms man

  • FIRE BURNING WHITE....

  • The best fusion band ever-along with chick corea. Great concerts!

  • My feelings EXACTLY! Corea is the man and so are Mahavishnu. Long live the kings of fusion.

  • try listening "Watercolors" record by pat Metheny, 1977...you will find the other part of this funny colors world

  • there's one element missing in your list...i think Pat Metheny it's a great fusion player...but Corea and Mahavishnu (Mc Laughin) are amazing...both in their style...

  • i'm going to pick up the skin flute.

  • Blow me away.

  • Have you become a virtuoso of the skin flute yet? Though it's been a month since you made this comment. :D LMAO!!

  • still practicing...and practicing...and practicing...

  • ROFL.

  • Make sure you clean the pipe!

    Man. :s

    This is awesome, what other groups are like these? I know and love Frank Zappa, and Rush, and I wanted to get into more progressive kinda music, so any suggestions?

  • tony williams lifetime, herbie hancock, weather report, chick corea, stanley clark, jean luc ponty, billy cobham, return to forever, narada michael walden...

  • you certainly choose the best

  • well, theyre the most popular anyway :)

  • Thank you.

  • at a glance i thought "narada" was "nirvana" thought NOOOOOOO and my mouth dropped in confusion...

  • you would probably love some of jeffs beck more modern live recordings where hes got a very heavy jazz fusion sound. check out "live at ronnie scotts" or "live at bb kings club"

  • I did like Truth by JB. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll check it out.

  • Jan Hammer has inspired me to pick up the synth.

  • its official, im quitting guitar and picking up my drum sticks.

  • play both?

  • will do. I just need to become fluent in one before i begin the other.

  • go Billy go!!!!

  • This ABC In Concert show from 1973 inspired Walter Kolosky in a lifelong devotion to the MO. For anyone interested in a deeper understanding of their music, I highly recommend his book: Power Passion & Beauty

  • Bazonics, is there any chance of uploading this in HQ now that the option is available? I'm sure many of us would GREATLY appreciate it as this is practically impossible to find anywhere else.

    Thank you

  • I saw this line up in Birmingham (UK) c.1974 - best live music I've ever heard.

  • JEEZUS SO FUNKY HELL YEAH!

  • Whoo!

  • LOL! Looks like they don't have enough amps on stage!

  • If you have this much talent you don't need to play loud!!!!!

  • You're kidding right? I was being facetious. Every square inch of the stage is covered with amps! LOL! The band is practically buried under Fenders and Marshalls!

  • but it was soooo much fun to be completely blasted away by the virtuosity and volume.Hands down, the best concerts I ever went to (well excluding the 1st Shakti group).

  • Tell ya what, there are plenty of "fast" guitar players out there, from blazing Classico and Flamenco types to Hendrix and Lee, to Satriani to Malmsteen to Petrucci to DiMeola, etc. etc. etc. But in this band JM didn't just play fast guitar, the entire band played, often in unison, at the speed of light. Whoosh!

  • holy crap

  • god on drums nuff said

  • Better than Shrooms!.... I think I got a contact buzz by just watching....Thanks for posting.

  • yeah music is the best esp. complicated jazz solos....they make your brain do crazy stuff!

  • godfathers of fusion hare hare

  • haha billy cobham fuck yes

  • Hammer was superb on the minimoog...man, those things were hard to articulate with cause the pitch wheel had no center spring, so you had to be delicate with touch

  • if they were REAL musicians they woulda sampled somebody else ......LOL

    these are the guys who did "this is why i'm hot" ?? LOL ... i slay me

  • McLaughlin is a god; the other four are demigods. The spirits met in this band form -- or, should I say, their demigod spirits played through their human forms.

    A little cheesy, but still not an unrealistic thought :)

  • Mahavishnu Orchestra is just too awesome.

    They were awesome and simply unthinkably good musicians. This clip is awesome. Their drummer is so crazy lol. The violinist is also awesome, and Mclaughlin is just too 1337. All of them are just too awesome.

    Uh, and, you do know that the beggining of You Know You Know was sort of caught in the end of this video, right? The only down side to this is that it's just the beggining caught there xD

  • this vid is waaaay better quallity then the rest of this concert.

  • saw this concert when I was 14 years old, blew me away and took me from rock to fusion in one song. Never went back to Led Zep/Pink Floyd, etc... MAN, memories !!

  • oh god i learned that riff at 1:26 and can barely play it at the album speed but that last part is so fast here!

  • LOL, wast just about to comment on that... it is INSANE how fast they are playing that.  I can do it at about 3/4 album speed, so my hats off to you, my man!

  • great video quality

  • Good LORD, what is up with the tempo here? They are absolutely blazing through the song.

  • never give john espresso right b4 the gig .....

  • always give him acid!

  • wow, this is excellent. so sharp and clear and the sound is so good. anymore from this concert?

    thanks.

  • First concert I saw as a teen was MO and Frank Zappa in Toronto. I think MO opened.

    Blew the top of my head clean off.

  • must have shit

  • yea, soooloud too. I got to see MO with The Section opening at the Santa Monica Civic.

    So loud it pressed you back it your seat. No theatrics just insane music. Buckethead rules too!!!

  • Wonderful. I saw MO live at the Johns Hopkins Univ.

    during the "Birds of Fire" tour, they were astounding.

    I am 52 now and have seen hundreds of live performances. This might have been the very best.

    Oh, Gentle Giant opened...that's really for the old folks. The bassist, Ralph Armstrong, was 17 yrs old.

    John remembered Miles changing his diapers. I suspect

    and extended his wing.

  • oh snap gentle giant!!! im freakin jealous.

  • i saw the same tour at the Felt forum in NYC. There was w hite rose on every seat. Opened up with meeting of the spirits and encore was Dance of Maya. It took me 10 minutes to get out of my seat Wow!!!!!