Music » Jazz Fusion Music

The revolution was recorded: in 1969 Bitches Brew sent a shiver through a country already quaking. It was a recording whose very sound, production methods, album-cover art, and two-LP length all signaled that jazz could never be the same. Over three days anger, confusion, and exhilaration had reigned in the studio, and the sonic themes, scraps, grooves, and sheer will and emotion that resulted were percolated and edited into an astonishingly organic work. This Miles Davis wasn't merely presenting a simple hybrid like jazz-rock, but a new way of thinking about improvisation and the studio. And with this two-CD reissue (actually, this set is a reissue of the original set plus one track, perfect for the fan who's not so overwhelmed as to need the four-CD Complete Bitches Brew box), the murk of the original recording is lifted. The instruments newly defined and brightened, the dark energy of the original comes through as if it were all fresh. Joe Zawinul and Bennie Maupin's roles in the mix have been especially clarified. With a bonus track of "Feio"--a Wayne Shorter composition recorded five months later that serves both as a warm-down for Bitches Brew and a promise of Weather Report to come--this is crucial listening. --John F. Szwed

Thanks to yet another pristine digital remastering from the archivists at Legacy, we are drawn deeper into the creative vortex of John McLaughlin's groundbreaking fusion ensemble, captured at the peak of their powers in August 1972. By this time, Mahavishnu were headliners, and by offering greater bass extension, more air and resolution, and a clearer sense of distinction between the component parts, McLaughlin's collaborators sound clearer in their shaping of the group's overall sound. Clearly, guitarist McLaughlin was the creative lightning rod, as his chanting solo on the title tune suggests, colored as it is by the cathartic melodic fire of late Coltrane and Hendrix. Likewise, his interest in the vocalized scales and extended rhythmic cycles of Indian classical music reveals itself in the round-robin solo exchanges on showstoppers like "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters" and "One Word" and in the more formal designs of "Hope" and "Resolution." But in Billy Cobham, McLaughlin had found his Elvin Jones. Cobham's ability, with bassist Rick Laird, to focus ferocious energy toward making odd meters groove, and the band's funky, backbeats swing--while playing with an enormous tonal palette and a keen sense of dynamics--balanced the formal and improvisational aspects of each arrangement. Likewise, Jerry Goodman's soaring violin is the ideal vocal foil for an electric guitar, and the woefully underrated electric pianist and synth innovator Jan Hammer clearly helps flesh out the harmonic fabric on every arrangement, such as the funky changes of "Miles Beyond" and the classical airs of "Thousand Island Park." Ultimately, the joy of seeing Mahavishnu live was in sharing their sense of adventure and discovery, and that collective chemistry is what makes this reissue of Birds of Fire so vital. Truly, the sum was greater than the parts--too bad you can't go home again. --Chip Stern If not for the Mahavishnu Orchestra's first album, The Inner Mounting Flame, this second, 1973 outing might well be considered the greatest of all jazz-fusion essays. Both are staggering calls to celestial coursing and reckoning, and to resolution. All is breathtakingly purposeful and assured, with vast group cohesion, and phenomenal contributions by keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jerry Goodman, bassist Rick Laird, torrential drummer Billy Cobham, and foremost, by the leader, guitarist John McLaughlin. One hears all the elements of his musical makeup: Tal Farlow; Django Reinhart's stunning single-note runs; flamenco guitar; sophisticated Delta blues; way-over-the-top arena-rock distortion, feedback, and power amplification; and Indian classical and folk music. All that, plus childhood lessons in classical piano and violin and recent studies with spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, set the cosmic stew to boil. -- Peter Monaghan

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: SATRIANI,JOE
Title: SURFING WITH THE ALIEN
Street Release Date: 08/03/1999
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: BAKER,GINGER
Title: GOING BACK HOME
Street Release Date: 09/20/1994
Domestic
Genre: ROCK/POP

Reissued with sparkling audio and exclusive photographs, this first, 1971, Mahavishnu album certainly vies for the title of the greatest of all jazz-rock recordings. Through spiritually questing flights of intense fury and exquisite quiet, it never loses its sense of inexorable force. Jan Hammer (keyboards), Jerry Goodman (violin), and bassist Rick Laird are completely sympathetic with guitarist John McLaughlin's vision as the music abandons the standard jazz format of successive solos in favor of rapid, heightening, braided, interactive contributions--a structure much drawn from Indian classical music. Astoundingly, the music retains discipline. For that, thank Billy Cobham: Through all the expressive, irregular meters, he remains a steady, resolved engine of percussion, vastly resourceful but ultimately reserved. McLaughlin's alchemy distills many worlds of music?-the jazz-guitar masters, flamenco, blues, Indian forms, and his experience in the innovations of the seminal jazz-rock outfits of Miles Davis and Tony Williams. Of course, distortion, feedback, and arena-rock amplification were crucial, as was the influence of Sri Chinmoy, McLaughlin's spiritual guide. "The Noonward Race," "Vital Transformation," and "The Dance of Maya" are music for the ages. -- Peter Monaghan

A collection of material recorded between 1969 and 1972, the period just after Bitches Brew, Big Fun was not issued until 1974. By then, Davis had moved on in other directions, so it became a much-neglected album. The compositions are too scattered to maintain a focus, but there is much to hear within. For example, this was the album that introduced "Ife," a piece recorded during the On the Corner sessions. Built on the simplest of bass vamps and the skimpiest of melodies, it nonetheless was enough to incite Miles's playing. It stayed in his performance book for years, and turned up on other recordings, such as Dark Magus, Agharta, Pangaea, and In Concert. "Go Ahead, John," from the Jack Johnson period in 1970, has a sublimely nasty (and sonically infuriating) guitar solo from John McLaughlin. This digitally remastered edition of Big Fun also contains the bonus tracks "Recollection," "Trevere," "The Little Blue Frog," and "Yaphet" (all of which were also included on the recently issued Complete Bitches Brew Sessions, along with "Great Expectations," "Recollections," "Orange Lady," and "Lonely Fire"). --John F. Szwed

First time on CD for this classic jazz album originally released in 1974 on Atlantic. Musicians include John Abercrombie, the Brecker Brothers & George Duke. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Release Date: 1996-02-12, Audio CD, Ojc

Release Date: 2000-01-25, Audio CD, Ecm Records

Array