Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Music That You Don't Listen To (But Probably Should)

Mahavishnu Orchestra. Led by John Mclaughlin (who was in Miles Davis' band for a while, so you know he's solid) was an international group of jazz cats turned rockers - what those in the know call "fusion." Some people complain about the over-the-top musicianship on display here, and at times it does get a bit too technical to be all that enjoyable, but most of the time they throw in enough hooks to keep it catchy while they show off their chops. Here's a video of the whole band:

"One Word"
I'm so glad that we have YouTube now to fill in where date of birth (by the way, for anyone who cares, I turned 30 today! Boo!) has prevented me from seeing some great musicians performing in their heydays.

Here's a video of John Mclaughlin (with Al Di Meola and Paco DeLucia aka The Guitar Trio, who are also awesome in there own right. If I do this again maybe I'll find a video of something from Friday Night In San Francisco to prattle on about) playing a Mahavishnu Orchestra piece (and also one of my favorite songs, this son of a bitch plays in my head a good portion of the time, along with another Mahavishnu tune "Birds Of Fire, which I can't find a decent video of):

"Meeting of the Spirits"

Here's the same thing, electrified:

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