With Understanding Comes Appreciation
Take 5 jazz maestros from 5 different countries. Lock them in a studio together, crank them up to 11 & have them play as fast as they can and you get Mahavishnu Orchestra's "The Inner Mounting Flame." Easily one of the most explosive albums of all time. Billy Cobham's drumming on this album is absolutely breathtaking. This masterpiece sits in my all time essential albums. It just doesn't get any better.
When Jimi Hendrix died suddenly in 1970, connoisseurs of high decibel sounds unheard on the electric guitar were faced with a search for a new messiah. In virtuoso British guitarist-composer John McLaughlin, they found one. McLaughlin (b. 1942) arrived in America early in 1969 to join the pace-setting drummer Tony Williams and organist Larry Young in the Tony Williams Lifetime. This new venture fused jazz improvisational daring with rock'n'roll's sheer energy. After leaving Lifetime, McLaughlin became a disciple of the guru Sri Chinmoy, who began calling him "Mahavishnu" ...[CD liner notes].