1971–1974: First incarnation By mid-1971, McLaughlin had been a member of
Miles Davis' band and
Tony Williams' Lifetime, and released three solo albums. He then set about forming his own
jazz fusion group, the first line-up of which featured Panamanian drummer
Billy Cobham, Irish bassist
Rick Laird, Czech keyboardist
Jan Hammer, and American violinist
Jerry Goodman. Laird had known McLaughlin for several years and accepted the invitation. Hammer was found through a mutual friendship with
Miroslav Vitouš of the jazz fusion group
Weather Report. The group's name originates from Indian spiritual leader and guru
Sri Chinmoy, of whom McLaughlin had become a follower, who gave him the name Mahavishnu, "Maha" meaning "great" in
Sanskrit and "vishnu" after the Hindu deity
Vishnu. With the line-up secured, the five met in New York City in July 1971 and rehearsed for one week. They adopted an instrumental fusion sound characterised by electric rock, funk, complex
time signatures, and arrangements influenced by McLaughlin's interest in
Indian classical music. Their debut gigs followed at the
Gaslight at the Au Go Go as the opening act for bluesman
John Lee Hooker. McLaughlin recalled: "The first set was shaky but the second set just took off and every night it was great. They wanted to hold us over and a few days after the second week ... we went into the studio". McLaughlin secured a record deal with
Columbia Records, giving the green light to record an album.
The Inner Mounting Flame was released in November 1971, peaking at No. 11 on the
Billboard Jazz Albums and No. 89 on the
Billboard 200. This was followed by
Birds of Fire (1973) which peaked at No. 15 on the
Billboard 200. Due to the pressures of sudden fame, exhaustion and a lack of communication, the original band began to tire. The stress was further exacerbated by problematic recording sessions in June 1973 at London's
Trident Studios that found some of the players not speaking to others. Their project was never fully completed. Cobham was disappointed and felt that the group "were knocking on the door of something really new. Something unique, something that had never been done before in rock and roll." This was followed by the release of their first live album
Between Nothingness & Eternity, which featured material from the Trident sessions. According to Laird, the band did not say goodbye to each other afterward. In January 1974, McLaughlin split the group. and Gayle Moran being replaced with
Stu Goldberg. Ponty would later settle over the royalties for the tracks
Pegasus and
Opus 1 for an undisclosed amount of money.
1984–1987: Third incarnation After the dissolution of this version of the Orchestra, McLaughlin formed another group called
Shakti to explore his interest in Indian music; following that, he went on to form other bands including the
One Truth Band and
the Translators, and a guitar trio with
Al Di Meola and flamenco guitarist
Paco de Lucía. In 1984, McLaughlin reformed the Mahavishnu Orchestra with
Bill Evans on saxophones,
Jonas Hellborg on bass,
Mitchel Forman on keyboards, and original member
Billy Cobham on drums. Cobham participated in the sessions for their self-titled 1984 album, but was replaced by
Danny Gottlieb for live work, and
Jim Beard replaced
Mitchel Forman for the latter period of this band's life. This band's overall sound was different from the original Mahavishnu Orchestra, in particular because of McLaughlin's extensive use of the
Synclavier synthesizer system.
Post-Mahavishnu Orchestra McLaughlin then worked with a number of incarnations of the John McLaughlin Guitar Trio, all of which featured
Trilok Gurtu on percussion, and, at various times,
Jeff Berlin,
Kai Eckhardt, and
Dominique Di Piazza on bass. He then formed the Free Spirits, a guitar, organ and drums trio, with
Joey DeFrancesco on Hammond organ and trumpet, and
Dennis Chambers on drums, as well as touring and recording again with
Al Di Meola and
Paco de Lucía.
Billy Cobham went on to perform as a solo artist, recording many albums including
Total Eclipse,
Crosswinds and
Spectrum, and toured with the "Billy Cobham &
George Duke Band" for many years.
Jan Hammer went on to collaborate with
Jeff Beck (together with
Narada Michael Walden) in Beck's acclaimed album
Wired and also recorded a
live album with Beck. He released several solo albums and composed the theme and incidental music for the hit 1980s TV show
Miami Vice.
Jerry Goodman recorded the album
Like Children with Mahavishnu keyboard alumnus Jan Hammer. Starting in 1985 he recorded three solo albums for
Private Music and went on tour with his own band, as well as with
Shadowfax and the
Dixie Dregs.
Rick Laird played with
Stan Getz and
Chick Corea as well as releasing one solo LP,
Soft Focus, but retired from the music business in 1982. He worked both as a bass teacher and photographer since then. He died on July 4, 2021, at the age of 80. == Legacy ==