The Supernova that Was Jazz-Rock Fusion

The brief but revolutionary association between guitar legend John McLaughlin and the precocious talent of young drumming phenom Billy Cobham lasted only three years but their meeting and collaboration represents an event similar yo that of finding the "God particle" in the CERN Large Hadron Supercollider: It produced the paradigm-shattering and new-paradigm defining phenomenon that was The Mahavishnu Orchestra--which was, in my opinion, the most influential single album to the realization of the peak manifestations of Jazz-Rock Fusion as well as a huge influencer to the future choices of Progressive Rock artists.  - February 18, 1969 : Two weeks in the United States and John is wrangled into the February 18 recording sessions for the material that would become Miles Davis' In a Silent Way .     John had only come to the U.S. at the request of drummer Tony Williams--to join his "Lifetime" power trio--but, despite his commitment to performing and practicing with...

The mysterious and ethereal sound of Eberhard Weber's "underwater" bass playing first came to my attention in 1978 when a local radio station in my university town kept playing songs from The Following Morning on their late night programming. Afraid that nothing could ever compare to the transportive music of Side One of that album, I was very hesitant to make any further purchases into his burgeoning catalogue of music, but I could not help but notice his presence on several other non-Weber albums that I purchased (Pat Metheny, Gary Burton). Also, I was inhibited by the illusion that Eberhard's magic could only happen in the company/collaboration of another sensitive pianist like Rainer Brüninghaus. Plus, I had tried a few other ECM records and had less success connecting with those albums than I wanted or expected. (The Manfred Eicher touch seemed to provide starkly spacious music of impeccable sound clarity and musicianship but at compositional sophistication leve...