Mahavishnu Orchestra
Birds Of Fire

Playing for Miles Davis and on an album like "Bitches Brew" can have even "apocalyptic" effects on your vision of music. And here is the young John McLaughlin, having separated from Davis, forming with the great and energetic Billy Cobham what is perhaps the main fusion group of the 70s, the Mahavishnu Orchestra. This group of the highest stature and immense technical prowess had among its ranks some of the best musicians of the electric jazz scene at that time. Besides the aforementioned McLaughlin on guitar and Cobham on drums, we have Jan Hammer on keyboards, at the time a fresh graduate from Berklee College of Music, the classically trained violinist Jerry Goodman, who was very important in the group for his delightful classical incursions alongside McLaughlin, and Rick Laird on bass, who would later play with the great Chick Corea.

The album in question is "Birds Of Fire", their second work and in my opinion the most intense and sophisticated of their short but great career. The sound of this album, with its excellent production, seems never to age, which tells us that, at the time, an album like this was truly a revolution. The beautiful unison of guitar and violin built on scales never played before, and enriched by a seismic rhythm section and the sonic wall of keyboards, help create a vibrant atmosphere of great musical and emotional tension. The influences of Davis in McLaughlin's arrangements are evident, but instead of sinking into repetitiveness and unnecessary citations, McLaughlin proves his artistic maturity and shows us that he is no longer dependent on the great Miles. But I dive headfirst into describing the tracks, sometimes so complex and rich as to seem "a construction of a baroque cathedral."

The first track, eponymous with the album, opens with powerful yet menacing gong strikes that are continuously played until all the instruments join in, laying the ground powerfully for the unique and unusual riffs of the violin and guitar.

After the fury of the first track, sometimes with almost improvised cadences, the second track "Miles Beyond" comes in. A bouncing and lively blues organ opens the piece with moderation, predominantly slow and dragging but never predictable or danceable. It is also noted how Cobham does not want to play on simplicity, instead intending to mesmerize the listener with continuous drum fills with a progressive touch and extremely complex fingerings.

"Celestial Terrestrial Commuters" almost seems like a journey into the universe, and the spatial and futuristic keyboard sound reigns throughout the track; the whole band moves in territories unexplored and hardly conceivable for an untrained ear.

"Thousand Island Park" showcases the group's classical influences, beginning with very delicate classical guitar passages and continuing with other swirling rounds with a flamenco and Latin flavor, typical of McLaughlin's guitar style (the album where he plays with Paco De Lucia and Al Di Meola is very interesting...to say the least, impressive). The group supports the classical guitar with equally virtuosic performances that do not distort the meaning of the piece.

The brief "Hope" contains fascinating and very soft violin phrases which, with the powerful syncopations of the drums, give a sense of great movement and spaciousness.

Cobham's lightning-fast drum roll starts "One World", a piece with an engaging and continuous rhythm, and with endless guitar, violin, and keyboard solos that, with a climax, achieve a musical symbiosis and an unprecedented interplay. In this track, there is a feeling that the musical phrases chase each other (human madness).

After the dreamy and calmer "Sanctuary" and "Open Country Joy", we arrive somewhat sadly at the last track "Resolution". The piece is a continual crescendo, synthesizing all the emotions of the album, despite being relatively simple in structure but shocking in content.

The virtuosic, useful, fresh, and never predictable technique combined with a feeling and a revolutionary approach make the atmosphere almost explosive. Anyone seeking a descriptive meaning in this album will fail in their quest because Mahavishnu Orchestra's music, being sophisticated music, "does not describe, but underscores". Truly a pity that this great and crazy band disbanded shortly after, but certainly left works that rightfully enter the musical jazz firmament, but the more cultured, studied, interesting, and dazzling kind.