McLaughlin and company have been playing as a unit for a little more than a year as of this writing, but from the sound of their most recent performances and especially the new Birds Of Fire it seems they are as attuned to each other as a group of five musicians are ever going to get. McLaughlin, violinist Jerry Goodman and pianist Jan Hammer all command such quick improvisatory skills that when...

This is the third incarnation of John McLaughlin's electric orchestra. The first was a small recording group heard on the Douglas label, My Goal's Beyond. The phenomenally successful second M.O. introduced Billy Cobham and Jan Hammer to large audiences and established McLaughlin as the premier heavy axe on the jazz/rock continuum. With the new M.O. John essays to bring his music to Symphony Hall,...

The original Mahavishnu Orchestra was the most important single force in breaking the pop barrier for jazzderived electric music; its converts, having found in the group's virtuosic soloing and thunderous ensemble presence a revelation of taste-shaping magnitude, never quite forgave guitarist John McLaughlin for disbanding. The release last year of a generally disappointing album featuring a...

Mahavishnu John McLaughlin is unquestionably one of the greatest guitarists playing anything remotely resembling rock to emerge in the past five years. But after the brilliance of Inner Mounting Flame and Birds Of Fire, Between Nothingness & Eternity—Live is a bit of a disappointment.

First, the song titles are new, but the music isn't. The sound is heavier, more abrasive and, as befits a live...