about 9.10 of tuning up surely?

But then what do I know, I carry the Yoko Ono standard around these parts!

I can heartily endorse Walter Kolosky's previous book 'Power, Passion & Beauty'. It's an absorbing read for anyone interested in the birth of jazz rock and the musical chemistry that existed within the MO.

How it says "meh" on the back of the amps.

that left me seriously cold.

but his solo album John McLaughlin Live at the Royal Festival Hall is miles better. A lovely acoustic album everyone should own.

The first chapter is written with exactly eight words in each sentence. And without using the letter "c".

Thereafter, it's eight words / thirteen words in alternate sentences.

Then no word limit, but vowels must go in alphabetical order.

No, no, it's a really good read. And it's all dead clever and that as well.

The bit about the parasynthetic polymyxolidian P#aug13dim28min scale and associated harmonics is particulaly fascinating. That jazz scales now go up to P is staggering. Who will be the first to take it to Q? Some say it can go as far as S#.

No vowels. And using a synthetic alphabet from the right side of the keyboard.

Mlklkllklpppp njht nbbhjkkllp mnmnkjkhgp p ppppp pppmm m m mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm bnbnbnnbnbnbbbbnbnbnnbhh hhhhhhhhhhhgh ghghgghghghghghgghghghghghghghgghhghh hhh hhh h

hh

Bloody Hell I'm clever, me. Just look at that. Read it. Then read it again.

...very funny Len. You got an out-loud chuckle from me, honest! :-D

...the spoof presenter bears a remarkable vocal resemblance to the speech patterns of Bill Bruford, who can be seen pontificating in this clip which might as well be an outtake from 'Jazz Club'...

Louis Balfour was based on the Bloke who did the Jazz show on the BBC World service in the 90s. If not,it's one hell of a coincidence.

...gaze on this ye mighty (and, indeed, ye scoffing) and despair!

...would you stop sitting on that fence! Just what IS your opinion of the Unsurpassed Gods Of Rock that were the Mahavishnu Orchestra...? :-D

but this is ace.

Funnily enough I feel the opposite Patrick - I think John became increasingly 'widdly' and, dare one say it, self indulgent, after the original MO period.

The final MO LP, Inner Worlds (1976) was a self indulgent travesty of half-baked avant-garde noodling and soul ballads, and after that he had odd periods or moments of hitting the motherlode again - I do like the atmosphere and consistency of a lot of Shakti (late 70s version) and the 'Electric Guitarist' album was surprisingly taut and not the superstar jam nonsense it could have been.

But after that.... the less said about almost everything he did in the 80s the better, with perhaps the exception of the 'Live At Festival Hall 1989-ish (from memory) LP with Trilok Gurtu... there were odd moments of inspiration during the 90s but his music became very piecemeal and ill-focused to my ears. No consistency, too many directions, some unpleasant/annoying guitar 'sounds' to my ears...

I've seen him in concert three times - circa 1990 in acoustic duo with Paco De Lucia, circa 1997 with the Joey De Francisco trio and a few years later with the abysmally self-satisfied New York 8 or 9 piece band whose collective name I mercifully forget. The organ trio was easily the best. But still only an echo of the massively disciplined juggernaut of power, passion & beauty that was the Mark 1 Mahavishnu Orchestra. Honestly, they remain my favourite band - an experience head and shoulders above any other music. I'm so grateful for the tranche of concert downloads available from wolfgangsvault.com - 30 thus far, almost all from 1973 - and I'm hoping they'll upload more soon (they've some 1972 and 1975 shows awaiting liberation)...

John McLaughlin and Billy Cobham are amazing.

Even without the incredible music, it's worth watching just for the wonderful close-up footage of the Gibson twin neck.