Billy Cobham/Colin Towns/HR Big Band, Meeting of the Spirits

Meeting of the Spirits [A Celebration of the music of the Mahavishnu Orchestra]

Billy Cobham/Colin Towns/HR Big Band

1. HOPE 1:44

2. BIRDS OF FIRE 6:23

3. MILES BEYOND 4:40

4. RESOLUTION 4:18

5. COSMIC STRUT 3:42

6. DAWN 9:08

7. ETERNTYS BREATH 1 & 2 7:01

8. SANCTUARY 10:29

9. CELESTIAL TERRESTRIAL COMMUTERS 3:18

10. YOU KNOW, YOU KNOW 5:19

11. ONE WORD 11:56

12. MEETING OF THE SPIRITS 8:28

Heinz Dieter Sauerborn as, fl

Oliver Leicht as, ss, fl

Harry Petersen ts, cl, fl;

Johannes Enders ts, ss, fl

Rainer Heute bs, bcl;

Tobias Weidinger, Martin Auer, Thomas Vogel, Axel Schlosser trp/flgh;

G nter Bollmann, Peter Feil, Christian Jaksj trb

Manfred Honetschl ger btrb;

Martin Scales g

Peter Reiter p, fender rhodes, keyb;

Thomas Heidepriem e-b

Billy Cobham dr

"In the earlier days of my career, I was, and still am, a great fan of Thelonious Monk. One day I found a recording of his music transcribed for big band. This was a milestone recording for me since I grew up listening to big bands, but always played in small groups, and to hear Thelonious' music in this way was revolutionary. Today I have been granted the same honor by the hr-Bigband and my old colleague from those marvelous times, Billy Cobham. I would have never imagined these particular compositions being played by a big band, but in a way you have made a dream come true! Very special thanks!!! " - John McLaughlin

Hearing strings and a brass section playing Mahavishnu music is nothing new, but listening to horn solos in the middle of your favourite Mahavishnu Orchestra I and II cuts is quite surreal (Bob Knapp's killer performances accepted), but it works. In fact it works really very well and exhumes that old dilemma of what if John McLaughlin and Wayne Shorter had joined forces to build on their few shared recording dates, at the roughly simultaneous births of both Mahavishnu and Weather Report? Or even, what if McLaughlin had accepted Miles' offer of a permanent gig? Would Miles have allowed him writing credits? Probably not. *Poof* dream over and back to the present.

Any recording like this has to live up to your expectations and innevitable comparison with the original behemoth, the Maha-mountain of the mind, the pinnacle of music; whether it's a dedicated cover band like the Mahavishnu Project, or a solo effort like Gary Husband's pianistic interpretations, or simply an outfit that features Mahavishnu pieces in it's repertoire (the list is almost endless, but, for example, Leo Kottke, Ellery Eskelin, California Guitar Trio, ConFusion, Wild Strings Quartet, etc, etc, etc).

The compositions are, as you know, amazing, and therefore beyond reproach. Cobham, the only other link to the past, still has the magic touch 30 years later. His lightning-fast snare runs accentuate every feasible rhythm note. He is the human dynamo. It was a great call getting him on board. Even Narada couldn't have realistically sat in that chair for the Mahavishnu Orchestra I numbers on this gig. Power, yes. Rapid light touch, no.

Even so, with all the brilliant performances captured on this live recording, collectively striving to summit Mount Mahavishnu, there's something sluggish about the end result, like sucking on rarified air at 8,000 metres. As one listener put it rather well, "[a]t times it sounds a bit clunky (I imagine some worried looks being exchanged between band members along the lines of 'where are we...?'". Part of the reason could be the unfamiliarity of the material to the individuals in the big band ensemble, or even a too carefully planned orchestration by soundtrack specialist Colin Towns who did such a great job on Guy Barker's recent album ironically called "Soundtrack". But, ultimately the responsibility for tempo lies with the drummer, but this is a bit of an enigma. Having experienced Cobham playing live recently I can vouch that it's not age. Boomer getting old, impossible!

But, ironically the weakest point is probably inclusion of the guitar. The aptly named Scales pulls off a reasonable McLaughlin impersonation, but his natural style has a prettier phrasing than the Mahavishnu and his weird choices of patches and use of bebop lines in place of searing stratospheric transcendence grates in a few places. Good then that a lot of the soloing is allocated to the brass section.

Nonetheless, the album is great listening for Mahavishnu fans and other armchair climbers, and pleasantly surprising even if a bit too conceived to knock your boots off, assuming you ever put them back on, 30 years ago!