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Rick Laird, R.I.P.


mjzee

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RIP indeed.

It was interesting to find out just how much of a "straight ahead" player he had been before Mahavishnu, not at all one of the chomping-at-the-bit type who were compelled to push the barriers and add the rock electric. But there he was, and there he did. and then there he wasn't.

I went on a mini-OG MAhavishnu binge last year, too just a few days (those records weren't very long, so total-immersion in all 4 (yes, counting Trident) was not difficult, and yes, they were more or less all the same record when you get down to it, but, still, powerful and certainly paradigm-changing music. And there Rick Laird was, holding it down like a rock (no pun intended).

I still wonder...here he was, walking the upright and all of a sudden, 17/8 and shit, loud music and loud egos...how many times did he ask himself how the hell did I get here?

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1 hour ago, BillF said:

Victor Feldman (pno), Rick Laird (bs), Ronnie Stevenson (dms)

Yes, he was in the Ronnie Scott house rhythm section in the mid 60s. That one is from Jazz 625 I think. Venue - the Marquee?

RIP - a very solid bassist.

Edited by sidewinder
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8 hours ago, JSngry said:

RIP indeed.

It was interesting to find out just how much of a "straight ahead" player he had been before Mahavishnu, not at all one of the chomping-at-the-bit type who were compelled to push the barriers and add the rock electric. But there he was, and there he did. and then there he wasn't.

I went on a mini-OG MAhavishnu binge last year, too just a few days (those records weren't very long, so total-immersion in all 4 (yes, counting Trident) was not difficult, and yes, they were more or less all the same record when you get down to it, but, still, powerful and certainly paradigm-changing music. And there Rick Laird was, holding it down like a rock (no pun intended).

I still wonder...here he was, walking the upright and all of a sudden, 17/8 and shit, loud music and loud egos...how many times did he ask himself how the hell did I get here?

IMHO the presence of relatively low key band members like Laird and Jerry Goodman is part of what made the 1st MO lineup the best one

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12 hours ago, JSngry said:

RIP indeed.

It was interesting to find out just how much of a "straight ahead" player he had been before Mahavishnu, not at all one of the chomping-at-the-bit type who were compelled to push the barriers and add the rock electric. But there he was, and there he did. and then there he wasn't.

I went on a mini-OG MAhavishnu binge last year, too just a few days (those records weren't very long, so total-immersion in all 4 (yes, counting Trident) was not difficult, and yes, they were more or less all the same record when you get down to it, but, still, powerful and certainly paradigm-changing music. And there Rick Laird was, holding it down like a rock (no pun intended).

I still wonder...here he was, walking the upright and all of a sudden, 17/8 and shit, loud music and loud egos...how many times did he ask himself how the hell did I get here?

Probably drove him into photography. RIP, Mr Laird.

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18 hours ago, JSngry said:

RIP indeed.

It was interesting to find out just how much of a "straight ahead" player he had been before Mahavishnu, not at all one of the chomping-at-the-bit type who were compelled to push the barriers and add the rock electric. 

He was that after Mahavishnu just as well. I remember hearing him in a local club in the 1980's backing Joe Henderson . IIRC he made an LP as a leader around that time, too.

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Yes, that's the one. That was the quartet Joe took on tour. So it was 1976 ... Joe toured here so often. I knew it with a different cover:

R-3676757-1483667903-5232.jpeg.jpg

The same quartet recorded another LP under pianist Tom Grant's name for Timeless:

mR-3742156-1347612468-5605.jpeg.jpg

Laird plays nicely on this Gerry Niewood LP, too:

R-2794417-1410104649-5451.jpeg.jpg

Edited by mikeweil
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