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Thread: New Jerry Goodman Interview- On Mahavishnu, Dixie Dregs, and more!

  1. #1
    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    New Jerry Goodman Interview- On Mahavishnu, Dixie Dregs, and more!

    Had the pleasure of chatting with the legendary fusion violinist today.



    **For Episode #75 we caught up violinist Jerry Goodman. We discussed the recent session work he is doing and then looked back on his amazing career. We discuss his early days with The Flock and his first use of the "electric" violin. How he came to work with John McLaughlin on John's solo album My Goals Beyond comes up next, leading to the creation of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. We discuss their seminal fusion albums The Inner Mounting Flame and the follow up, Birds of Fire. Their creation and the tours for them. Also, we look at the live Between Nothingness and Eternity and it's studio counterpart, The Lost Trident Sessions. We also discuss Jerry hooking up with the Dixie Dregs in the mid 90s and the studio album they did, Full Circle. Jerry's soundtrack work for Lily Tomlin and Steve Martin come up as well. Albums from Derik Sherinian and other guest spots are discussed as well.
    Last edited by Sean; 03-14-2021 at 01:51 AM.

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    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
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    Interesting interview Sean, Jerry is a legend. He is a fairly quiet type of interviewee but a massively talented musician. He seems to be sincerely appreciative of compliments you provided. Sounds like a humble person. I enjoyed the conversation on MO - such a profound influence in 70s fusion. Nice catch and interview.
    Last edited by mozo-pg; 03-28-2021 at 09:11 PM.
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    Member Vic2012's Avatar
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    I bookmarked it. I saw him with the Dixie Dregs in Ft. Lauderdale in the early 00s. Will watch it this week.

  4. #4
    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    Bump!

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    Member nosebone's Avatar
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    Another great job Sean!

    Read Ken Scotts book.

    He offers another perspective on the Mahavishnu breakup.
    no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone

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    Member Munster's Avatar
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    Thanks for the bump, I had been meaning to listen. Great interview and fascinating to hear some of Jerry's backstory. I loved The Flock's first album (not so much 'Dinosaur Swamp') and Jerry's violin was central to the band's unique sound. He is also the musician behind that iconic image that appeared on the cover of a 'Fill Your Head With Rock' sampler from CBS in the late 1960s - in denim, with chest bared and hair flying as he played his violin. I must look for that film he mentioned - Stamping Ground. I have seen little footage of him playing live with The Flock. Most of the live footage of the band is recorded after his departure and what I have seen is disappointing. They seemd to lose shape once Jerry left and perhaps coasted on their reputation. It was fascinating too to hear how he felt - it was like torture, he said - playing alongside McLaughlin in the Mahavishnu Orchestra. As I say, a great interview by a fine musician.

    Later: I could only find a single track from Flock playing at the Kralingen festival in 1970 but think I have seen a fuller version of the concert, which looked a good one. Here is the track I found.

    Last edited by Munster; 03-16-2021 at 06:41 AM.
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    Member Vic2012's Avatar
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    Good interview. Very interesting.....

  8. #8
    Great interview!

    What you could've possibly asked him as well, is whether he was aware of some of the English prog(ressive) rock violin players such as Daryl Way, David Cross or Grahame Smith.
    Since he wasn't so steeped in jazz, there probably wouldn't have been a case of pre-emptive skepticism of the ‚jazz snob‘ variety.

    Another thing is his story about a contemporary Jan Hammer interview with Jazziz, slagging off Eastern philosophy and religion, and insulting John's objective wholesale.
    For once, Jazziz seems to be starting much later (late Eighties), as they advertise themselves as 35 years of documenting music.

    The closest thing I've come across was an April 1973 Downbeat interview of Goodman, Laird and Hammer, where this question came up, but got answered in much more positive way.
    It's here: http://users.cs.cf.ac.uk/Dave.Marsha...ision.html#jan

    db: Do you think you have been influenced by Eastern philosophy?
    Hammer: I'm sure I was. I was touched by it in more ways than one. I had been brought up as a Roman Catholic. I'd say I'm a religious person but I learned that we need something universal rather than sectarian. To me there is no church in the world to give the answers but then I didn't know that. I was into that Catholic trip. I went to church every Sunday when I was home. Now I've learned for the first time in my life that I'm aware of God as opposed to religion. But even more than Eastern philosophy, I was influenced by Arhtur Tannoff [actually Arthur Janov], who is a doctor who wrote about the primal therapy. That brought me much closer to reality than ever before. He has three books out: "Anatomy of Mental Illness", "Primal Dream", "and Primal Revolution". I read these books. I've never been so enlightened by books in my life.

    This brought me to a point where I really had to start facing up to things that I had neglected to face for many years, like 25 years. If I had read the books five years ago I wouldn't have known what he was talking about. Now it's all falling into place. Another thing that really opened my ears was Indian music. I listened to it many times before but I didn't know how to listen. If you don't know how to listen to it, all you hear is a drone. People who listen to it for the first time say it sounds like bad bagpipes. There's more to it than that. The drone after a while just fades into the background and all the other music is superimposed. It's unbelievable! I thought I knew a lot about rhythm but when I really listened to Indian music I realized how little I know. How little we in the West know about rhythm. It's a totally neglected area of music. Indian music uses pulse. Western music is either 4/4 or total craziness which you find in contemporary classical music. They claim they get varied rhythms. Various rhythms doesn't mean it's going to create any tension in the way Indian music would. They build up this incredible tension.

    db: Because Eastern influence has affected you, I've heard you are into drums.
    Hammer: I consider myself a drummer almost as much as a piano player now. I'm involved. That's why I like playing with Elvin Jones, sitting next to him on stage absorbing his approach and learning. It's school. That's what school's all about. I mean, school is usually sitting in the classroom while the teacher writes something on the blackboard. That's all bullshit. You've got to sit next to your teacher and he plays something and you play something. I mean that's the Indian way, one for one. That's the only way to teach music.
    So, things just had to be a bit more complex, although the Sri Chinmoy thing surely got into the way at some point.

    I actually found this group interview from Crawdaddy magazine (linked from the wiki page), which gives much more insight into the, um, inner mounting flames of that band of fire (sorry for the pyro puns).
    Seems to be more about writing credits and exposure.

    https://archive.is/20121208221016/ht...-crawdaddy.htm

    An interesting aspect for me was, that Jerry and Jan were around 5 years younger than the rest of the band, so that alone could explain some of the tensions and differences in mentality.
    _________

    Oh, and Peter Baumann of Private Music is of course an ex-member of Tangerine Dream
    τί ἐστιν ὃ μίαν ἔχον φωνὴν τετράπουν καὶ δίπουν καὶ τρίπουν γίνεται;

    εἰσί κασίγνηται δισσαὶ, ὠν ἡ μία τίκτει
    τὴν ἑτέραν αὐτὴ δέ τεκοῦσ` ὑπό τὴσδη τεκνούται
    τίς δὲ κασίγνηται δύο;

  9. #9
    Member nosebone's Avatar
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    I also remember reading where Jan Hammer read about Mahavishnu's breakup in a John McLaughlin interview in Downbeat magazine.
    no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone

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    Member since March 2004 mozo-pg's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by sphinx View Post
    Great interview!

    What you could've possibly asked him as well, is whether he was aware of some of the English prog(ressive) rock violin players such as Daryl Way, David Cross or Grahame Smith.
    I would have added Mik Kaminski.
    What can this strange device be? When I touch it, it brings forth a sound (2112)

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Munster View Post
    Thanks for the bump, I had been meaning to listen. Great interview and fascinating to hear some of Jerry's backstory. I loved The Flock's first album (not so much 'Dinosaur Swamp') and Jerry's violin was central to the band's unique sound. He is also the musician behind that iconic image that appeared on the cover of a 'Fill Your Head With Rock' sampler from CBS in the late 1960s - in denim, with chest bared and hair flying as he played his violin. I must look for that film he mentioned - Stamping Ground. I have seen little footage of him playing live with The Flock. Most of the live footage of the band is recorded after his departure and what I have seen is disappointing. They seemd to lose shape once Jerry left and perhaps coasted on their reputation. It was fascinating too to hear how he felt - it was like torture, he said - playing alongside McLaughlin in the Mahavishnu Orchestra. As I say, a great interview by a fine musician.

    Later: I could only find a single track from Flock playing at the Kralingen festival in 1970 but think I have seen a fuller version of the concert, which looked a good one. Here is the track I found.

    I found this after watching his interview with Jerry.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekf-prDjWPY&t=3001s Jerry's featured with The Flock around the 49 minute mark

  12. #12
    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    True! Jerry sent me a link to that after our chat. He was killing it back then too!

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    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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  14. #14
    Outraged bystander markwoll's Avatar
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    Excellent interview.
    "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
    -- Aristotle
    Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
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  15. #15
    Moderator Sean's Avatar
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    Thanks, Mark! Thank you all for checking it out. Jerry was/is so damn cool!

  16. #16
    Outraged bystander markwoll's Avatar
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    I don't recall if he mentioned the new Gavin Harrison / Antoine Fafard - Chemical Reactions.
    Also Fafard's Proto Mundi, which features Jerry.
    That was an autobuy, but having his name associated with the project made it more interesting
    He is not just sitting around. Although travel isn't what it used to be.
    "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
    -- Aristotle
    Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
    “A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain

  17. #17
    Outraged bystander markwoll's Avatar
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    Some really fine work by Jerry.
    "It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
    -- Aristotle
    Nostalgia, you know, ain't what it used to be. Furthermore, they tells me, it never was.
    “A Man Who Does Not Read Has No Appreciable Advantage Over the Man Who Cannot Read” - Mark Twain

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