Rick Laird

Rick Laird was the quiet member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra -- while John McLaughlin, Jan Hammer, Jerry Goodman, and Billy Cobham each regularly tried to outdo his bandmates in speed and volume, Laird provided the anchor to the group's sound. Not that he didn't occasionally get the chance to step out in front for a brief solo spot, but he seldom broke his playing down into anything anywhere near the seeming 32nd or 64th notes that McLaughlin & co. sometimes aimed for. Even before he was a member of that short-lived best-selling jazz-rock fusion group, however, Laird was one of...