Rick Laird (1940–2021)

Rick Laird, bassist, most notably with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, later a photographer, has died at the age of eighty. The New York Times has an obituary.

In my high-school days, the first incarnation of the Mahavishnu Orchestra — John McLaughlin (guitar), Jerry Goodman (violin), Jan Hammer (keyboards), Rick Laird (bass), and Billy Cobham (drums) — was a regular presence on my turntable.