1. Richard Quentin Laird was an Irish musician, best known as the bassist and a founding member of the jazz fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra, with which he performed from 1971 to 1973.
22 Facts About Rick Laird
1. 2.
Rick Laird was born in Dublin on 5 February 1941 to a musical family.
3.
Rick Laird's mother played the piano in a variety of styles and his father played the ukulele; Laird started playing both instruments when he was three.
4.
At around five years of age, Rick Laird started formal tuition in the guitar and piano, and he had already started to read sheet music.
5.
Rick Laird soon quit the piano as he did not perform well, which led him to take up painting and drawing.
6.
At twelve, Rick Laird began lessons in Spanish guitar, but his teacher used books that he felt were too difficult, so he quit.
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Rick Laird then discovered jazz from his mother, who bought her son a pair of drum brushes and made him play along to records.
8.
At sixteen, Rick Laird moved to New Zealand with his father and worked on a sheep farm.
9.
Rick Laird bought a string bass and played along to Brown's records, and two weeks later he joined a local group in Auckland.
10.
When Rick Laird was nineteen, he moved to Sydney, Australia for two years, where there was a more active jazz scene.
11.
Around this time, Rick Laird's goal was to relocate to the US, but he was encouraged to relocate to England in 1962.
12.
From 1963 to 1964, Rick Laird studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and played in The Brian Auger Trinity and The Brian Auger Group, the latter of which featured guitarist John McLaughlin.
13.
Rick Laird clashed with Auger when he was asked to switch from upright to electric bass to complement the music they were playing, but Rick Laird refused.
14.
Rick Laird then accepted the offer to become house bassist at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, playing with many visiting musicians including Wes Montgomery and Sonny Stitt.
15.
Rick Laird is featured on the soundtrack of Alfie with Sonny Rollins.
16.
In 1966, Rick Laird won a scholarship to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts after sending a tape of himself playing with Stan Getz.
17.
Rick Laird was a founding member and electric bassist of the jazz fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra, the original line-up of which were active from June 1971 to December 1973.
18.
Guitar Player described Rick Laird's playing: "Rick Laird's solid, economical lines in conjunction with Billy Cobham's meticulous, powerful drumming provided a strong anchor for the odd-tempo and often volatile solos [from the rest of the band]".
19.
In 1999, Rick Laird had started to compose on his daughter's iMac computer.
20.
In March 2009, Rick Laird discovered a collection of photographs that he had taken of musical artists, including Miles Davis, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Elvin Jones, Keith Jarrett and many others.
21.
In early 2021, Rick Laird's daughter announced that he had entered hospice care.
22.
Rick Laird died of lung cancer in New City, Rockland County, New York on 4 July 2021, aged 80.