inspired.
Whereas, on Visions of the Emerald Beyond, because we had just come off the road after playing Apocalypse, I was a tiger. And it shows because I’m overplaying all over that album. Wherever there was even a tiny space, I’m filling it up.
Had you listened to Cobham before joining the Mahavishnu Orchestra?
Yeah, I’m a great admirer of Billy. You see I never came up around jazz. I was a rocker. I come from Kalamazoo which is very close to Detroit and Chicago and of course Detroit white boys growing up had the influence of Motown. They had that soul in them. So, if they were playing rock, it was funky. I mean, Mitch

Ryder and even the MCs had that funk in it. Ted Nugent and the Amboy Dukes had some funk in it. And that was my competition so, to compete, you had to be loud and raunchy, yet still funky. And then Jimi came out and Mitch Mitchell was my strongest influence, because he had the chops and the feel that I admired, but he played back. There are three different kinds of time; there’s “back” which is like the John Bonham, Mitch Mitchell feel, “very back”, almost like it’s dragging. Then there’s “on top of it” like Tony Williams. It’s like so on top of it you better get out of my way! And then, there are the cats who are in the middle and that’s like the pop style. Gadd is even “back”, he’s way back. But he’s beautiful. 
You mentioned playing with Glenn

Hughes; did you hear Deep Purple’s drummer, Ian Paice?
I like him. Bad, bad foot. He had a foot that wouldn’t quit. I threatened to kill him, too. I love Ian. You know who else was a major influence on me when I was 18 or 19? There was an album that came out by Cold Blood that had a drummer named Sandy McGee and this cat was so clean. And quick; lightning quick. It’s an album called Sisyphus.  But my goal was to be Jimi’s drummer. I graduated in 1970 which was the year just after he passed. As soon as I graduated I was all ready to go polish his shoes, iron his pants, comb his hair, anything just to play with him. Not that I thought  he was that stupendous at that time, because he was going downhill, but he needed

some love in his life. The cats around him were feeding off him. Then when he passed, I focused on Mahavishnu because he was the only one who impressed me at that time. Mahavishnu is genius.
Mahavishnu and Cobham are genius. Elvin James and Coltrane – the world knows about it, it’s history. Mitchell and Hendrix – the world knows about it, it’s history. There’s chemistry there. It’s just the way one guy can feel it and another guy can feel it and the aspiration between the two. It’s just magic.
I feel that kind of an affinity towards Ray Gomez and I hope someday the world can see that. Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker. Ringo and Paul. That’s the magic I’m talking about.