Rick Laird, bassist at the forefront of fusion, dies at 80 The Inner Mounting Flame (1971). by Giovanni Russonello (NYT NEWS SERVICE) .- Rick Laird, a bassist who played a central role in the jazz-rock fusion boom as a founding member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, then retired from music to pursue a career in photography, died on July 4 in New City, New York. He was 80. His daughter, Sophie Rose Laird, said the cause was lung cancer. Guitarist John McLaughlin called Laird in 1971 with an invitation to join a group he was forming with the goal of uniting the jazz-rock aesthetic which McLaughlin had helped establish as a member of Miles Davis and Tony Williams earliest electric bands with Indian classical music and European experimentalism.