If you’ve heard the cavernous sounds emanating from the 20-second opener to Mahogany Rush’s 1978 Live record, Introduction, then you’ve probably caught the vibe of Frank Marino, a Canadian virtuoso whose influence is only rivaled by the shadows cast by his ever-colossal pedalboards.
Marino, who was born in Montreal in 1954, easily traversed the genres in the ’70s, laying down hard rock licks as effortlessly as he did blues and psych across records like Maxoom (1972) – recorded when he was just 16 – and Mahogany Rush IV (1976), which – despite being critically panned at the time – is seen as a masterstroke on the backside of songs like Dragonfly, which Marino says he “put together in about five minutes.” Damn.
