“There were these preposterous rumors that had to do with me going to the hospital and being visited by the spirit of Jimi Hendrix. It was ridiculous. I went to hospital in 1968, Hendrix died in 1970”: Frank Marino on Mahogany Rush’s ‘70s awakenin

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.

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Andrew Daly is an iced-coffee-addicted, oddball Telecaster-playing, alfredo pasta-loving journalist from Long Island, NY, who, in addition to being a contributing writer for Guitar World, scribes for Rock Candy, Bass Player, Total Guitar, and Classic Rock History. Andrew has interviewed favorites like Ace Frehley, Johnny Marr, Vito Bratta, Bruce Kulick, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Rich Robinson, and Paul Stanley, while his all-time favorite (rhythm player), Keith Richards, continues to elude him.