What first attracted me to jazz was that, unlike in classical music, I was actually able to still see in concert performers who created a musical style or genre. Guys like Mozart, Beethoven or Mahler were long gone, so all I could ever experience was someone else’s interpretation of these masters. In jazz, I was actually able to see Earl Hines, Benny Goodman, Dizzy Gillespie perform swing and bebop in person. In that light, every release by guitarist/composer John McLaughlin is a treat, as it’s a reminder that one of the creators of what we now call “fusion” (or “jazz-rock” in its earlier days) is still out there, performing, and still releasing exciting and fresh material. This latest release his Fourth Dimension of Gary Husband/key-dr, Etienne Mbappe/b and Ranjit Barot/dr is brimming over with essential ingredients of what makes John McLaughlin, well, JOHN MCLAUGHLIN!
Always known for finding well muscled drummers, McLaughlin has found a peach with Barot who seems to gobble up the rapid fire and kinetic grooves of pieces like “Here Come The Jiis” and “Kiki” setting a volcanic foundation that superbly sets McLaughlin’s Tommy Gun guitar lines as well as Husband’s keyboard capers. As with all of McLaughlin releases, there is a surprising amount of sounds from various parts of the world; most surprising here is a funky, almost hip hopping groove supplied by Mbappe and Husband on “Clap Your Hands” in which McLaughlin’s guitar is able to mix both economy and hypermobility.
Most underappreciated in the fusion field are the more nuanced tunes, which McLaughlin has always explored, even back to his Birds of Fire days. Here, you get some gentle and dreamy keyboards floating on “Gaza City” as well as a meditative “Being You Being Me” which includes a gentle bass pule with the keyboards creating a Central Asian softness. An homage to McLaughlin’s friend and partner, the departed Paco De Lucia, is included here on “El Hombre Que Sabia” as McLaughlin’s acoustic strings team with Husbands keyboard with fervency and passion.
At 73, McLaughlin is playing with the passion and vision of artists half his age, still searching for new lands to conquer
Abstract Logix Records
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