John McLaughlin, Black Light, Abstract Logix

From 2015. After a bubbling build a blitz of furious jazz-rock unleashes itself, the power and improvisational resource of John McLaughlin and his band the 4th Dimension undiminished on this their third studio album together. That blistering raw …

Published: 4 Jan 2020. Updated: 4 years.

From 2015. After a bubbling build a blitz of furious jazz-rock unleashes itself, the power and improvisational resource of John McLaughlin and his band the 4th Dimension undiminished on this their third studio album together.

That blistering raw atmosphere is a feature of the album. Yet beyond the firepower there is a lot of tenderness too say on ‘Being You Being Me’ and above all the tribute to Paco de Lucía on ‘El Hombre Que Sabia’, not forgetting Étienne M’Bappé’s bass introduction to the beautiful ‘Gaza City’. Ranjit Barot on drums (alternating on the instrument with Gary Husband) provides rugged rhythms and a firm architecture to the sprawling McLaughlin compositions heated up elsewhere by Husband’s keyboard stabs and spatial shifts on a track like ‘360 Flip’.

Recorded partly in London, partly in Monaco, this could well be the 4th Dimension’s most significant statement on record and finds McLaughlin and his talented band in riotous form.

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Birthday celebrations for John McLaughlin – and a new record

John McLaughlin celebrates his birthday today. The guitar great turns 77. Later this month he has a new record, the puckishly inquisitive Is that So? On it he teams with singer Shankar Mahadevan and, referencing Shakti days, tabla deity Zakir …

Published: 4 Jan 2020. Updated: 4 years.

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John McLaughlin celebrates his birthday today. The guitar great turns 77.

Later this month he has a new record, the puckishly inquisitive Is that So? On it he teams with singer Shankar Mahadevan and, referencing Shakti days, tabla deity Zakir Hussain.

McLaughlin is quoted by his label Abstract Logix: “The idea for this album appeared in my mind early 2013. Shankar and I had been touring with Shakti and I was constantly inspired by his superb voice and gigantic talent. Even though I had studied the theory and practice of Indian music for years, I remain a “Western” musician and one aspect of Western music is the magic of harmony. From the outset in the early 1970s, I constantly researched the possibilities of integrating harmony into the traditions of North and South India while at the same time keeping as close as possible to the melodic rules of the Raga system. However, the idea I mention above, was to abandon the rules of the Raga system completely and apply my own western harmonic liberty to the amazing voice of Shankar Mahadevan.” Release date is 17 January. Photo of John McLaughlin: Bandcamp.