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Shakti: This Moment
by Geno Thackara
The Shakti of This Moment is essentially the Shakti of all its moments--a natural fusion bridging jazzy interplay with the forms and rhythms of Hindustani carnatic music, even if the sound is leagues away from the all-acoustic wildfire that first singed countless ears with the live Shakti with John McLaughlin (Columbia, 1976). The group's unexpected reemergence after never-mind-how-many decades comes with a share of surprises, from touches of vaguely reed-like MIDI guitar to the presence of a co-lead violin for ...
Continue ReadingShakti At Hammersmith Eventim Apollo
by Ian Patterson
Shakti Hammersmith Eventim Apollo Hammersmith, London June 27, 2023 All things must come to pass. Still, it came as a shock to learn that Shakti's two concerts in London would be their last in the UK. Earlier dates in India, a summer tour of Europe and North American dates through August and September would amount not just to a comeback, but also a long goodbye. After 50 years, John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain, ...
Continue ReadingJohn McLaughlin and Shakti: This Moment
by Dave Linn
John McLaughlin was known for his work with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970) and with Tony Williams' Lifetime before forming his groundbreaking fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra. He then shocked people with his next project, John McLaughlin and Shakti, an acoustic fusion of the Carnatak music of South India combined with some Western influences. After three albums, he disbanded the group and went in different directions before revisiting the genre 20 years later in 1999 with Remember Shakti, for ...
Continue ReadingShakti: This Moment
by Ian Patterson
It has been a while alright. 46 years have slipped by since Shakti's last studio album, but the band founded by John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain in late '73, is back to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The old road dogs could easily have marked the milestone by touring the back catalogue, and doubtless it would have been a roaring success, but it says a lot for McLaughlin and Hussain's artistic drive that they chose instead to write an album's worth ...
Continue ReadingShakti: This Moment
by Ian Patterson
Forty-six years is a hefty chunk of time between studio releases. Half a lifetime, in fact. Shakti, however, is no ordinary band. The lengthy hiatuses that have punctuated the pioneering Indo-jazz band's fifty-year journey have not dimmed the collaborative flame of co-founders John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain. Following its 2012-13 tour, they placed the dust covers over the band-- redubbed Remember Shakti in 1997--once more. That hiatus soon seemed set to be permanent following the premature death of mandolinist Uppalapu ...
Continue ReadingLarry Coryell: Improvisations: Best of the Vanguard Years
by Josef Woodard
There have been many smoother operators in the world of jazz guitar than Larry Coryell, the brainy rough rider who was a natural-born fusioneer, in the best sense. There have been cleaner technicians on the instrument, with a more lucid sense of identity and careers that have followed a logical, rolling landscape. But not many have quite attained Coryell's strange, madly eclectic state of grace: into music he came, he saw and heard things not yet articulated, he conquered on ...
Continue ReadingJohn McLaughlin, Miles Davis, Antonio Sanchez and Louis Sicilliano
by Len Davis
Celebrating the Birthday of John McLaughlin with music from The Heart Of Things Live in Paris, Miles Davis, plus new music from Antonio Sanchez, Louis Siciliano, Sixun from France, Wasafiri from Texas, and guitarist B D Lenz from New York. Playlist Miles Davis “John McLaughlin" from Bitches Brew (Columbia) 00:00 John McLaughlin “The Heart Of Things" from The Heart Of Things—Live In Paris (Verve) 07:32 Antonio Sanchez “Waiting" from Shift-Bad Hombre 2 (Warner Music)15:06 Louis Siciliano “Translucent Dodecahedron" ...
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