Jazz Articles about John McLaughlin

About John McLaughlin

Reassessing

In a year that has brought us a true bounty of previously unheard majesty including Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy (Impulse!), and Bill Evans; Treasures: Solo, Trio & Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965-1969), (Elemental Music) it is only fitting that Miles Davis get his due. And in a very, very big way. Seared into modern memory, modern art, the music presented on the gloriously massive, eleven LP set Miles Davis: The Electric Years ...

Live Review

John McLaughlin Quintet al Teatro AEGI di Hannover

by Mario Calvitti
October 16, 2023

John McLaughlin Quintet Teatro AEGI Hannover, Germania 12.10.2023 Si è appena concluso il trionfale tour della sua band Shakti per la ricorrenza del cinquantennale (purtroppo solo 7 date in Europa, e nessuna in Italia) che il chitarrista John McLaughlin è di nuovo on the road, questa volta con un nuovo quintetto, che non è altro che il suo ultimo gruppo 4th Dimension, ovvero il bassista camerunense Etienne Mbappe, il batterista indiano Ranjit Barot e ...

Book Review

John McLaughlin: From Miles and Mahavishnu to The 4th Dimension

by Jeff Schwartz
October 7, 2023

John McLaughlin: From Miles and Mahavishnu to The 4th Dimension Matt Phillips 287 Pages ISBN: # 978-1-5381-7094-6 Rowman and Littlefield 2023 In fall 2023 John McLaughlin led a new edition of his band Shakti on a world tour. Reviews and fan videos caught the eighty- one-year-old McLaughlin playing with the same breathtaking technique and abundant creativity as when he debuted atop the jazz world on Miles Davis' In a Silent Way (Columbia, 1969) ...

Album Review

Shakti: This Moment

Read "This Moment" reviewed by Geno Thackara

by Geno Thackara
July 7, 2023

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 ...

Live Review

Shakti At Hammersmith Eventim Apollo

by Ian Patterson
July 4, 2023

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, ...

Album Review

John McLaughlin and Shakti: This Moment

Read "This Moment" reviewed by Dave Linn

by Dave Linn
June 13, 2023

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 ...

Album Review

Shakti: This Moment

Read "This Moment" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
June 12, 2023

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 ...