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Daily articles carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. Read our popular and future articles.
Most Read Album Reviews: 2020

All About Jazz tracks how often an album review is read, and the reviews listed below represent our most popular in 2020. The Complete 1969 Recordings King Crimson by John Kelman Published: October 31, 2020 Is That So? John McLaughlin Shankar Mahadevan Zakir Hussain by Ian Patterson Published: February 3, 2020 Just Coolin' Art Blakey & The ...
read moreMontreux Jazz Artists Autumn of Music

The Montreux Palace Autumn of Music Montreux Switzerland 12-17 October 2020 The obvious, burning question for Montreux Jazz Festival press officer Marc Zendrini, concerned plans for the Festival in 2021. He replied We have safe possibilities for outside performance next summer, all along the lakefront. But for which artists, on what dates, with which airline? It's all too early to tell." The 2020 Montreux Jazz Festival was cancelled in April but the virtual version attracted ...
read moreJohn McLaughlin: Where The Muse Leads

John McLaughlinMiles Davis protégé. Jazz/rock revolutionary. East-meets-West visionary. Acoustic, electric and electronic guitar maestro. Now elder statesman of jazzwhat is there left to say? A lot it seems... As a septuagenarian who was facing debilitating hand issuesand possibly the end of his playing careerhe was starting to say his farewells to touring only a few years ago. Now he seems a man brimming with hope over his miraculous rebound and new musical inspirationseven while addressing the ...
read moreJohn McLaughlin & The Mahavishnu Orchestra (1969 - 1972)

British guitarist John McLaughlin contributed to creating the bold new sound of Miles Davis's great proto-fusion works, In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. He was a member of what could be the first great fusion band, Tony Williams' Lifetime, and then founded what Ben Ratliff describes as the ideal band for the time," the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Playlist Host Intro 0:00 John McLaughlin Quartet Binky's Beam" from Extrapolation (Polydor) 3:31 John McLaughlin Quartet Peace Piece" from Extrapolation (Polydor) ...
read moreJohn McLaughlin Shankar Mahadevan Zakir Hussain: Is That So?

When mandolinist Uppalapu Srinivas passed away in 2014 it seemed to signal the end of Remember Shakti. A great loss to music on both scores. Five years later, in early 2019, the band reformed with violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan for a one-off concert in India, sparking a new lease of life for the band. And many, no doubt, will eagerly seize upon this John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain and Shankar Mahadevan project as a scaled down Remember Shakti. After all, from the ...
read moreJohn McLaughlin: John McLaughlin and Jimmy Herring - Live in San Francisco

If you're a concert-goer of a certain age (and ilk), 2017 and early 2018 have proven fairly remarkable. Whether last waltzes," overdue reunions or just plain old-school tenacity, many titans and heroes of the jazz-rock/prog era--such as Brand X, King Crimson, Soft Machine and The Dixie Dregs--have been making the rounds in some major markets and stomping the terra. But foremost among them all may have been the John McLaughlin / Jimmy Herring Meeting of the Spirits tour.
read moreJohn McLaughlin on the Mystery of Creativity, Inspiration, & Music

Improvised music within a sophisticated framework is one if the primary hallmarks of jazz. World class improvisation requires split second reactions, mental agility, dexterity, and the emotive soul of an artist. As a testament to his age defying vitality, on January 29, 2018 at the age of 76, John McLaughlin won a Grammy® Award for the Best Improvised Jazz Solo at the 60th Annual Grammy® Awards. This was his pitch perfect acceptance: Winning a Grammy is a wonderful ...
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