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Remember Shakti: Remember Shakti
by Walter Kolosky
In the mid-1970's many believed John McLaughlin had committed commercial suicide by abandoning electric instruments and Western sensibilities in favor of an all-acoustic group with Indian musicians. In fact, record sales for this group, Shakti, were quite disappointing. Sometimes though, a musician has to follow his muse. In this case, McLaughlin was led to create a ...
John McLaughlin and Shakti: Shakti
by Walter Kolosky
I remember quite clearly walking through the aisles of the Sears record department in 1976 checking to see if there was a new Mahavishnu Orchestra album. What stared back at me from the Mahavishnu bin was a very strange looking album cover. John McLaughlin had longish hair and a tight, confident smile, and he was holding ...
John McLaughlin: The Promise
by Walter Kolosky
Some highly respected music critics criticized this 1996 effort as a hodge-podge of musical ideas with no central theme. However, they are mistaken. Clearly the thematic nature of this outing was the diversity of the music itself. The original tunes are compositionally strong, and the playing throughout is purposeful and exquisite. McLaughlin has gathered several of ...
John McLaughlin: Where Fortune Smiles
by Walter Kolosky
The truth be told, Where Fortune Smiles was not originally released under the leadership of John McLaughlin. Its reissue on CD with McLaughlin as leader seems to exist for marketing purposes only. The reissue notes indicate a 1971 recording date, but my memories of its original release on PYE Records suggest that it was recorded a ...
Mahavishnu Orchestra: Visions of the Emerald Beyond
by Walter Kolosky
Visions of the Emerald Beyond is the most-overlooked and under-appreciated recording John McLaughlin has ever made. This album, released in 1975, features an expanded Mahavishnu line-up that went beyond a horn and string section to include the dynamic Narada Michael Walden on drums and fusion superstar Jean Luc Ponty on violin.This album is drenched ...
John McLaughlin Trio: Live at the Royal Festival Hall
by Walter Kolosky
Four long years had passed since McLaughlin's last record when JMT released Live at the Royal Festival Hall in 1990. The brilliant percussionist Trilok Gurtu, of Oregon fame, joined him--along with superb bassist Kai Eckhardt--to form an exciting band which was to exist in one form or another (with revolving bassists) for five more years. The ...
Mahavishnu Orchestra: The Lost Trident Sessions
by Walter Kolosky
Almost 30 years after its original recording, producer Bob Belden came across the master tapes of what would become The Lost Trident Sessions. Belden had been working on the remastering of Birds of Fire when he discovered these tapes, and the rest is history (so to speak). At long last, the aborted final studio effort of ...
John McLaughlin: Time Remembered: John McLaughlin Plays Bill Evans
by Walter Kolosky
John McLaughlin has always been a huge fan of the late jazz pianist Bill Evans. He tells fondly of attending a show with Dave Liebman in which Evans went beyond brilliant. He also sadly relates the story that Evans had invited him to his house to play, but the pianist died before it could happen.
John McLaughlin: The Mediterranean Concerto
by Walter Kolosky
Recorded in 1988 but not released until 1990, The Mediterranean was composed by John McLaughlin and orchestrated by Michael Gibbs. Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, as he had for McLaughlin’s Apocalypse fourteen years earlier.As expected, the orchestra sounds, well, orchestral. But, there is something thrilling about hearing McLaughlin’s unusual melodies emanating ...
John McLaughlin: My Goals Beyond
by Walter Kolosky
Technically, the acoustic guitar playing on 1970's My Goals Beyond does not approach the skill exhibited on most of John McLaughlin's recordings. Flubbed notes pop up here and there, and although this album is famous for McLaughlin's “solo" renderings of such classic tunes as Mingus' “Good-Bye Pork-Pie Hat," Bill Evans and Miles Davis' “Blue in Green" ...
