JOHN McLAUGHLIN - Liberation Time
ABSTRACT LOGIX ABL 65
John McLaughlin (Guitar / Piano), Gary Husband (Drums and Piano) Ranjit Barot (Drums / Konokol), Vinnie Colaiuta (Drums), Etienne MBappe (Bass), Roger Rossignol (Piano), Jean Michel ‘Kiki’ Aublette (Drums / Bass), Nicholas Viccaro (Drums), Julian Siegel (Tenor Sax), Sam Burgess (Bass), Jerome Regard (Bass) and Oz Ezzeldin (Piano)
Recorded in Monaco, Paris, London, Cairo and Los Angeles.
This album written in response to the pandemic is John McLaughlin’s musical reflection. McLaughlin, in recent times, has overlaid his music with his spiritual beliefs: Shakti, 4th Dimension and Mahavishnu all have evidence of that kind of fusion. All that is part of an honourable tradition. However, it raises a question of how far you have to subscribe to the beliefs, if you are going to really understand the music. To stress his beliefs, on the album notes McLaughlin offers up a prayer which begins:
Most Marvellous One
Beyond all imagination and magnificence
Only you are the Beloved.’
We can search amongst the music here for relevant comments about the pandemic that the whole planet has been afflicted with. The fact remains that McLaughlin overcame the restrictions to express his creativity is welcome. The fact that he used technology to bring musicians together is an impressive victory over the restrictions. His one main criticism is streaming, Streaming, McLaughlin argued recently, presages a bad time for music. He believes that streaming is limiting for music, high profits for companies and a pittance for musicians.
Indian music, McLaughlin has long argued, includes the whole of what it is to be human whereas the spirituality of western music was confined to the religious works written by the great composers. He believes that it took someone like John Coltrane to bring spirituality into western music, whereas, in India, music has been spiritual in all aspects of life for hundreds of years.
The ‘Spirit’ animates the whole album. McLaughlin admits that the ‘Spirit’ is a vague term. He says that it is impossible to answer the question in an everyday state of mind. ‘However, through music, prayer and poetry we can approach this mystery.’
McLaughlin has made himself into a great guitarist and his experiences from the sixties and seventies have contributed to his eminence. Recently he explained how ‘Liberation Time’ was created. ‘I was able to make rough tracks for the rhythm sections and the concepts of the pieces.’ He sent scores along with audio files whenever necessary. McLaughlin explains that the music came out of frustration and basically he had composed all the pieces within a couple of weeks. ‘The two solo piano pieces were midi recorded in the early 1980’s before my limited piano technique disappeared forever. To me they belong to the atmosphere of this album in the sense that there is definitely though unintentional allusion to the 1960’s. They are short and to the point, sort of atmospheric musical poems.’ This album has faint echoes of his debut (1969) album ‘Extrapolation’.
As a player, McLaughlin now contains both western and eastern influences. It is probably true to say that in this album the western influences are dominant. His immense guitar technique towers over the opening track: ’As The Spirit Sings’.The guitar does indeed sing mightily before giving way to Gary Husband on piano who alters the tempo and reduces the intensity.
McLaughlin has surrounded himself with sympathetic colleagues. Among the other musicians featured on the album are drummers Vinnie Colaiuta, Ranjit Barot and Nicolas Viccaro; bassists Sam Burgess, Etienne Mbappe and Jerome Regard, pianists Gary Husband, Roger Rossignol and Oz Ezzeldin; and saxophonist Julian Siegel. ‘We are all jazz musicians, and there is much love between jazz musicians, McLaughlin says. “All the musicians I invited to perform with me know that there will not only be collective playing, but they will have the possibility to express their individuality spontaneously. This is the great characteristic of jazz.’
Two short solo piano pieces ‘Shade of Blue’ and ‘Mila Repa’ show a very different technique from McLaughlin. On ‘Mila Repa’, a meditation on a Tibetan Buddhist master who developed personal growth, McLaughlin carefully picks out the austere notes rather like a Monk solo.
‘Lockdown Blues' has a fascinating moment when Ranjit Barot uses konokol: performing percussion syllables vocally. The fast driving guitar and Mbappe’s bass expresses the relief and the explosion of creativity after the confinement. Real jazz; fusion jazz.
Although McLaughlin has talked recently with foreboding about the future of music, that is not apparent in the final track: ‘Liberation Time’ which is a great tune and an explosion of optimism, energy, joy and guitar creativity.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
ABSTRACT LOGIX ABL 65
John McLaughlin (Guitar / Piano), Gary Husband (Drums and Piano) Ranjit Barot (Drums / Konokol), Vinnie Colaiuta (Drums), Etienne MBappe (Bass), Roger Rossignol (Piano), Jean Michel ‘Kiki’ Aublette (Drums / Bass), Nicholas Viccaro (Drums), Julian Siegel (Tenor Sax), Sam Burgess (Bass), Jerome Regard (Bass) and Oz Ezzeldin (Piano)
Recorded in Monaco, Paris, London, Cairo and Los Angeles.
This album written in response to the pandemic is John McLaughlin’s musical reflection. McLaughlin, in recent times, has overlaid his music with his spiritual beliefs: Shakti, 4th Dimension and Mahavishnu all have evidence of that kind of fusion. All that is part of an honourable tradition. However, it raises a question of how far you have to subscribe to the beliefs, if you are going to really understand the music. To stress his beliefs, on the album notes McLaughlin offers up a prayer which begins:
Most Marvellous One
Beyond all imagination and magnificence
Only you are the Beloved.’
We can search amongst the music here for relevant comments about the pandemic that the whole planet has been afflicted with. The fact remains that McLaughlin overcame the restrictions to express his creativity is welcome. The fact that he used technology to bring musicians together is an impressive victory over the restrictions. His one main criticism is streaming, Streaming, McLaughlin argued recently, presages a bad time for music. He believes that streaming is limiting for music, high profits for companies and a pittance for musicians.
Indian music, McLaughlin has long argued, includes the whole of what it is to be human whereas the spirituality of western music was confined to the religious works written by the great composers. He believes that it took someone like John Coltrane to bring spirituality into western music, whereas, in India, music has been spiritual in all aspects of life for hundreds of years.
The ‘Spirit’ animates the whole album. McLaughlin admits that the ‘Spirit’ is a vague term. He says that it is impossible to answer the question in an everyday state of mind. ‘However, through music, prayer and poetry we can approach this mystery.’
McLaughlin has made himself into a great guitarist and his experiences from the sixties and seventies have contributed to his eminence. Recently he explained how ‘Liberation Time’ was created. ‘I was able to make rough tracks for the rhythm sections and the concepts of the pieces.’ He sent scores along with audio files whenever necessary. McLaughlin explains that the music came out of frustration and basically he had composed all the pieces within a couple of weeks. ‘The two solo piano pieces were midi recorded in the early 1980’s before my limited piano technique disappeared forever. To me they belong to the atmosphere of this album in the sense that there is definitely though unintentional allusion to the 1960’s. They are short and to the point, sort of atmospheric musical poems.’ This album has faint echoes of his debut (1969) album ‘Extrapolation’.
As a player, McLaughlin now contains both western and eastern influences. It is probably true to say that in this album the western influences are dominant. His immense guitar technique towers over the opening track: ’As The Spirit Sings’.The guitar does indeed sing mightily before giving way to Gary Husband on piano who alters the tempo and reduces the intensity.
McLaughlin has surrounded himself with sympathetic colleagues. Among the other musicians featured on the album are drummers Vinnie Colaiuta, Ranjit Barot and Nicolas Viccaro; bassists Sam Burgess, Etienne Mbappe and Jerome Regard, pianists Gary Husband, Roger Rossignol and Oz Ezzeldin; and saxophonist Julian Siegel. ‘We are all jazz musicians, and there is much love between jazz musicians, McLaughlin says. “All the musicians I invited to perform with me know that there will not only be collective playing, but they will have the possibility to express their individuality spontaneously. This is the great characteristic of jazz.’
Two short solo piano pieces ‘Shade of Blue’ and ‘Mila Repa’ show a very different technique from McLaughlin. On ‘Mila Repa’, a meditation on a Tibetan Buddhist master who developed personal growth, McLaughlin carefully picks out the austere notes rather like a Monk solo.
‘Lockdown Blues' has a fascinating moment when Ranjit Barot uses konokol: performing percussion syllables vocally. The fast driving guitar and Mbappe’s bass expresses the relief and the explosion of creativity after the confinement. Real jazz; fusion jazz.
Although McLaughlin has talked recently with foreboding about the future of music, that is not apparent in the final track: ‘Liberation Time’ which is a great tune and an explosion of optimism, energy, joy and guitar creativity.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
