Floating Point

by

John McLaughlin

Edit

Well into his 60s the illustrious John Mclaughlin is as creative as ever. Having made music history with Miles Davis, Lifetime, Mahavishnu, Shakti he never rests on his laurels but continue to explore and expand his musical universe.

And in many ways is this new release a mixture of everything from his past yet given a new twist. Sounding most of all like the criminally underrated 80s version of Mahavishnu Orchestra, not least thanks to John's widespread use of the guitarsynth.

The album is recorded in India with a host of talented (mostly young) Indian musicians - some of which, like John himself, also participates on the highly interesting "Miles From India" tribute-album. The core on all tracks consiting of the excellent and rather Trilok Gurtu like drummer Ranjit Barat, percussionist Sivamani, the rather discreet Louiz Banks on keyborards and the stunning young French bassvirtuoso Hadrien Feraud. While McLaughlin's claim that he is the 'new Pastorius' might be slightly exaggerated, Feraud is none the less a formidable force on the low

end.

On each track except "Maharina" these are supplemented by a host of guest soloists, all young Indian supertalents except for the fine, lyrical sopranosax of George Brooks. All of them showing the stunning ability of Indian musicians to combine the virtuosic with the profound and the

spiritual. The fluteplaying of Shasanti on "Off The One" and Naveen Kumar on "1 4 U" simply breathtaking.

It's not Indian music like (Remember)Shakti, but jazz-world-fusion, or rather uniquely McLaughlin music. Not just great and inspired improvisations and solos, but also complex, moving and well-crafted compositions. And all of it infused with a tangible feeling of plain Joy. Endning on a very high note with a beautiful exchange between Niladri Kumar on electric sitar, sounding so much like McLaughlin in his younger days and the maestro himself.

As every McLaughlin-release in recent years, this is quite simply an important musical event.