(Verve Universal)
Herald rating: * * * *
Review: Graham Reid
Jazz and elsewhere guitarist John McLaughlin played with Miles Davis when in his early 20s, then single-handedly, as it sometimes seemed, invented migraine-inducing fast-fretwork fusion jazz with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the mid-70s.
By the end of that decade he'd exhausted himself and his audience and turned to Indo-jazz with the group Shakti, made up of Indian musicians and with Macca on a specially constructed acoustic guitar. Their Handful of Beauty album (1977) was superb but after three albums they went their own ways, Macca back into electric guitar and jazz trios.
This excellent live album was recorded last year when Macca raised the Shakti masthead again with tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain back in the ranks and newcomers U. Shrinivas on Indian mandolin and V. Selvaganesh on percussion.
Little has changed from the first time out: transcendental and soaring melodies, rapid tabla tempos, musicians weaving their way coyly into the lengthy explorations of microtones and harmonics.
Anyone who heard Shakti back then will need no further recommendation. If the name or idea of Indo-jazz fusion is new, here - with a CD-ROM of live performances of two tracks - is the ideal intro.
Another demanding but elevating handful of beauty.
<i>Remember Shakti:</i> The Believer
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