COMPOSERS: Assorted
LABELS: Abstract Logix
WORKS: Assorted
PERFORMER: John McLaughlin (guitar), Gary Husband (keyboards), Mark Mondesir (drums), Dominique di Piassa (bass)
CATALOGUE NO: ABLX 016 (DVD)
Worth any fan’s attention, this immaculate concert DVD can’t be seriously faulted. Both sound and vision are unfussy and lucid, with some musically informed camerawork spotlighting the performers when each is actually doing something interesting.
Musically, this is a lively, involved and involving band, or at least it is after things warm up. Even that’s a pleasure to observe, as it reinforces the ‘liveness’ of the occasion. As McLaughlin says, the set-list draws on both the past and the present and it’s intriguing to see how his style has evolved, with smatterings of bebop and some solid blues tunes being stirred into the fusioneering.
The recording’s origins as a TV broadcast make the two-channel sound and lack of extras forgivable. Fine stuff, overall. Roger Thomas