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After disbanding Shakti, John McLaughlin took stock and reaffirmed his love for the electric guitar with John McLaughlin - Electric Guitarist, using a large roster of musicians he had worked with in the past to realize his disparate visions.
Truth to be told, it is not a triumphant return for the most […]

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I’ve got to be honest — it feels like there’s something missing from the Stone Alliance trio in their live recording Live In Amsterdam, although there’s certainly nothing wrong with the individual members.
Steve Grossman is an almost forgotten sax player, partly because he emigrated to Europe in the late 70s/early 80s. Although […]

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I don’t care if Charlie Rouse played with Monk longer than any other saxophonist. He’s weak. There’s a reason why he disappeared after Monk stopped performing.
Truth be told, the only saxophonist that ever played with Monk and did justice to his compositions was Coltrane, during the legendary date […]

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Yeah, sure these tracks culled from John Scofield’s tenure with the Gramavision label are phenomenal, but then again, the producers of this compilation could have picked ANY 12 tracks from the Gramavision years and the results would have been superior. I have given this compilation a three star rating, not for the […]

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This live 1968 recording of an organ trio holds interest for several reasons. One is the unique instrumentation of drums, organ and violin. Another is organist Eddy Louiss’ obvious admiration for Larry Young, the advanced post bop organist who played such an important role in the seminal Tony […]

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Overall, Modern Times is better than mediocre, but not good enough for me to recommend in good conscience. The thing is, though, that it has a couple of exceptional songs on it, which I couldn’t bear not to let you know about.
This is one of those CDs […]

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I can’t recommend Gradually Going Tornado to everybody, but for those people who REALLY like the first two Bruford dates, Feels Good to Me and One of a Kind, it’s definitely worth picking up.
You see, if I were visiting a site like this, I’d want to know about Gradually Going Tornado. The […]

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In the past, I’ve felt that Wolfgang Muthspiel was lacking in passion as a guitarist. He certainly has prodigious amounts of technique. On Marc Johnson’s release Magic Labyrinth, Muthspiel surprised me on the tune A Paco, which he wrote. Who knew that Wolfgang Muthspiel had such an appreciation for Paco De Lucia, […]

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The best reason to own Gazeuse! is because it gives us one more chance to hear guitarist Allan Holdsworth as a sideman on someone else’s project. For me, this is the best way to hear Holdsworth because his unique sensibility is highlighted so it can be savored. When the tunes and arrangements […]

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Chick Corea’s career path in the decade between 1965 and 1975 is one of the most fascinating in jazz. As a leader, he started out playing advanced post bop. Then he played with Miles Davis when Miles was transitioning from post bop to fusion. Once Corea left the Davis group, he formed […]