I’m not a paid-up member of the jazz cognoscenti club; unaware of the modals, keys, arpeggio, chords and whatever. I’m a music fan not a technocrat, and love all great music, whatever the genre. Frankly, I don’t give a monkey’s for influences when I’m listening; it’s what I hear and see that matters most. To me all great music is simply great music, it just often happens to speak different dialects. And for the last fifteen years John McLaughlin has been speaking my language. My first listen arrived back in ‘85 when I picked up a hi-fi magazine that happened to feature a selection of its top 50 audio critics’ albums, chosen for sound quality first, music content second. On that list was FRIDAY NIGHT IN SAN FRANCISCO and ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL LIVE which I ended up acquiring, along with the other 48. As they say, ‘they blew me away’, and I played them for months on end, eventually acquiring vinyl copies, and a further limited edition multi-bit/remastered version of the FRIDAY NIGHT CD.

You can read more here

Segnala presso:

Read the entire news here.

Segnala presso:

with Etienne Mbappé (Bass), Gary Husband (Keyboards & Drums), Mark Mondesir (Drums)

APRIL 2010

22/04/10 Nice Conservatoire de Nice France
23/04/10 Bremen Jazz Ahead Germany
25/04/10 Gronau Jazz Fest Germany
27/04/10 Tbilissi Tbilissi Concert Hall Georgia
28/04/10 Yerevan Armenia
29/04/10 Darmstadt Central Station Germany
30/04/10 Kaiserslautern Kammgarn Germany

MAY 2010

01/05/10 Kempten Kemptener Jazz Frühling Germany
03/05/10 Thonex, Switzerland
04/05/10 Luxembourg Den Atelier Luxembourg
05/05/10 Rottweil Jazzfest, Alte Stallhalle Germany
06/05/10 Barcelona Palau de la Musica Spain
08/05/10 Uppsala Uppsala Guitar Festival Sweden
09/05/10 Vara Sweden
10/05/10 Liverpool UK
11/05/10 London Barbican UK
12/05/10 Norwich UK
14/05/10 Coutances Coutances Jazz FestivalFrance
15/05/10 Paris Salle Pleyel France
17/05/10 Bucharest Romania
18/05/10 Istanbul Is bank Sanat Hall Turkey
19/05/10 Roma Salla Santa Cecila Italy
21/05/10 Catania Italy
22/05/10 Wien WienerKonzertHaus Austria

Segnala presso:

European Tour starts 22nd of April 2010 until 22nd of May 2010
Dates and Venues to be announced soon.

Segnala presso:

The UCLA event brought the guitarist and the keyboardist together for the first time since before the two left Davis’ band to further blend jazz with rock and world influences — McLaughlin with his Mahavishnu Orchestra and Corea with Return to Forever.

But this wasn’t necessarily an evening tethered to the past. Rather, this was a night where previously explored avenues in jazz were opened up and taken past top speed, thanks in no small part to the genius-level musicians Corea and McLaughlin enlisted to support their return.

A Grammy-nominated saxophonist with experience backing Davis in the ’80s, Kenny Garrett nearly stole the show, most impressively during a new Corea composition, “Hymn to Andromeda.” A shape-shifting piece that recalled the exploratory impulses of the avant-garde era, the song spiraled through each player’s virtuosic turn at the lead before reaching Garrett, who unleashed a simply devastating solo that never stopped straining for new heights.

As far out as Garrett reached, octopus-armed drummer Vinnie Colaiuta matched his intensity beat for beat.

“That’s what you call messing with the muse,” a beaming Corea said as the crowd’s ovation for Garrett held long after the song’s close.

The many guitar-worshipers on hand had plenty to absorb as McLaughlin lit into a swampy take on “New Blues, Old Bruise” from his 2006 album “Industrial Zen.” With swept back silver hair, the elegant guitar master’s fingers darted up and down the neck with almost inhuman precision as his partner Corea bent  notes around him on electric piano.

“Señor CS” again gave the fleet-fingered McLaughlin plenty of room to run, but the skill on display became somewhat oppressive.

The song rose out of a bed of sighing synth washes from Corea at the outset and featured a brain-scrambling solo from bassist Christian McBride on a fretless five-string.

Note after note flew from the stage with such grace and technical veracity that, unfortunately, few had a chance to stand out very much.

Corea and McLaughlin celebrated their former bandleader with an encore of an abbreviated take on Davis’  “In a Silent Way/It’s About That Time.” Their faithful rendition merged funk, jazz and ambient soul with a burning economy that was utterly engrossing.

Some purists might still hesitate to label that song (or anything else from the evening’s set list) as “true jazz,” but anyone listening at Royce Hall on Thursday night would be hard-pressed to find much meaning in such limiting notions of genre.

–Chris Barton

Former Miles Davis bandmates Chick Corea (left, pianist) and John McLaughlin (second right, guitarist) lead their Five Peace Band perform at UCLA’s Royce Hall Thursday night. (Photo by Ringo H.W. Chiu)

Segnala presso:

19 -thursday Los Angeles/UCLA Royce Hall   

20-friday Santa Barbara.CA  / U of CA/SB/Campbell Hall  

21-saturday Berkeley,CA  UC Berkeley/Zellerbach Hall 

23-monday Santa Cruz/Civic Auditorium

24-tuesday Modesto, CA / Gallo Center  for the Arts 

25-wednesday Denver, CO / Paramount Theater 

27-friday Miami, FL / Arsht Center 

28-saturday Savannah, GA /  Trustees Theater

29-sunday Atlanta, GA / Variety Playhouse 

31-tuesday Dallas, TX / House of Blues

APRIL 2009

1-wednesday Houston, TX / Verizon Wireless Theater 

2-thursday Austin, TX/  UT Austin Bass Hall 

3-friday Chicago, IL / Chicago Theater 

4-saturday Ann Arbor, MI / U-Mich-Hill 

6-monday Nashville, TN / Scherwednesdayhorn Symph Ctr  

7-tuesday Champaign, IL / U of IL @ Champaign/ Krannert Ctr

23-thursday NYC, NY JALC/Rose Hall

24-friday NYC, NY JALC/Rose Hall

25-saturday NYC, NY JALC/Rose Hall

26-sunday Phildelphia, PA  / Keswick Theatre

28-tuesday mondaytreal, CND / Place des Arts/Wilfred Pelletier Hall 

29-wednesday Strathmore, MD / Music Center at Strathmore 

30-thursday Boston, MA / Berklee PAC

MAY 2009

1-friday Burlington, VT / Flynn Theatre

Segnala presso:

[mygal=london_2008]

Segnala presso: