Quick! Name an album on which John McLaughlin plays piano and Jan Hammer plays drums. Give up? Well, of course, it was the much loved, often maligned 1973 collaboration between Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin. (John was still MAHAVISHNU and Carlos was not quite yet DEVADIP). Now if anyone out there in musicland can determine on which cuts John McLaughlin plays piano and Hammer plays drums - you win a prize!

Love Devotion Surrender delivers some of the hottest playing you are ever going to hear. John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana play their respective butts off, especially so on the inspirational "Let Us Go Into The House Of The Lord". The rapid-fire but purposeful trade-offs and call and responses are unmatched in electric guitar history. The musicians assembled for the recording included Santana compatriots Armando Peraza, Don Alias, Doug Rauch and Mike Shrieve. John McLaughlin brought along Jan Hammer, Billy Cobham and the legendary organist Larry Young. Imagine a Latin Mahavishnu Orchestra!

At the time of this recording's release, the patience and reverence afforded gurus was waning. This could help explain the relatively poor sales of Love, Devotion and Surrender. After all a smiling Sri Chinmoy, in all of his splendid grandeur, was pictured on the album cover. It may also help explain the many negative reviews. In hindsight, you will probably find that most of these reviews came from Santana fans who just couldn't figure out what was going on with their hero.

The fact was this album pointed much more in the direction of John Coltrane than it did any guru or religious movement. Santana is a huge Coltrane fan. McLaughlin and Santana even make the effort of trying to pull-off "A Love Supreme". They do so with great success. (Even the vocals are effective). An acoustic treatment of "Naima" does the master proud as well.

Love, Devotion and Surrender has only recently started receiving the praise it so richly deserves. It is a milestone collaboration in the history of fusion music also featuring wonderful performances from the supporting cast. We can only hope that McLaughlin and Santana will find time to record together again soon.

Walter Kolosky
smsi@attbi.com

Walter Kolosky is a businessman and jazz fan who lives in South Natick, MA, USA