Never has an album been so justly deserving of its title. In 1983, the guitar super trio of John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola and Paco DeLucia followed-up their phenomenal acoustic album Friday Night in San Francisco with this masterpiece of a recording. The prevailing opinion was that the raw excitement of the live recording could never be matched in the recording studio. Delightfully, all those who questioned such had their heads turned around by Passion Grace and Fire. In some ways, because of a higher dependence upon melodies. P G & F is a superior release.

Each guitarist contributed two compositions and all pieces feature the trio playing written out parts and improvising over a theme. As to be expected, McLaughlin dominates to the extent he is the best overall player , but once again, the special talents DeLucia and DiMeola possess are shown to their best in this format.

"David" is an enchanting John McLaughlin composition featuring lead-playing which is haunting and seemingly time-defying. McLaughlin is the only player I have ever heard who quite literally is able to bend or suspend time in his playing. It is unexplainable.

DeLucia's brilliance is clearly heard in his piece "Chiquito", in which he stretches Flamenco into all sorts of directions. DiMeola's strongest moments occur during his composition which has the honor of being the title piece. Timed-in at just a little over 30 minutes, Passion Grace and Fire could have been longer but, it could not have been better.

The live tour in support of this album featured a giddy Steve Morse as opening act. You could sense his joy as he joined his heroes for the encores.

Walter Kolosky
smsi@attbi.com

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