Rather than pinning us to the wall with raw, electric bombast, Johnny
McLaughlin, Acoustic Guitarist continues to invite us into the music by
opening up more space between the notes. This kindler, gentler McLaughlin
comes across on soothing soundscapes like "Mila Repa" and "3 Willows". On
the spacious intro to "Baba", his Photon MIDI-interface triggers a choir of
echo-laden sighs. New agers would keep it right there, opting for waves of
release with no tension. But "Baba" segues to an earthly blues with Di Piazza
walking soulfully and Gurtu swinging loosely on his hybrid traps kit.
Di Piazza is McLaughlin's newest bass discovery. His uncanny facility
on "Hijacked" immediately brings Jaco Pastorius to mind. Few bassists could
execute such demanding stop-time unison lines at such a tempo, but the French
phenom matches McLaughlin note for note. Di Piazza stakes out his own
territory with virtuosic chordal bass work on "Marie" and he flaunts more
single-note prowess on the blazing title cut, also a showcase for Trilok's
playful Indian scatting exchanges with John.
The dynamic and versatile Gurtu is the key to this trio (actually, it
sounds more like a quartet with McLaughlin's MIDI-synth triggers sometimes
acting as the invisible fourth member). Being able to easily shift gears from
sensitive colorist ("Mila Repa") to tabla master ("Reincarnation") to
swingmeister ("Hijacked") to funkateer ("1 Nite Stand") gives McLaughlin the
flexibility to take this music in any direction he chooses. It's like having
Elvin Jones, Dennis Chambers, and Zakir Hussain rolled into one. On Que
Alegria, Trilok allows John to run the gamut with elegance and grace.
At 50, the inner fire is still burning. He's just cooking on a lower flame.
(reviewed on CD)