Search - John McLaughlin :: Que Alegria

One of John's best

04/22/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"It is very unfortunate that John McLaughlin Trio (with Trilok Gurtu & Kai Eckhardt or Dominique Di Piaza) has released only two albums. The first, Live in The Royal Alber Hall (1989), was marked by unbelievable playing of John and, especially, Trilok Gurtu. Que Alegria was the second (and last) album of the trio and was less melodic and exhibitionist (naturally, being a studio album), but it had great harmonic structures and brilliant bass player, Frenchman Dominique Di Piaza. The man is superbly eloquent, with a blistering speed that he often follows John's lines - while soloing! This is a kind of albums that can be heard over and over and upon each listening one can always discover an amazing line or structure. these kind of albums are rare to find."

ACOUSTIC McLAUGHLIN IN GOOD FORM.

Örn Leifsson | Reykjavik Iceland. | 09/29/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This c.d. from 1992 features Mclaughlin on acoustic guitar and guitar synthesizer with Trilok Gurtu on percussion and Dominique Di Plaza on bass. The music is the unmistaken style of Mclaughlin, a fusion of Jazz, Flamenco and indian music, and his playing is as usual, as good as it gets and it is always a treat to hear the great percussion playing of Trilok Gurtu who has created a totaly new way of playing percussion by mixing Indian and Western playing styles.It is so fascinating to hear the great rhythmic interplay between Gurtu and Mclaughlin they turn and twist it around so you'l never get bored with it, it's this mastery of rhythm that is one of the things I like about masters of indian music like Ravi Shankar and Zakir Hussain.Mclaughlin also has a very sophisticated harmonic sense and it's fun to hear him improvise over these great rhythms and harmonies.Like most of his stuff this is highly recomended."

Johnny Mac's Acoustic Artistry Taken To A New Level

P. McKenna | Atlanta GA | 01/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is one amazingly diverse offering from John McLaughlin and Co.! Darn near biting at the heels of "Live At The Royal Festival Hall", the JM Trio (with the brilliant French bassist Dominic DiPiazza on all but one cut) furthers its explorations and even gets a chance to show its ability to reinterpret previous material of John's in amazing and sublime ways.



Things get off to a great start with a reworking of "Belo Horizonte'", where the tempo is actually slowed down quite a few notches, allowing the composition's melodic, harmonic beauty and strength to shine, wheras the original version (with the Translators band on the "Belo Horizonte" album) was marred with excessive speed and pyrotechnics. "Baba" is one of my favorite moments, starting off very mysteriously with midi-guitar and tablas, slowly morphing into a slow, smoldering sophisticated blues with the whole band pouring its heart out. "Reincarnation" (originally on "Adventures In Radioland") gets reworked and comes out a beautiful, deep meditative piece where bassist DiPiazza gets to jump out front, weaving in and out of John's atmospheric textures. "One Nite Stand" picks up the pace with scorching funk (here, it's Kai Eckhardt in the bass seat heating up the popcorn so to speak),great fun! "Marie" is a beautiful, lyrical solo bass piece by DiPiazza that holds one spellbound. The remaining tracks are no less compelling as the Trio interacts with each other in ways that often defy explanation, and truly add up to more than the sum of their parts!



After this disc ends, I get the sense that they hadn't even begun to tap into their full potential, especially underscored by the fact this was their last recording together(DANG!!)as the ever restless Johnny Mac was looking ahead to some other avenues of musical exploration.



Nonetheless, I am glad this band got to perform and record such brilliance if only for a relatively brief spell. I can't recommend this enough!















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