John McLaughlin is one of my favorite guitarist,this clip is "old"!And the Johnny Carson Band,well,say no more,they are smokin too!Listen to the horn lines and you will agree.And for John,well,this is nice,in the sense,John is showing his jazzier side.
This man is hands down the finest jazz guitar player to ever come down the pike. He even puts to shame to old greats such as Wes Montgomery, Les Paul, Kenny Burrell. He's got ten times wider licks than Jimmy Hendrix. What can you say. When I first heard him I gave up 10 years of guitar playing and switched to piano and keyboards since I knew I could never play alongside mastery such as his. It was a good move, since I'm much better at the keys. But his solo on this Carson gig is breattaking. t's perfect like the great Jazz masters play, with not a note out of place. And the lyricism in his solo is so melodic, it puts to same the aimless lightninh speed solos that fusion guitarists are so adept at playing. Not McLaughlin. He's as melodic as the black jazz innovators here, although he's done quite a bit of senseless speed fusion soloing with his groups. It's a shame. I much prefer him in a more puriist setting, whether it's with the late Tony Williams, or the type of setting he played with in the movie "Round Midnight" with subtle masters such as Bobby Hutcherson, Dexter Gordon, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and I thought I saw George Duvivier there on bass but he's not in the credits. But McLaughlin shined in that setting as well.
ReplyDeleteHi SunRa,
ReplyDeleteYes,i really like this video of JM,and the Tonight's Show band was the hottest thing on tv,what a combination.JM rips through the changes,and the band,well,listen to the horn section and what they are playing :-).I see you mention Tony Williams,i have an old Tony Williams album,with JM on it,Play It Loud,Loud Jazz,something like that.It very experimental sounding,not pure at all.
For the purer or more traditional,i like Joe Pass.And for the more modern jazz,my favorite is George Benson.I am talking the album Cook Book.Back when he was really playing and not doing the vocal thing.And Pat Martino is another great line player,ala Joyous Lake album :-).Glory to YouTube....man.Where was all this info when i was growing up....Greg