John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension - Live @ Ronnie's

The Guardian 80

(Abstract Logix)

Earlier this year, on a two-night stand at Ronnie Scott’s, the 75-year-old guitar giant John McLaughlin (Jeff Beck, Pat Metheny and Chick Corea are among his famous fans, but he has also been a key pioneer of Asian-western fusions) spliced new material from his 4th Dimension quartet’s 2015 Black Light album with reworkings of his classic 70s jazz-fusion themes . This heavy-hitting but almost as often thoughtful live set is the result. The 4th Dimension are pianist/drummer Gary Husband, bass guitarist Étienne Mbappé and east/west percussionist Ranjit Barot – McLaughlin’s formidable regular partners for a decade. The Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Meetings of the Spirits arrives as crashing power chords and galloping drum-work, but finally the theme’s famously brooding hook unleashes flying double-time improv from both McLaughlin and Husband. The recent Gaza City is slow-burningly lyrical, Sanctuary a mood-sustaining tone poem full of violin-like guitar entreaties. It’s a must for the gigs’ attendees, but also for all post-70s fusion fans, wherever they came in.