Further Reading
27th August 2021
The veteran jazz fusion guitarist offers his take on the 'lockdown album', recorded with a hand-picked selection of international musicians.
Spanning innumerable ensembles, hundreds of compositions, and thousands of performances, John McLaughlin's wide-ranging musical journey is guided by an unflagging quest for transcendence -- a tireless grasp for spiritual ecstasy that renders traditional, earthly boundaries irrelevant. For more than five decades, McLaughlin has deployed his peerless guitar technique, compositional gifts, and imagination in service of a deeply personal higher calling, forging a vast legacy unmatched in improvised music. Thankfully, his journey is nowhere near complete -- especially now when we need him most. As the world reels from the social, emotional, and spiritual toll of the ongoing viral-induced global lockdown, McLaughlin reflects on both the perils and potential of this challenging moment with Liberation Time -- his newest album, available July 16th on Abstract Logix/Mediastarz. In the fall of 2020, as the reality of pandemic limitations set in, McLaughlin commenced work on Liberation Time as a "direct response" (his words) to the mandated restrictions imposed by the spread of Covid-19. Characterized by both joy and reflection, Liberation Time finds McLaughlin harnessing his frustrations and redirecting that energy. "The result," he explains in a candid liner note, "was an explosion of music in my mind." Unusual for McLaughlin's recent projects, Liberation Time is not the work of one fixed ensemble. With physical proximity no longer a prerequisite, McLaughlin drew upon decades of experience as a bandleader to select musicians best suited to each composition. "That is a choice that can only be made correctly if you know how the musicians play," he explains. "Not just how well they play technically, but how they play intuitively. Only then can you make the right decisions."
