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Shakti: Mind Explosion
by Ian Patterson
This is the end--the final recording from arguably the greatest of genre-busting bands. A celebration, not only of Shakti's 50th anniversary tour in 2023 but of an entire career--one that began in 1973, when John McLaughlin and Ustad Zakir Hussain first jammed in New York's Greenwich Village. By embracing Indian Carnatic and Hindustani traditions--fused with McLaughlin's jazz DNA--Shakti broke down musical boundaries, and by extension, cultural and social boundaries as well. Cherry-picked from multiple shows, these six tracks ...
Continue ReadingZakir Hussain, Billy Mohler & Random Pickin’s
by Maurice Hogue
This is the second 3-hour holiday joint with music selected from newer releases back to some archival stuff and lots in between. Sampled new releases include music from bassist Billy Mohler and a new quartet featuring guitarist Jeff Parker, Italy's BSDE 4Tet, Finnish pianist Joona Toivanen's trio, and some archival music from Minneapolis/Los Angeles bassist and radio host Richard Paske. There's also a humble tribute to the recently passed tabla master and huge musical influence, Zakir Hussain. I've had the ...
Continue ReadingRemembering Zakir Hussain: Making Music
by Ian Patterson
It is with great sadness that All About Jazz notes the passing of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, who died of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis on Sunday, 15 December. He was 73. A virtuoso with few peers, Hussain dazzled diverse audiences throughout the world, by dint of his collaborations with musicians across musical genres. Born in Mumbai, India, on 9 March 1951, Hussain learned tabla from his father, the great Ustad All Rakha Qureshi, accompanist to Ravi Shankar, Vilayat Khan ...
Continue ReadingBela Fleck: As We Speak
by Doug Collette
As We Speak is an emphatic continuation of banjoist Bela Fleck's eclectic adventures dating back to his high school days. It is thus only fitting that this LP's title alludes to the ongoing artistic process wherein creativity can ensue, virtually non-stop, no matter what other dialogue(s) might be going on at the time. In fact, the trio of Fleck, tabla master Zakir Hussain and bassist Edgar Meyer have collaborated in the past--see The Melody of Rhythm (Koch, 2009). ...
Continue ReadingShakti: This Moment
by Geno Thackara
The Shakti of This Moment is essentially the Shakti of all its moments--a natural fusion bridging jazzy interplay with the forms and rhythms of Hindustani carnatic music, even if the sound is leagues away from the all-acoustic wildfire that first singed countless ears with the live Shakti with John McLaughlin (Columbia, 1976). The group's unexpected reemergence after never-mind-how-many decades comes with a share of surprises, from touches of vaguely reed-like MIDI guitar to the presence of a co-lead violin for ...
Continue ReadingJohn McLaughlin and Shakti: This Moment
by Dave Linn
John McLaughlin was known for his work with Miles Davis on Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1970) and with Tony Williams' Lifetime before forming his groundbreaking fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra. He then shocked people with his next project, John McLaughlin and Shakti, an acoustic fusion of the Carnatak music of South India combined with some Western influences. After three albums, he disbanded the group and went in different directions before revisiting the genre 20 years later in 1999 with Remember Shakti, for ...
Continue ReadingShakti: This Moment
by Ian Patterson
It has been a while alright. 46 years have slipped by since Shakti's last studio album, but the band founded by John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain in late '73, is back to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The old road dogs could easily have marked the milestone by touring the back catalogue, and doubtless it would have been a roaring success, but it says a lot for McLaughlin and Hussain's artistic drive that they chose instead to write an album's worth ...
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