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John McLaughlin and The 4th Dimension: John McLaughlin and The 4th Dimension: To The One
By
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991

Mahavishnu Orchestra
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1971
It's time for McLaughlin and The 4th Dimension to dig its collective teeth into some new material, and with To The One the guitarist takes a lifetime's spiritual search shared with and inspired by another icon, saxophonist

John Coltrane
saxophone1926 - 1967
Much of the music is, as might be expected, modal-based (though not without allegiance to changes). If keyboardist/occasional drummer

Gary Husband
drumsb.1960

Joe Zawinul
keyboards1932 - 2007

McCoy Tyner
piano1938 - 2020

Mark Mondesir
drumsb.1964
McLaughlin has paid tribute to Coltrane before, on After the Rain (Verve, 1995), but that album's homage was more direct, with a repertoire culled largely from the Coltrane songbookeven recruiting ex-Coltrane drummer

Elvin Jones
drums1927 - 2004
M'Bappé's fretless work drives the funkily balladic "Lost and Found," one of two tracks where McLaughlin switches to guitar synthesizer; but Husband's fourths-driven chords provide the link to Coltrane. The closing title track again features McLaughlin's gentle synth, but on a track that not only simmers with hidden energy, but also possesses an arpeggio-driven middle section that, for Mahavishnu fans, references "Lila's Dance" from Visions of the Emerald Beyond (Columbia, 1975). What's perhaps most surprising about "To The One" is that, with Husband playing both drums and keys (Mondesir sits this one out), its multi-tracked creation does nothing to dilute the spontaneity of everyone's playing.
But it's To The One's penultimate track, "Recovery," that's demonstrative of The 4th Dimension at its best. Husband pulls double duty again, with Mondesir contributing some additional percussion. But the polyrhythmic potency and sheer energy that Husband demonstrates behind the kitand which lit a serious fire beneath another guitar great,

Allan Holdsworth
guitar, electric1948 - 2017
The same can be said for the entire group. Time builds chemistry, and the group's longevityat this point in 2010, McLaughlin's longest-standing group in recent historyhas meant that the energy and excitement of getting to know one another (so definitive of its 2007 tour), has been replaced by a far deeper empathy. To The One is, quite simply, McLaughlin's best album in well over a decade, and if the energy of The 4th Dimension's playing here is mirrored and expanded in its pending North American tour in the fall, fans are going to be in for one serious treat. ">
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John McLaughlin
guitar
Album information
Title: John McLaughlin and The 4th Dimension: To The One | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: Abstract Logix
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