John McLaughlin last night

[Ricardo P]

Went to see the 4th Dimension last night. I'm not a jazz guy but I enjoy listen to all kind of music if well performed. Individually the musicians are all monsters. Special Mention to Ranjit Barot, the indian drummer, who gave me the best drumming performance I ever saw live, outperforming Neil Peart, Carl Palmer among others. This guy is a monster in all aspects: timing, feel, dynamics, power

Also the bass player from Cameroon Republic, Etienne M'Bappe did great. Great swing and tone... wearing gloves (?!?). Keyboard player double as second drummer engaging drum wars (and losing, by far), very talented multi instrument musician

And there is of course the guitar player which is still as fast and precise as ever. Great playing with lot of tension and fast phrases selecting very distinct time for release and sweet things up. He is very mean with his music but brilliant!

Too bad I didn't enjoy his tone at all, very fuzzy and dark but sterile. A more articulated tone would help him greatly to transmit his messages...

Summing up a very nice show worth every buck spent, mainly for a rocker like me that needs once in a while listen to a different approach

 

[Jazzandmore]

JOHN!

Seen him many times and loved it every time. Current band is stellar. I don't think he's swinging through here, but I'll check. Just amazing he's still playing like this in his 70s.

 

[mikeratan00]

Went to see the 4th Dimension last night. I'm not a jazz guy but I enjoy listen to all kind of music if well performed. Individually the musicians are all monsters. Special Mention to Ranjit Barot, the indian drummer, who gave me the best drumming performance I ever saw live, outperforming Neil Peart, Carl Palmer among others. This guy is a monster in all aspects: timing, feel, dynamics, power

Also the bass player from Cameroon Republic, Etienne M'Bappe did great. Great swing and tone... wearing gloves (?!?). Keyboard player double as second drummer engaging drum wars (and losing, by far), very talented multi instrument musician

And there is of course the guitar player which is still as fast and precise as ever. Great playing with lot of tension and fast phrases selecting very distinct time for release and sweet things up. He is very mean with his music but brilliant!

Too bad I didn't enjoy his tone at all, very fuzzy and dark but sterile. A more articulated tone would help him greatly to transmit his messages...

Summing up a very nice show worth every buck spent, mainly for a rocker like me that needs once in a while listen to a different approach

Yes, Ranjit is a monster drummer. We used to hang out .. been to his studio back in my Bombay days

 

[harry65]

I'm a huge fan of John , especially his acoustic music, I just could never understand why he could never get a decent electric sound!!!!!!!! I see videos from the early 70s and he's playing with pLexi Marshalls and basically he's the only guy thAt could get a bad sound from a pLexi

 

[skydog]

I saw John, years ago, at Chicago's "Park West" with Al Di Meola, L. Shankar and Paco De Lucia. Great show, but I had ringing eears for three days!

 

[harmonicator]

Ive always thought John's fingers were more suited to a clean sound; acoustic or electric. Making distortion sing requires so much filtering with your right and left hands. It seems John doesn't really do much of that filtering regardless of setting. Though...I think the chaotic, reckless guitar tone of early MO suits the energy of the band.

 

[TNJ]

I love his music, never been in love with his tone.
Still, his ideas come through loud and clear.
His goal is (still) beyond.

S.
j

 

[duaneflowers]

John is amazing!!!

 

[Seth L]

A Dumble and a Klon would fix him right up.

 

[rwe333]

Gary Husband is my fave thing about that group. Killer drummer/keyboardist.

 

[Kenny Blue]

I have been a fan of John and all of the various forms of his amazing music since I first was turned on to him in 1972.

I have enjoyed his tone in most of his bands.... but one band that I really liked his tone in was with his Johnny Smith in this band...

 

[vladorg]

Gary Husband was outplayed by Ranjit?!? I like them both a lot, but Gary is a BEAST!!!

 

[diego]

Lots of readers want to know… why do you wear the gloves when you play?
I wear black silk gloves because they keep my strings bright, and I really like the bigger and smother sound they provide.

And the second most popular glove question: how can you play and slap and still get that brilliant tone?
Not that easy to do, but I am used to it now! That took a lot of time and a lot of practice to get used to those gloves. And you know what? They are becoming more famous than I am with the not-so-easy-to-pronounce name, MBappé. Just say, “the bass player with the gloves”, and people will say “oh yes…”

http://www.notreble.com/buzz/2010/06/08/an-interview-with-etienne-mbappe/

I believe the less polite answer is excessive, acidic sweat that kills strings quickly.

 

[dlguitar64]

The keyboard player is Gary Husband, who is best known as the drummer on some of Allan Holdsworth's
most famous records(IOU and Metal fatigue most notably).

 

[Ricardo P]

Gary Husband was outplayed by Ranjit?!? I like them both a lot, but Gary is a BEAST!!!

It is, great drummer but IMO is a different league from Ranjit's

 

[Flogger59]

I'm a huge fan of John , especially his acoustic music, I just could never understand why he could never get a decent electric sound!!!!!!!! I see videos from the early 70s and he's playing with pLexi Marshalls and basically he's the only guy thAt could get a bad sound from a pLexi

Interesting. I saw him with Delucia and Dimeola and hated the pickmon nylon sound. Saw him later with the reformed Mahavishnu with a Les Paul and a Plexi stack and it was stellar!

 

[tribalfusion]

It is, great drummer but IMO is a different league from Ranjit's

Maybe, but if so, I prefer Gary's league.

 

[Jazzandmore]

Yeah Ranjit is a monster and when Trilok Gurtu played with John years ago he was amazing as well. With Trilok it was amazing because it was the first time I'd heard an Indian drummer. I don't mean a Tabla player, they are amazing as well but it's not the same instrument. I was a drummer at the time and what stood out to me was how often Trilok did not roll through and then hit the crash in a normal timing for western drummers. His accents were in different places.

John says he doesn't want to be bothered with traveling with amps anymore. So, he uses a Seymour Duncan SFX-03 Twin Tube Classic Preamp Pedal that he runs through the house PA. He's at the mercy of the sound man.
His style of playing is so intense and fast, most tube amps wouldn't track fast enough for him. It would sound muddy. He sounds best (to me) playing through solid state amps. And I'm not a fan of solid state amps.

Great point about being at mercy of sound man. I'm sure I'm not the only one to go to various concerts, not just guitars or jazz, and for some reason it seems like the soloist is being kept down in the same volume level as everybody else. Can't hear what they are doing. They even look at the guy running the board, or the crowd does, and still no adjustment.

I am not a sound man, so I'm not pretending to expertise. But there are jazz concerts (I mostly see jazz concerts) and there is a nice break out of instruments, especially while soloing. Other times there is no breakout. I've seen John a lot of times, and there have been a few shows where it just seemed like he was not getting turned up during solos at all. Very frustrating. Maybe I'm just assuming it's the sound man who controls that and I might be totally wrong.

I agree with others, I love his playing, but not all of his tones through the years have I really liked. I don't dislike his tones, but I can't think of a recent album where I thought to myself "man that is a tone I want". Must admit though that I completely ignore his tone because I love his playing so much.

 

[Seth L]

The guy likes it squeaky clean. He doesn't need much embellishment IMHO. It's all about the playing.

 

[mikeratan00]