While it would be utterly foolish to consider a two-disc set by guitarist
John McLaughlin as anything other than a sample of the wildly diverse career he's enjoyed since the early '60s, it should be noted and underscored that what Legacy does with this set is to provide a solid look at not only the man's gifts but at the way he's employed them, exploited them, and let them get the best of him for the past 40-plus years. There are 23 cuts spread across these discs, and they are cross-licensed from a number of different labels -- this should always be done, and it seems that Legacy is the only shop that does this consistently well. The collection begins at the beginning: way back in 1963 when
McLaughlin and his musical partners in crime, bassist
Jack Bruce and drummer
Ginger Baker, played
Sonny Rollins' "Doxy" in the
Graham Bond Organisation. The tune swings, even if it is a little stiff, but these were very young cats who were as dedicated to "getting it right" as possible. This gives way to the rather startling contrast of "Spectrum," played as a member of
Tony Williams Lifetime with organist
Larry Young as well as
Williams (and predating
McLaughlin's tenure with
Miles Davis); there's "Marbles," from his
Devotion album where the guitarist and
Young played with drummer
Buddy Miles. It's an interesting piece where it occurs here because it exists in the gap between
McLaughlin's leaving
Miles Davis and before playing with
the Mahavishnu Orchestra. It's a great cut, but it shines more for
Young's work than the leader's. "Right Off," from
Davis'
Jack Johnson album, is here -- at least a 17-plus-minute edit of it -- and it walks the same basic terrain that "Marbles" does, though it is far funkier and knottier. Rather than just jump into the
Mahavishnu territory,
McLaughlin's work with saxophonist
Joe Farrell and then with
Carla Bley is highlighted here as well, spreading the color and texture to the corners a bit more. Already, he was a ten-year veteran of the scene and had become a very diverse member of it. Disc one closes with three tunes from the various early incarnations of
Mahavishnu, from the debut
Inner Mounting Flame,
Birds of Fire, and then on to an excerpt of
John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" with
Carlos Santana.But disc one tells the familiar story, despite its ornament and diversity. The place where it begins to stray across many paths seemingly simultaneously is on disc two. While the second incarnation of
Mahavishnu is where it begins -- with the cut "Wings of Karma," from Apocalypse -- where the voice and timbre of
McLaughlin's insistent muse is making itself heard. The track "India," from 1975 and performed with the Indian trio
Shakti (
Zakir Hussain,
Lakshminarayana Shankar, and
T.H. Vinayakram), marks the beginning of an entirely new mode of exploration for the guitarist. And so it goes, through the new technologically savvy, fused-out jazz on
Electric Dreams in 1978, the more restrained but no less mechanical
Electric Guitarist in 1979 (two tunes including a reading of the standard "My Foolish Heart," which is drenched in it), and the mess that was
Trio of Doom with
Jaco Pastorius and
Tony Williams. This is easily the best cut from that collaboration. There is a track from the
Guitar Trio album with
Al Di Meola and
Paco De Lucia, one from
Palle Mikkelborg's
Aura experiment with
Miles once more, and cuts from
Belo Horizonte, recorded for Warner in 1981, and "Wayne's Way," from
Industrial Zen in 2006. In other words, the strange back and forth and continuously divergent paths
McLaughlin has taken -- for good or ill -- is represented here by many of his finest performances. Even if that assertion is arguable, the one that isn't is that he is one of the most celebrated, widely regarded guitarists in jazz history, and one that helped to change the music forever in the same way that
Wes Montgomery and
Jim Hall did before him. This may be a smattering, but it is one that will get you on your way to discovering what you want to of his work, while leaving behind the rest. ~ Thom Jurek