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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
2012
Theatre
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Always been a fan but never seen them live. I was ecstatic to be part of this epic event. WOW!
London,
Jack Massarik's rating
Reader rating
Description: The Mahavishnu Orchestra stalwarts and jazz-rock legends reunite with a stellar groove-based formation.
Phone: 0871663 2500
Website: www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Extra info: Food, Telephones, Pub, Air Conditioning
With jazz megastars becoming ever more scarce, featuring two of them in one supergroup was a masterstroke for the festival’s closing night.
Guitarist John McLaughlin and pianist Chick Corea fit snugly into the jazz pantheon, tracing back directly to Miles Davis, with whom they were young Turks on the epic In a Silent Way album almost 40 years ago.
Since then, Corea has assumed comfortable John Sergeant-like proportions while McLaughlin, knife-slim in his billowing white shirt and grey-winged Casanova mullet, still looks as dangerous as he sounds. Both, however, remain at the top of their game and their colleagues last night, bassist Christian McBride, altoist Kenny Garrett and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, were not far behind.
Not that Colaiuta, a flashy showman more at home at Wembley Stadium than Ronnie Scott’s, would be everybody’s first choice. Frank Zappa, Jeff Beck and Megadeth all figure in his CV, yet for all his heavy-handed rock ethos, he coped with Corea’s demanding jazz compositions in a hyperactive style that papered over the cracks.
Garrett and McLaughlin seemed to regard him with mingled admiration and apprehension but everybody kept finishing at the same time, albeit with a double bomb from Vinnie at the end.
New Blues, Old Bruise, a McLaughlin gem, tapped into Garrett’s mellow and reflective side, whereas later, during Corea’s Hymn to Andromeda, he took off into a keening Pharoah Sanders-like dirge. Johnny Mac’s staccato virtuosity sparkled on The Disguise, and Dr Jackle featured an outstanding solo piano intro by Corea. But the pair’s probing piano-guitar duet of Stella by Starlight, an example of melodic byplay by two mature masters that affirmed jazz’s core values, was the most satisfying piece of the night.
Other highlights of the weekend involved sexy Molly Johnson turning Ode to Billy Joe into a blues classic at Dean Street, South African diva Sibongile Khumalo valiantly ignoring the free-form excesses of Byron Wallen and Jason Yarde at Queen Elizabeth Hall, and the nutty but brilliant word-music of Sidsel Endresen, imitating a backward tape during Scene Norway week at Kings Place.
Gilad Atzmon, with the Ros Stephen string quartet, packed the Purcell Room for homage to the Bird with Strings album. Fans had waited years for this and it was worth the wait, despite the Israeli altoist’s inevitable Middle-East-Enders diversion. “What would have happened,” he asked, “if Charlie Parker had been born in Damascus instead of Kansas City?” Don’t know. We give up.
Hear selected concerts on www.bbc.co.uk/radio3 i-Play.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Sometimes jazz supergroups don’t quite add up to the sum of their parts but on Sunday at RFH, 5 Peace Band gave a storming performance that transcended their individual talents. You expect stellar performances from Chick and John but they were matched by the performances of Kenny Garrett, Christian McBride and Vinnie Colaiuta (what a monster). The concert started with a beautiful duet between Chick and John of Stella by Starlight and then things hotted up with compositions from McLaughlin and Corea, mixed in with standards. The interplay of McLaughlin and Garrett on numbers such as Raju was so tight, the more impressive in that much of the playing was improvised. I’ve not heard Chick or John play better, indeed McLaughlin seems to have breathed new life into his playing. McBride underpinned their work with some quite superlative bass work on 5 string electric and upright basses and everything driven along by Vinnie’s powerhouse drumming. How his kit remains intact is a mystery. Kenny Garrett was a vital component, the final ingredient in the blend, providing a mellow counterpoint to the other lead instruments but when occasion demanded, taking the music soaring away on Hymn to Andromeda for instance. The atmosphere as well as the music was electric and at the intermission, the talk was how the second half could match the first. I’m a big McLaughlin fan but the music he and the band played exceeded my expectations.
- John, London, England
