John McLaughlin Trio John McLaughlin/MI,USA 1988

From 1988 to the following year, they performed as a trio at jazz festivals around the world. This is a nearly complete recording of their performance at the Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival held in Detroit, USA on September 3rd of that year, recorded on stereo soundboards from radio on air master quality. This is a recording of two sets of the performance on that day, each recorded on two discs. Although the performance is incomplete due to being a broadcast recording, such as a fade-in at the beginning and a fade-out at the end, the performance itself is in official quality. The tense ensemble of the three-piece, featuring the familiar electric bassist Jonas Hellborg and drummer and percussionist Trilok Gurtu, is unique to this period, and while live recordings from the same period with bassists Kai Eckhardt and Jeff Berlin have been available, there have been almost no live performances with this trio, making this a very rare recording. And while at some festivals they may have incorporated standard numbers as well, the set here was centered around McLaughlin’s classic songs from the ’80s onwards, and not only did it showcase McLaughlin’s superb technique, but the rhythm section’s powerful backing was also superb, and this album is a must-listen for fans, as it has an approach that is reminiscent of later bands like 4th Dimension. Detroit Jazz Festival – Montreux Detroit : at Main Stage, Hart Plaza, Detroit, MI USA September 3rd 1988 : : stereo soundboard recording DISC 1 : (SET ONE) 1. Blue In Green/2. Florianapolis/3. Goodbye Pork Pie Hat/4. Are You The One?/5. DJ / Tuning/6. Mother Tongues/7. Rhythm-A-Ning DISC 2 : (SET TWO) 1. Walk-On / Tuning/2. Trilogy/3. DJ / Introduction/4. Pasha’s Love/5. Zakir/6. Tuning / JM Remarks/7. Blues For L.W./8. JM Remarks / Tuning/9. Mother Tongues/10. Rhythm-A-Ning John McLaughlin – guitar / Jonas Hellborg – bass / Trilok Gurtu – Percussion & drums