John McLaughlin - Trio of Doom (2007)
John McLaughlin (Guitars)
Jaco Pastorius (Bass)
Tony Williams (Drums)
Tracks
1 Drum Improvisation
2 Dark Prince
3 Continuum
4 Para Oriente
5 Are You The One Are You The One
6 Dark Prince
7 Continuum
8 Para Oriente
9 Para Oriente
10 Para Oriente
This release may have its detractors due to the very short playingtime, not much more than 35 mins of effective music. But what we get is absolutely fabulous, with all three supermusicians in topform. The liner notes hints at Jaco Pastorius beginning to have some psychological problems, but sure isn't audible in his playing.
One could have feared an unmusical clash of ego's, but in fact the respect between this three giants seems so great that it's a lot more like a super-fusion version of Cream, with all three instruments and all three musicians having equal weight in the furious jamming.
We get their entire set from Havana, for the first time ever, starting after a fine drumintro with what's actually the highlight of the whole release, a monstrous version of "The Dark Prince" with a very inspired McLaughlin-solo. Followed by a beautiful "Continuum" with John adding some fine chordal colours under Pastorius' beautiful soloing. The precedings ending on a bit of a bum note though, with a rather disjointed jam, only to be recognized as "Are You The One?", when McLaughlin plays the theme at the very end. A version far from the grandeur of the original on "Electric Guitarist" with Tony, John and Jack Bruce.
So far it's been a very good year for Jaco Pastorius fans, with this gem and with the wonderful DVD with Weater Report "Live At Montreux".
The whole project has been supervised and produced by John McLaughlin and as one would suspect the sound his absolutely top-class.
Another fine Legacy-release.
