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John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension ...
Last Friday, I caught John Mclaughlin's first Fusion tour in years! Touring as John Mclaughlin and The 4th Dimension, John's band featured 23 year old Bass phenom Hadrien Feraud, explosive drummer Mark Mondesir , and Gary Husband (drummer for Allan Holdsworth and Level 42), this time throwin' down on Keyboards and Percussion! The group really kept things firing on four cylinders for most of the show! John played with a ferocity that I haven't heard since his Mahavishnu days (I can't believe he's 65!), and his band is probably the most dynamic he's fronted since then. Those guys must be pretty fearless--they only started rehearsing together on September 11th, only to turn and hit the road for a national tour a few days later... Hadrien Feraud on Bass is something you have to see to believe. Dazzling speed is one thing, but doesn't mean much if you can't hold the groove--Hadrien does both, playing with impressive sensitivity and fluidity. Mark Mondesir's thunderous drummming relentlessly propelled the music, and Gary Husband was amazing on Keyboards, occasionally jumping to percussion to engage in call and response duets with Mondesir, and provding rhythmic accents to Hadrien's solos. John's motto on the tour is "Just Improvise", and the band used several of Maclaughlin's past and present compositions as a launching pad to do just that. It was great to see the band stretch out so loosely, only to come back playing in tight unison moments later--you definitely gotta know how to count in this band.... having spent so little time together, the band may still be feeling each other out, but their playing gave the impression that they had been together for years... It was nice to see Johnny Mac back in such fine form--Great Show!!!!! ... [Edited 10/1/07 14:22pm] " I've got six things on my mind --you're no longer one of them." - Paddy McAloon, Prefab Sprout | |
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Sounds...great! Looks like JM has got 'em fired up. Can't wait to hear this Hadrien fellow live. tA Tribal Disorder http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431 "Ya see, we're not interested in what you know...but what you are willing to learn. C'mon y'all." | |
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Hold ON!
Was Johnny ripping it up on a distorted electric? | |
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magnificentsynthesizer said: Hold ON!
Was Johnny ripping it up on a distorted electric? Yup--Just his guitar, a few pedals, and a Roland 60 Cube amp.... ... " I've got six things on my mind --you're no longer one of them." - Paddy McAloon, Prefab Sprout | |
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theAudience said: Sounds...great! Looks like JM has got 'em fired up. Can't wait to hear this Hadrien fellow live. Man, Talk about , I just found out that Hadrien doesn't even read music!! From a John Mclaughlin interview, for All About Jazz: “So, anyway, my manager had heard about this kid and we were speaking one day and he said, ‘You know I’ve heard this bass player,’ and my antenna went up, and I said, ‘Let me hear him, whatever he’s got,’ and he played me something that was just rough, a demo. I called him right away and said, ‘Listen, come down here, I’m in the middle of recording, and there’s this tune you have to play on.’ I’d already written ‘For Jaco,’ and I didn’t even know who was gonna play on it, I really didn’t. But this tune was so much for Jaco and it couldn’t have been more timely. I heard this kid play, I couldn’t believe it, so I got him down, and we played and we recorded and, for me, he’s the new Jaco [Pastorius]. He’s twenty-two now, it’s terrible! And he doesn’t even read music, but he’s got amazing ears. Harmonically, I say, ‘Do you know this chord?’ and he says, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ or ‘Let me hear it,’ and boom! he’s got it. Amazing, like Wes Montgomery. Incredible.... " ... [Edited 10/1/07 14:19pm] " I've got six things on my mind --you're no longer one of them." - Paddy McAloon, Prefab Sprout | |
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paligap said: Man, Talk about , I just found out that Hadrien doesn't even read music!! From a John Mclaughlin interview, for All About Jazz: “So, anyway, my manager had heard about this kid and we were speaking one day and he said, ‘You know I’ve heard this bass player,’ and my antenna went up, and I said, ‘Let me hear him, whatever he’s got,’ and he played me something that was just rough, a demo. I called him right away and said, ‘Listen, come down here, I’m in the middle of recording, and there’s this tune you have to play on.’ I’d already written ‘For Jaco,’ and I didn’t even know who was gonna play on it, I really didn’t. But this tune was so much for Jaco and it couldn’t have been more timely. I heard this kid play, I couldn’t believe it, so I got him down, and we played and we recorded and, for me, he’s the new Jaco [Pastorius]. He’s twenty-two now, it’s terrible! And he doesn’t even read music, but he’s got amazing ears. Harmonically, I say, ‘Do you know this chord?’ and he says, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ or ‘Let me hear it,’ and boom! he’s got it. Amazing, like Wes Montgomery. Incredible.... " ... He's obviously related... ...to the two on the right. tA Tribal Disorder http://www.soundclick.com...dID=182431 "Ya see, we're not interested in what you know...but what you are willing to learn. C'mon y'all." | |
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theAudience said: He's obviously related... ...to the two on the right. For Real!!!!! ... " I've got six things on my mind --you're no longer one of them." - Paddy McAloon, Prefab Sprout | |
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