In 2017, guitarist and Grammy winner John McLaughlin (1942) completed his US Farewell Tour. Fortunately, that was only a faux farewell though, because this year he’s back to performing again, in the US and other parts of the world. The Yorkshire-born guitarist was initially brought over to the US in 1969 by drummer Tony Williams, where he was involved with the inception of jazz/rock fusion through his contribution to Miles Davis albums such as In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew. His intense and versatile style evolved and matured after his time with Miles in the Mahavishnu Orchestra, and from 1974 in Shakti, where he merged jazz with Indian music. As part of the celebration of the group’s upcoming 50-year (golden!) anniversary, they are about to embark on a world tour and release a new album in 2023, entitled This Moment. In addition to Indian tabla player and co-founder Zakir Hussain, we will be listening to vocalist Shankar Mahadevan, violinist Ganesh Rajagopalan and percussionist Selvaganesh Vinayakram.
