Customer Reviews

John McLaughlin: Meeting of the Minds - The Making of Floating Point

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This video gives the audience a front seat in the recording studio and gives us a rare opportunity to see John Mclaughlin's mastery of non western music and his gentle all pervasive leadership of a team of exceptional world musicians. John McLaughlin conceived and wrote the base scores for the five day recording session with particular combinations of instrumentalists in mind. He then proceeded to bring them together to collaborate and improvise on his themes with wonderful results.
A truly uplifting revelation of the creative power of collaboration in music and musicianship.

This is a gift for us musicians. What a pleasure to see a master at work. And the high quality of gifted players that join him are supreme. Plus the CD is top rate and ranks as one of his best.

I have been a big fan of John for almost 40 years. I have most of his albums and try to see him when ever he is on tour. In my opinion, this DVD is much better than going to a concert because you get a more intimate look into the process and the people. Typically at concerts, the sound mixing is poor, you have bad seats, the volume is too loud, plus, there is way too much jamming, which is not what draws me to his music. In this video, you are right there in the studio as they figure things out. It was interesting to see that John sometimes lays down the basic melody on keyboard and uses that to convey to the musicians. Only the keyboard work seems to be written on paper. Although I have followed John's music for many years, I didn't have any sense of his personality. He comes across as very warm and a genuinely nice guy. At one point Louiz Banks (on keyboard) takes improvisation a touch too far and John pulls the plug on that take. Everyone gets a good laugh. The musicians that John brought in are all excellent. I find myself following Louiz's background chords moreso than the guitar work. Sometimes the fingerwork of the guys on strings is so fast that you think that your DVD player momentarily went into fast forward. It's also nice to follow along with music that you may be familiar with, the Floating Point album, which is very nice (too bad they didn't get the grammy).

A great documentary with fantastic insight to the recording world of john Mclaughlin. Not only just interviews, there is great deal of playing as well. You can get pretty close to Johns fretboard to see whats going on . I really dont think that there has been a DVD like this made. If you like music and want to see how it goes down in the studio , get it . Dont forget his instructional DVD on Konokol

I loved his DVD but I am a huge fan of young bassist Hadrien Feraud who plays on every track on the CD but is completely unmentioned on the DVD. Not sure if it was a contractual thing but I'd love to see him playing as well as the other fine musicians here.

john mclaughlin ranks high in my list as a musician, human being and adventurer and nothing better than this recent dvd that shows his concept, thoughts, performance and interactions with others about what he knows most that is the art of music.

I'm a big John McLaughlin fan so I apologize forthe + bias but I really enjoyed watching this truly amazing jazz fusion genius operate behind the scenes. If your a fan, I highly recommend this DVD.

finnally we can see Mclaughlin in action is a studio.this fantastic musician
with outstanding indian virtuosos,it'worth the buy.
on the downside:no subtitles,i wish we can see a detailed view of Mc
guitar setup,or the zitar an eletric mandolim.
all said i hihly recomend to anyone who likes great music palyed beautifully!

After some views if this amazing DVD, and after more than 30 years listening to McLaughlin's music, I have to admit that he is now better than ever.
The comunication with the musician is perfect, as well as the direction of the film.
If you are a fan, you will be satified, if you are a beginer, is a good way to begin.

Very well made, with great behind the scene studio details. Nice to have in your collection! Masters of fusion in action!