Tokyo Live [Live]

John McLaughlin, Free Spirits | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 17, 1994)
• Original Release Date: May 17, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Label: Verve
• ASIN: B0000046UA
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #282,638 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Musician's Music, January 24, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Tokyo Live (Audio CD)

This is a faithful recording of a great tour, wherein Dennis Chambers proclaimed McLaughlin as the "world's greatest guitar player". John sounds and plays as if his instrument were a piano. The modal/funk/bebop form of Hijacked says it all. But I would not recommend this music to someone who cannot play an instrument well, or understand what Ornette did to the school of cool, or what Davis or Coletrane did for fusion -- it will be boring.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, March 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Tokyo Live (Audio CD)

Although it is tempting to think that The Free Spirits (the trio featured on this CD), due to the similarity of the instrumentation (guitarist John McLaughlin, organist Joey DeFrancesco and drummer Dennis Chambers), would be an updating of Tony Williams's groundbreaking fusion group Lifetime, the reality is somewhat different. McLaughlin may get top billing but this music sounds very much like a Joey DeFrancesco-led Jimmy Smith revival date with most of the selections being blues-based. There are some introspective moments for the guitarist (who plays strictly electric here) but DeFrancesco dominates the ensembles and takes the lion's share of the solo space. The music is enjoyable enough although none of the compositions (all but Miles Davis's "No Blues" are by McLaughlin) are all that memorable.