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.
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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.
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