John McLaughlin And Chick Corea Reunites.
Five Peace Band Reignites The Flame And Passion Of Great Fusion Jazz
Sep 27, 2009
Together they have played on one of fusion jazz most important album; Bitches Brew, with the great Miles Davis at it’s helm. They remained good friends although they went their separate ways after the Davis experience.
The Great Jazz Bands They Led
Chick Corea like John Mclaughlin has had an amazing career since leaving Miles. In the seventies he challenged many of the other fusion bands with his group Return To Forever a band that went through many personnel changes, but still managed to top various music charts with every recording.
In the early Eighties he formed the Elektric Band with Dave Weckl and John Patitucci. This same electric band went Acoustic later that decade.
In between recording and touring with his main bands, he created groups with special guest like Joe Henderson, Chaka Khan, Freddie Hubbard and Nancy Wilson. He helped kick start bassist Avishai Cohen career, he started his own label Stretch and collaborated with the amazing vocal acrobatic artist Bobby McFerrin.
John Mclaughlin also had a great seventies period with the Mahavishnu Orchestra, after they broke up he went on what many today would call a world music excursion by creating the group Shakti. An experimental group that blends his western guitar style with percussion and violins of musicians from India.
He too went acoustic in the latter part of the 20th century releasing some beautiful albums including: After the Rain an album that paid tribute to Jazz icon John Coltrane and Friday Night In San Francisco, a still much sought after album that featured three virtuosic guitarists Al Di Meola, Paco De Lucia and John himself.
In the nineties he revived Shakti and then for the new century he returned to the shredding guitar style that he was know for with his new group 4th Dimensions. The band has released two excellent albums Industrial Zen and Floating point
Amazingly throughout all this activity Corea and Mclaughlin has managed to cross paths even appearing on some albums together. So for many of their fans it was only a matter of time before these musical adventurers got together for their own combined musical project
Putting The Five Peace Band Together
It was Chick’s idea to get together; he even picked the sidemen, finding younger, but accomplished and adventurous musicians.
Christian McBride who has continued to be a much talked about bassist since his appearance on the Jazz scene in the 90’s seems like a natural selection for a project like this; He is a monster player on both the Acoustic and electric basses.
Kenny Garrett, for many one of the most exciting saxophonist in jazz today, brings musical fire and fluency to the front line and Vinnie Cloutia a much sought after drummer holds down the engine room with a fluid touch and lots of flare.
The band toured for a year, mostly in Europe before releasing their album Five Peace Band Live. The name was take from a composition John recorded on his last 4th Dimension album Floating Point.
The Five Peace Band Live recording is a double CD of music recorded while on tour. It gives us a blast of the 70’s fusion, but with a forward looking direction to it.
The leaders contribute five songs to it McLaughlin wrote three and Corea two. The influence of Miles is felt with their version of In A Silent Way and Someday my Prince will come.
The opening track on the first disc is Raju, a composition of John McLaughlin that features some majestic playing by the ensemble. It’s a composition that embraces McLaughlin’s fusion days, but is still rooted in the tradition of jazz.
The lengthy, but beautiful Hymn to Andromeda closes the first disc. It is a composition of Corea which opens with a quiet atmospheric feel before bursting out like a new born galaxy with Chick arpeggios and glissando giving way to McLaughlin speedy runs, while Kenny Garrett wails mightily on Alto Sax.
Remembering Miles And Working With Herbie Hancock
Another jazz great and alumni of the Miles Davis experience, Herbie Hancock joins them on In a Silent Way, playing electric piano and adding his touch to the soft dreamy ethereal vibe of the Miles Davis, Joe Zawinul composition.
The journey ends on disc two with an elegant reworking of Someday My Prince Will Come.
It is not too often musical groups like the Five Peace Band comes around and many fans are hoping that this is not a one time project. The CD Five Peace Band Live was released on the Concord label and is in stores.
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