by Richard S. Ginell
Electric Guitarist is an album of reconciliation and penance, a series of reunions with several former colleagues from the early jazz-rock days, some of whom had parted on bitter terms with John McLaughlin. But there are no egos out of control here; everyone has grown up, and partly as a result, there is a high level of musical inspiration devoid of pointless decibel wars. Jerry Goodman and Billy Cobham of the first Mahavishnu Orchestra show up first, then a genial reunion with Carlos Santana, which has some of the old fire. From this point on, the CD undergoes a clever systematic reduction in numbers -- first to five players, then four (the great combination of Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Jack DeJohnette), then three (a delightfully loose reunion of Lifetimers Tony Williams and Jack Bruce), then two (a fierce duel with Cobham), and finally just McLaughlin himself delivering the benediction on, of all things, "My Foolish Heart." Jazz is the dominant flavor in these fusions, often in a more restrained manner than the early-'70s sessions, and it pointed the way toward a new musical maturity for McLaughlin the electric guitarist.