March 2009

<!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE &lt;![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; &lt;![endif]--> John McLaughlin probably hasn’t impacted jazz guitar playing as much as his predecessors, but he is as easily recognizable to listeners. It’s not necessarily the tone of his instrument or the setting that he’s playing in that makes attentive listeners able to recognize this British born musician, but the cascading fall of notes that he unlooses from his guitar. Playing with everyone from Miles Davis to the Rollin Stones, McLaughlin has remained an integral part of music for over forty years. Read more

<!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE &lt;![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]&gt; &lt;![endif]--> The way in which anything is described – the words used to explain it and the context that it’s placed – serves to define it as much as reality does. One’s perception can differentiate the object, person or idea from the norm or even another person’s. So in describing music, whatever adjectives get tacked onto genre names serve to explicate a work almost as much as the work itself. Of course that’s a bit over blown, after all it’s just music. Read more