John McLaughlin - Floating Point

John McLaughlin has maintained a long lasting relation with India now. Over the decades the man has been visiting India with the motive to drown himself in the amazing arts and culture found across the vast country, performing with classical musicians of the finest order. For long he only collaborated with Indian classical musicians, but with Floating Point, John joined Indian musicians who play largely western music, in addition to more traditional musicians.

Floating Point is a prime example of what a fusion album is supposed to be, for it is a western jazz album, which incorporates the east in way of the Indian classical geniuses, brought forth on the album. Rather than just bringing in an Indian instrument for the sake of being different or just variety in the name of creation, the album has merged the two contrasting sounds in an appropriate manner, without shouts of excessiveness or sparingness in both cases.   

It is very easy for percussionists who wouldn’t manage to fit in the super genius category to be over shadowed and almost neglected. Very interestingly on the entire tracks percussionist Sivamani has been used in addition to the drumming sensation Ranjit Barot. This added emphasis on the rhythm section is something refreshing for finally the percussionists get the center stage rather than just being restricted to being the backing band. Ranjit for one is top notch with his rolls on the album opener Abbaji, written in tribute to the late Allah Rakka Khan.

One has become accustomed to seeing McLaughlin duel it out with classical musicians from his days with Shakti and later with other Indian artists. But, hearing the simultaneous musical sounds against a jazz backdrop provided by a full-fledged band sounded immensely charming. On Raju McLaughlin is accompanied by Debashish Bhattacharya on the Hindustanin Slide Guitar. Hearing the two match each other against Ranjit’s drums and Banks keyboards is something else. 

Abbaji and Maharina are the closest one can get to find pure jazz on the album, all whilst juiced by the percussion work of Sivamani. While Abbaji is characterized by the warm tone of George Brook’s Saxophone, Maharina is a marvel in the form of John’s synthesizer. The  latter is most definitely the track that would resonate the most, in the entire album.

 The only track to have vocals of significance is the aptly titled The Voice, which features the marvelous Shankar Mahadevan straining his wonderful vocal cords for the song. On the primarily instrumental album it is hard to imagine any other person’s voice that would match the instruments, especially speaking from an Indian context. Young French bassist Hadrien Feraud is easily one of the most distinguishable musicians on the track, following Shankar brilliantly.

The flute has been lifted from the Hindu mythology into the reign of jazz fusion fantastically on the album. The sweet sound of the hollow instrument does wonders against the harsher backdrop. The instrument clearly drives both the tracks it is featured in Off the One and 1 4 U. Naveen Kumar’s flute work on 1 4 U has done great justice to the much overlooked instrument, which at times is irresistible.

Five Peace Band, the final on the album is by itself what the album is as a whole. A confluence of musicians from different backgrounds all united by their love for music and their virtuosic command of it. Floating Point shall become a watershed in coming years, and be instrumental in boasting musical collaborations from around the world amongst present and future generations.