John McLaughlin Trio live in Stuttgart 1989

John McLaughlin - acoustic guitar, vocals
Kai Eckhardt - bass, vocals
Trilok Gurtu - percussion, vocals

recorded live at Theaterhaus Stuttgart, 5th Theaterhaus Jazztage Stuttgart 1989

1. Florianapolis
2. Are You The One?
3. Mother Tongues
4. The Wall Will Fall
5. Zakir
6. JM's Interview

"Four long years had passed since McLaughlin's last record when JMT released Live at the Royal Festival Hall in 1990. The brilliant percussionist Trilok Gurtu, of Oregon fame, joined him—along with superb bassist Kai Eckhardt—to form an exciting band which was to exist in one form or another (with revolving bassists) for five more years. The mostly acoustic music which fills this album, augmented by electric bass and John's guitar synthesizer, is a mix of standard jazz, fusion and Indian-influenced rhythms and melody lines. The rhythms do tend to overwhelm the compositions, but to a degree that represents the signature mark of this particular band. That fact could also be because McLaughlin was making a comeback from a potentially career-threatening injury to his index finger, and thus found rhythmic playing easier to handle than extensive soloing. At any rate, the structure of the Trio is such that rhythm assumes as much of a role in the compositions as melodic themes. This unusual personality leads to many exciting and good-humored musical excursions. This band is fun to listen to because its members are clearly enjoying themselves. " - Walter Kolosky, allaboutjazz.com

Trilok Gurtu "Massical" live at Hamburger Jazztage 2009

photo © by Elio Guidi

Trilok Gurtu (dr, perc and voice) - India
Roland Cabezas (g) - Germany/Spain
Carlo Cantini (v, mel.) – Italy
Phil Drummy (sax, fl, didg.) – Australia
Johann Berby (b) - Le Reunion

recorded live at Fabrik, Hamburg, October 2, 2009

1. Monk-e-desh
2. Broken Rhythms
3. Kuruksetra
4. Bridges
5. Kalavati
6. Balatho

Trilok Gurtu has persistently added elements of various provenance to his musical cornucopia to develop a form of music that finds hierarchies superfluous and has reached its latest high water mark in the new CD entitled Massical. Gurtu turned the pages back and recalls that “I got a lot of flak for my first record because I was trying out something new. It's a lot easier just to imitate somebody else. I tried to forge a bond between my love for Africa and India, but somewhere along the line I had the feeling I was respecting the music too much. I have to remember to maintain my own self respect. Guess what? My music doesn't exist without me! So, I was a little bit more relaxed about my music and concentrated on what I heard myself. On Massical, I didn't think much about music; I just played.”
That's why the songs on Massical feel like acoustic balm. When you're listening, you forget everything you ever learned about music. You drop all your prejudices and surrender yourself to the flow that seems to drive out the gold of the millennia through the present into the future. Gurtu had to drop some ballast himself to be able to credibly transport that feeling. He is an incredible virtuoso who had a tendency to play too much. But virtuosity only plays second fiddle on Massical and just lets the musical process fall into place. Gurtu says "I'm not just showcasing myself. If the music doesn't call for virtuosity, I don't use it. But, let's not forget that there are pieces that are awfully difficult to play and most musicians would not be able to. That music is virtuoso, even though it sounds simplistic. When the musicians cut their first or second record, they usually put their instrument front and centre. But I want to feature my music. There's a difference there. The groove is much more important than virtuosity.“

Jan Garbarek Group feat. Trilok Gurtu live at 30th Leverkusener Jazztage 2009

Jan Garbarek, Tenor and Soprano Saxophone

Rainer Brüninghaus, Keyboards
Yuri Daniel, Bass
Trilok Gurtu, Percussion

recorded live at Forum/ Leverkusen, November 2009

1. Liquid
2. YR
3. Considering The Snail
4. Stolt Öli
5. Jodphur 1
6. Pygmy Lullaby
7. Qawwali
8. It´s High Time

This year Jan Garbarek released the album "Dresden - In Concert" (as always on ECM), which is the first-ever live set from the highly-popular Garbarek Group. The band, now including Brazilian bassist Yuri Daniel, powers through repertoire old and new, and the Norwegian saxophonist is in top form, his exchanges with Indian percussion wizard Trilok Gurtu (replacing Manu Katche) particularly exciting.

Dominic Miller Project live at Jazz Baltica 2005

Dominic Miller - Guitar
Trilok Gurtu - Drums, Percussion
Mike Lindup - Piano, Voice
Nicolas Fiszman - Bass, Guitar
Till Brönner - Trumpet (Guest on 10)

recorded live at Große Konzertscheune, Salzau, July 3, 2005

1. Do You Want Me?
2. Baden
3. Eclipse
4. Rush Hour
5. Always
6. Air On A G-String
7. La Belle Sans Regrets
8. Ten Years
9. The Winner Takes It All
10. La Boca
11. Truco

This Buenos Aires-born guitarist, foremost known as a guitarist for Sting, needs no introduction. He is well known as a very virtuosic sideman and session musician, but meanwhile, Dominic Miller recorded several solo albums, one of them called "Third World". Some of the tunes of this record he played on this very special gig at Jazz Baltica featuring percussion master Trilok Gurtu, Belgian bass player Nicolas Fiszman and British pianist Mike Lindup. Maybe some purists won´t call it Jazz, but it´s really great music anyway.