Remember Shakti [2 CD]

John McLaughlin made his mark in jazz by blazing a speed-freak guitar trail through the electric thickets and torrential rhythms. Then there was Shakti, the East Indian-meets-fusion band McLaughlin founded after Mahavishnu. Revisiting Shakti on this 1997 two-CD set recorded live on a British tour, John McLaughlin sounds at once flashy and deferential, ever keenly after the most excitable guitar lines balanced against rushes of rhythm--and willing not to shine brightest. This Shakti lineup includes original member Zakir Hussain on tabla and T.H. Vinayakram on ghatam, and the core group gets additional help from Hariprasad Chaurasia on bansuri flute and Uma Metha on tanpura on more than half these two-plus hours of riveting music. For fans of McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra feverishness, there is plenty of heat in the guitar, even though it's played filmily enough so that the hand percussion and deep flute winds blow through. --Andrew Bartlett