JOHN MCLAUGHLIN — After the Rain (review)

JOHN MCLAUGHLIN — After the Rain album cover Album · 1995 · Hard Bop Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
js
When “After the Rain” first came out in the mid 90s, its all-star lineup of McLaughlin, DeFrancesco and Elvin Jones certainly brought a lot of attention, especially since it was McLaughlin’s first jazz record in quite a while. The choice of tunes furthered interest as this looked to be bit of a Coltrane tribute with Trane’s great drummer, Elvin Jones, on board to boot. The playing from all three members is great, with Jones being somewhat subdued and Francesco stealing the show with lightning fast runs that pile on top of each other creating sheets of sound. Unfortunately though, the production and sound quality are rife with problems making this promising CD loose much of its potential.

By the time of this CD, much of the jazz world, including the new young acid jazz crowd as well as the equally new and young neo-bop crowd, had eschewed plastic digital electronics in their recordings and were aiming for a more real and gritty retro “Blue Note” type sound. Unfortunately McLaughlin didn’t get the memo and the sound of this CD is more suited for bland 80s fuzak, not hot aggressive hard bop. McLaughlin’s guitar sound is thin and overly processed and Elvin Jones drums are buried by a digitally enhanced high end cymbal sound. All three players are swamped with phony digital reverb and recording “plates” more suited for stadium rock bands, not small jazz combos.

Despite the production problems, there are some nice tunes on here. “Afro Blue”, with its rhythmic changeup, seems to inspire Joey and Johnny to some of their best solos and “Ecuentros” has some interesting exotic Spanish Phrygian chord progressions. Elsewhere on this CD, several bluesy numbers allow DeFrancesco to show that he is the new king of the Hammond B3.
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