John McLaughlin and The 4th Dimension: Lockdown Blues
On June 10th, John McLaughlin and The 4th Dimension shared this great video. The clip begins with McLaughlin sharing some thoughts on the current situation, followed by the band performing “Lockdown Blues” virtually.
The 4th Dimension includes Etienne Mbappe on bass, Gary Husband on keys, and Ranjit Barot on drums. This is their first new recording in five years, which they did to benefit the Jazz Foundation of America during the COVID-19 crisis – and donations are encouraged.
The track is available on Abstract Logix’s Bandcamp page.
“As a band, we’ve been together so long we’re family,” McLaughlin shared. “But in fact we go further back: Humanity is the only family, and we believe the only way humanity will survive is if we care enough for each other. We hope that whoever sees or hears this will care also. So if you donate something — even something really small — thank you.”
I’d love to know how they recorded this and got it so tight (without any apparent latency effects). Great tune, great message!
So great to have McLaughlin still around. Such a fantastic musician and human being. Mbape is amazing too! (as are all the other guys).