Photos: John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension Kick Off India Tour

John McLaughlin live in Kolkata. Photo: Margub Ali

When jazz fusion legend John McLaughlin returned to Kolkata after a decade to perform with his band, The 4th Dimension, you can imagine the capacity crowd at the Dalhousie Institute wasn’t going to let him get off stage very easily. On the first stop on his three-city India tour, the 4th Dimension played a diverse two-hour set that gave audiences a taste of their new album Black Light, but they were called back for an encore, for which they duly obliged. McLaughlin took to Facebook to remark after the show, “I hope it’s not 10 years before we meet again.”

Joined by bassist Etienne M’Bappe, drummer Ranjit Barot and keyboardist Gary Husband [who also later joined Barot for a drum jam, with two drum kits set up on stage], McLaughlin’s set included “The Creator Has A Master Plan,” “Panditji,” “The Light at the Edge of the World” and “Abbaji,” among a 12-song, two-hour performance. With an audience both young and old of jazz lovers, McLaughlin also paid tribute to the late Mandolin Srinivas, who was part of fusion group Remember Shakti.

While McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension move on to Bangladesh and return to Mumbai and Bengaluru later this week, the Dalhousie Institute in Kolkata will open its doors to jazz fans yet again later this month, hosting Jazzfest between November 27th and 29th.

Photos: Margub Ali

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