John McLaughlin - Liberation Time

Released 16th July 2021.

Vinyl release delayed.

For more than five decades, John McLaughlin has deployed his peerless guitar technique, compositional gifts, and imagination in service of a deeply personal higher calling, forging a vast legacy unmatched in improvised music. Now as the world reels from the toll of the ongoing viral-induced global lockdown, McLaughlin reflects on both the perils and potential of this challenging moment with 'Liberation Time'.

Characterised by both joy and reflection, 'Liberation Time' finds McLaughlin harnessing his frustrations and redirecting that energy. "The result," he explains in a candid liner note, "was an explosion of music in my mind.".

Unusual for McLaughlin's recent projects, 'Liberation Time' is not the work of one fixed ensemble. With physical proximity no longer a prerequisite, McLaughlin drew upon decades of experience as a bandleader to select musicians bes