To the One
Encyclopedia
To the One is an album released by British
jazz guitarist
John McLaughlin
. It is his first album with his band, the 4th Dimension. The album was released in 2010 on Abstract Logix Records and was produced by McLaughlin. It reached number 27 on the Billboard Jazz Albums Chart
and was nominated for the 2011
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album
.
album A Love Supreme
. The liner notes
were written by McLaughlin and detail how he was influenced by A Love Supreme both musically and spiritually
.
The music came to McLaughlin over a five week period in the summer of 2009. McLaughlin previously honored the memory of Coltrane on his 1973 collaboration with Carlos Santana
, Love Devotion Surrender
.
The album was nominated for the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album but lost to the Stanley Clarke
album The Stanley Clarke Band
. The other nominees were Never Can Say Goodbye
by Joey DeFrancesco
, Now Is the Time
by Jeff Lorber
, and Backatown
by Trombone Shorty
.
playing throughout the album, Gary Husband
also plays drums on two tracks, "Recovery" and "To the One". He also has a piano
solo on the track "Special Beings". Bassist
Etienne Mbappé, who was born Cameroon
and raised in Paris, replaced original 4th Dimension Bassist Hadrien Feraud
when he broke his hand in 2009, has a solo on the track "Discovery". Mark Mondesir plays drums on every track except "To the One". Bandleader and composer, John McLaughlin, of course, provides all of the guitar work and even plays a guitar synth on "Lost and Found" and "To the One".
. Thom Jurek of Allmusic called the album an "inspired milestone for McLaughlin and a fine recorded introduction to one of the more exciting electric jazz groups in the 4th Dimension". Stuart Nicholson of Jazzwise
referred to the album as "an odyssey through McLaughlin’s spiritual awakening and the meaning it has had in his music". John Fordham of The Guardian
wrote that the album is a "tight 40-minute document [that] hums with a collaborative energy".
John Bungey of The Times
was more mixed in his review writing "a strong group performance but a few more memorable themes amid the bustle might have added to the spiritual uplift". Randy Ray wrote on Jambands.com that McLaughlin "finds a way to pull his listeners under the surface, and into that fourth dimensional point of view".
John Kelman in All About Jazz
wrote that there is "no shortage of high octane playing here" and that it is "McLaughlin's most exhilarating work and group since his Heart of Things band in the late 1990s" and closed by saying that the album is "quite simply, McLaughlin's best album in well over a decade". Ian Patterson in All About Jazz wrote that "Simply listening to his improvisations throughout the six originals leaves no doubt that he is in inspired creative form." Robert Bush, also in All About Jazz, called To the One the "most consistently engaging disc in years" and that "McLaughlin's chops have never been better".
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
jazz guitarist
Jazz guitarist
Jazz guitarists are guitar players who play jazz music on the guitar using an approach to playing chords, melodies, and improvised solo lines which is called jazz guitar playing. The guitar has fulfilled the roles of accompanist and soloist in small and large ensembles and also as an unaccompanied...
John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
. It is his first album with his band, the 4th Dimension. The album was released in 2010 on Abstract Logix Records and was produced by McLaughlin. It reached number 27 on the Billboard Jazz Albums Chart
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
and was nominated for the 2011
53rd Grammy Awards
The 53rd annual Grammy Awards were held on February 13, 2011, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. They were broadcast on CBS with a rating of 26.6 million viewers. Barbra Streisand was honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year two nights prior to the telecast on February 11. Nominations were...
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album
Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album
The Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album was an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for works containing quality contemporary jazz performances...
.
Overview
To the One was inspired by the 1965 John ColtraneJohn Coltrane
John William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
album A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme
A Love Supreme is a studio album recorded by John Coltrane's quartet in December 1964 and released by Impulse! Records in February 1965...
. The liner notes
Liner notes
Liner notes are the writings found in booklets which come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for vinyl records and cassettes.-Origin:...
were written by McLaughlin and detail how he was influenced by A Love Supreme both musically and spiritually
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
.
The music came to McLaughlin over a five week period in the summer of 2009. McLaughlin previously honored the memory of Coltrane on his 1973 collaboration with Carlos Santana
Carlos Santana
Carlos Augusto Alves Santana is a Mexican rock guitarist. Santana became famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band, Santana, which pioneered rock, salsa and jazz fusion...
, Love Devotion Surrender
Love Devotion Surrender
Love Devotion Surrender is an album released in 1973 by guitarists Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin, with the backing of their respective bands . The album was inspired by the teachings of Sri Chinmoy and intended as a tribute to John Coltrane...
.
The album was nominated for the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album but lost to the Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
album The Stanley Clarke Band
The Stanley Clarke Band
The Stanley Clarke Band is an album by jazz bassist Stanley Clarke. It was released by Heads Up Record in June 2010 and was produced by Clarke and Lenny White. Band members include Ruslan Sirota on keyboard, Ronald Bruner, Jr. on drums and Hiromi on piano...
. The other nominees were Never Can Say Goodbye
Never Can Say Goodbye: The Music of Michael Jackson
Jeff Simon wrote a mixed review for the The Buffalo News. He lamented that Jackson's "music isn’t nearly as adaptable to chitlin circuit Hammond B-3 wails and screams and staccato stabs as you might assume" and the songs "are just a little too pretty for this kind of organ funk"...
by Joey DeFrancesco
Joey DeFrancesco
Joey DeFrancesco is an American jazz organist, trumpeter, and vocalist. Down Beat's Critics and Readers Poll selected him as the top jazz organist every year since 2003.DeFrancesco was born in Springfield, Pennsylvania...
, Now Is the Time
Now Is the Time (Jeff Lorber Fusion album)
Now Is the Time is a jazz album released by Jeff Lorber Fusion. The album was released in 2010 on Heads Up Records and was produced by Jeff Lorber, Bobby Colomby, and Jimmy Haslip. It was nominated for the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album....
by Jeff Lorber
Jeff Lorber
Jeff Lorber is an American Grammy Award-nominated keyboardist, composer, and record producer.After leading his own group, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, he went on to pioneer the smooth jazz genre....
, and Backatown
Backatown
Backatown is an album released by jazz musician Troy 'Trombone Shorty' Andrews. The album was released in 2010 on Verve Forecast Records and was produced by Galactic's Ben Ellman...
by Trombone Shorty
Troy Andrews
Troy Andrews , also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty is a trombone and trumpet player from New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. He has worked in jazz, funk and rap music. Andrews is the younger brother of trumpeter and bandleader James Andrews as well as the grandson of singer and...
.
The band
McLaughlin has been playing with this group of musicians live since 2007 but this is their first release of new material. In addition to his keyboardElectronic keyboard
An electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
playing throughout the album, Gary Husband
Gary Husband
Gary Husband is a British jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer.- Short biography:Gary Husband is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer...
also plays drums on two tracks, "Recovery" and "To the One". He also has a piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
solo on the track "Special Beings". Bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Etienne Mbappé, who was born Cameroon
Cameroon
Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon , is a country in west Central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south. Cameroon's coastline lies on the...
and raised in Paris, replaced original 4th Dimension Bassist Hadrien Feraud
Hadrien Feraud
Hadrien Feraud is a French Jazz fusion-bassist.-Biography:Feraud was born into a family of musicians. His first guitar lessons were from his father when he was eight years old....
when he broke his hand in 2009, has a solo on the track "Discovery". Mark Mondesir plays drums on every track except "To the One". Bandleader and composer, John McLaughlin, of course, provides all of the guitar work and even plays a guitar synth on "Lost and Found" and "To the One".
Reception
Mike Greenblatt called To the One "very heady, complicated, meandering, spiritual, bass-centric yet trebly and deeply satisfying" in The Aquarian WeeklyThe Aquarian Weekly
The Aquarian Weekly is a regional alternative weekly newspaper based in New Jersey. Founded in 1969, its focus is popular music. It is accompanied by a pull-out section, The East Coast Rocker, which is freely distributed throughout the New Jersey/New York City/Eastern Pennsylvania region.The paper...
. Thom Jurek of Allmusic called the album an "inspired milestone for McLaughlin and a fine recorded introduction to one of the more exciting electric jazz groups in the 4th Dimension". Stuart Nicholson of Jazzwise
Jazzwise
Jazzwise Publications Limited is a UK-based specialist jazz music publisher and education company. It was founded in 1984 as a mail-order company promoting jazz and improvisation through catalogues and short courses and workshops for musicians...
referred to the album as "an odyssey through McLaughlin’s spiritual awakening and the meaning it has had in his music". John Fordham of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
wrote that the album is a "tight 40-minute document [that] hums with a collaborative energy".
John Bungey of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
was more mixed in his review writing "a strong group performance but a few more memorable themes amid the bustle might have added to the spiritual uplift". Randy Ray wrote on Jambands.com that McLaughlin "finds a way to pull his listeners under the surface, and into that fourth dimensional point of view".
John Kelman in All About Jazz
All About Jazz
All About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...
wrote that there is "no shortage of high octane playing here" and that it is "McLaughlin's most exhilarating work and group since his Heart of Things band in the late 1990s" and closed by saying that the album is "quite simply, McLaughlin's best album in well over a decade". Ian Patterson in All About Jazz wrote that "Simply listening to his improvisations throughout the six originals leaves no doubt that he is in inspired creative form." Robert Bush, also in All About Jazz, called To the One the "most consistently engaging disc in years" and that "McLaughlin's chops have never been better".
Track listing
All tracks written by John McLaughlinJohn McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
- "Discovery" 6:19
- "Special Beings" 8:38
- "The Fine Line" 7:43
- "Lost and Found" 4:26
- "Recovery" 6:21
- "To the One" 6:34
Credits
- John McLaughlinJohn McLaughlin (musician)John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music... - Gary HusbandGary HusbandGary Husband is a British jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer.- Short biography:Gary Husband is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist and composer...
- drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, keyboardsElectronic keyboardAn electronic keyboard is an electronic or digital keyboard instrument.The major components of a typical modern electronic keyboard are:...
, percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration... - Etienne Mbappé – bassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Mark Mondesir – drums, percussion
- Marcus Wippersberg – engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Beat Pfaendler – cover design, cover photoAlbum coverAn album cover is the front of the packaging of a commercially released audio recording product, or album. The term can refer to either the printed cardboard covers typically used to package sets of 10" and 12" 78 rpm records, single and sets of 12" LPs, sets of 45 rpm records , or the front-facing...
Charts
| Year | Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Billboard Jazz Albums Billboard charts The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine... |
27 |