It is not a stretch to think Jimmy Herring, a 50-something axe-wielder, to be an acolyte of the amazing guitarist John McLaughlin. Herring opened the show at the Cap with his group The Whip. Herring on guitar, bass, Jeff Sipe on drums, Hammond B-3, and Jason Crosby on keys and violin. They rolled through their set, stopping for an amazing Revival (by the Allman Bros.) Herring has been part of Widespread Panic, Col. Bruce Hampton's Aquarium Rescue Unit, as well as incarnations of The Dead and The Allman Brothers. Herring's picking is solid, veering from jammy fills to Marc Ribot's downtown skronk. Sipe and Crosby are veterans of the jam scene, and unleashed their chops for the warmup.
English guitarist McLaughlin came to the US in the late 60s to play in Tony Williams Lifetime Unit. He soon became involved with Miles Davis and lent his skills to the seminal recordings Bitches Brew and In A Silent Way. As I read in the recent cover story of Relix, Davis told McLaughlin to "start his own thang" which led to the amazingly under-rated Mahavishnu Orchestra. On this evening, JM played the second set with his group the 4th dimension. JM on guitar, drums, bass ( looked like FatAlbert's pal Rudy and sounded like Victor Wooten), and keys. The final set had a mash of Herring's group and JMs group to play chestnuts from the Mahavishnu catalog. Fantastic set that had "hits" from Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, and my personal favorite Visions of The Emerald Beyond ( which I had on 8-track!). This farewell tour from a Titan that connects the Jazz dots to Miles and Trane was a gift to this sold out audience.
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