Pianist
Bill Evans was one of guitarist
John McLaughlin's early heroes so this
Evans tribute seemed like a logical idea. Sticking to acoustic guitar,
McLaughlin is joined by four other guitarists (along with the acoustic bass guitar of Yann Maresz) to create an unusual instrumentation that often sounds as full as a keyboard. The leader arranged ten of
Evans's compositions and his own "Homage" for a largely introverted set of music that has a strong classical feel.
McLaughlin lets loose a few times but more mood and tempo variations would have kept this from being such a sleepy and overly respectful session. ~ Scott Yanow