When guitarists Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin collaborated on 1973’s Love Devotion Surrender, it was grounded in their devotion to Sri Chinmoy, an Indian spiritual Master who guided both musicians in their quest for enlightenment and peace of mind. The record contained two pieces written by jazz legend John Coltrane for his own spiritual prayer, A Love Supreme. Santana and McLaughlin / Mahavishnu Orchestra fans were divided by the record, but nearly 40 years later, the payoff is an incredible reunion in the form of Invitation To Illumination – Live At Montreux 2011.
Staged on July 1, 2011, and captured on high-definition video, Santana and McLaughlin, both veterans of the famous Swiss jazz festival, finally teamed up for a show together. The two were backed by a powerhouse band that included bassists Etienne M’Bappé (sporting black silk gloves when he plays) and Benny Rietveld, drummers Cindy Blackman Santana and Dennis Chambers, keyboardist David K. Mathews, guitarist Tommy Anthony, percussionist Raul Rekow and singers Tony Lindsay and Andy Vargas. The setlist features a good portion of Love Devotion Surrender, along with pieces by Miles Davis, Tony Williams, Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker and Led Zeppelin. To say the night was filled with eclectic music executed with precision, virtuosity and sheer brilliance may well be the understatement of the year.
The late Claude Nobs was, of course, the master of ceremonies that evening, and he seemed to have an extra spring to his step as he introduced the musicians to the Montreux stage, the perfect setting for this flavor of jazz fusion. The music rises slowly as the players find their places during what’s called “Echoes Of Angels,” an appropriate way to build anticipation. It’s on “The Life Devine,” the third track from Love Devotion Surrender, where the players mesh and lift off. Chambers and Blackman Santana set the pace, Rietveld and Mathews flow in with an undercurrent, and Santana and McLaughlin lock in and fly.
Frankly, the medley of “Peace On Earth,” “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” “Stairway To Heaven” and “Our Prayer / SOCC” is more of a time-filling diversion to lighten the mood before a small faction of the band goes for the juggler. This is where McLaughlin, Rietveld, Mathews and Blackman Santana take on two tracks from The Tony Williams Lifetime, “Vuelta Abajo” and “Vashkar.” Each of the musicians grab the spotlight for a solo, but Blackman Santana is squarely in the driver’s seat throughout, easily proving herself here to be one of the leading jazz drummers in the world (she gets her own solo towards the end of the show that is absolutely mind-numbing).
Carlos Santana and the others return for a breezy take of Pharoah Sanders’ “The Creator Has A Master Plan,” before he and McLaughlin pull up stools and a couple of acoustics for John Coltrane’s “Naima” and “Cyril Scott’s “Lotus Land Op 47, No. 1.” The beatific chemistry between McLaughlin and Santana comes to the fore with the latter raising the bar beyond the typical rock idiom for which he is known.
The rest of the musicians join in for the remainder of the night (M’Bappé and Rietveld alternate on bass), climaxing with Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” which seemingly illuminates the concert without too much window dressing, and John Lee Hooker’s “Shake It Up And Go,” featuring Nobs on harmonica. At its conclusion, Invitation To Illumination – Live At Montreux 2011 sanctifies the union with a double swirl of harmony and musicianship for a truly rich and rare concert experience, a stand-out in Montreux’s remarkable 46-year history.
~ Shawn Perry
