The Promise (John McLaughlin album)

The Promise is a jazz album released in 1995 by John McLaughlin on Verve Records. The album peaked number 4 in the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart 1996.^[1]

The Promise
Studio album by John McLaughlin
Released	21 December 1995
Recorded	1995
Genre	Jazz
Length	73:39
Label	Verve
Producer	John McLaughlin, Eddie Kramer
John McLaughlin chronology
After the Rain (1994) The Promise (1995) The Guitar Trio (1996)

Track listing

All tracks composed by John McLaughlin; except where indicated

1. "Django" (John Lewis) – 7:24
2. "Thelonius Melodius" – 5:22
3. "Amy and Joseph" – 2:28
4. "No Return" – 7:20
5. "El Ciego" – 9:10
6. "Jazz Jungle" – 14:45
7. "The Wish" – 8:39
8. "English Jam" (Vinnie Colaiuta, John McLaughlin, Sting) – 1:12
9. "Tokyo Decadence" – 0:39
10. "Shin Jin Rui" – 10:47
11. "The Peacocks" (Jimmy Rowles) – 5:53

Personnel

Musicians

• Don Alias – percussion
• Jim Beard – keyboards
• Dennis Chambers – drums
• Vinnie Colaiuta – drums
• James Genus – bass guitar
• Zakir Hussain – tabla
• Nishat Khan – sitar, vocals
• Yan Maresz – arranger, acoustic bass guitar, bass guitar
• John McLaughlin – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, MIDI guitar
• Mark Mondesir – drums
• Pino Palladino – bass
• Mariko Takahashi – vocals

Guest Artists^[1]

• Jeff Beck – electric guitar (track 1)
• Michael Brecker – tenor sax (track 6)
• Joey DeFrancesco – Hammond organ, trumpet (track 4)
• Al Di Meola – acoustic guitar (track 5)
• Trilok Gurtu – percussion (track 7)
• Tony Hymas – keyboards (track 1)
• Paco de Lucía – acoustic guitar (track 5)
• David Sanborn – alto sax (track 10)
• Sting – bass (track 8)

Production staff

• Jean-Philippe Allard – executive producer
• René Ameline – engineer
• Philippe Arnal – assistant engineer
• Adam Blackburn – assistant engineer
• Steve Cook – assistant engineer
• Max Costa – arranger, engineer, mixing
• Gustav Hobel – engineer
• Sven Hoffman – assistant engineer
• Ken Jones – engineer
• Eddie Kramer – engineer, producer
• Alberto Mayer – cover design
• John McLaughlin – assistant engineer, mixing, producer
• Simon Osborne – assistant engineer
• Maurice Ouazana – engineer
• Christian Pégand – production coordination
• Ed Rak – engineer
• Christian Rose – photography

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	^[2]
All About Jazz	(favorable)^[3]
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings	^[4]

Allmusic gave it four stars and reviewer Thom Jurek states "Ultimately, The Promise stands as one of McLaughlin's towering achievements as a guitarist and leader." Walter Koslosky in his AllAboutJazz review classifies The Promise "a potpourri of musical styles and performers. Yet, despite its disparate compositions and styles, the record manages to be a cohesive work of art. ... Bravo!"^[3]

Chart performance

Year	Chart	Position
1996	Billboard Top Jazz Albums	4^[1]

References

1. "The Promise - John McLaughlin | Awards | AllMusic". allmusic.com. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
2. Jurek, Thom. The Promise at AllMusic. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
3. Kolosky, Walter (20 November 2002). "John McLaughlin: The Promise". allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
4. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 978. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.