Jazz for aficionados

inna, thanks for the clips; very nice. McLaughlin’s playing on “Mila Repa” is about as restrained as I’ve ever heard from him. I liked it. I also liked “Django”, a lot. But the clips don’t change my mind about him nor how I feel about him vs Beck. For me, “Django” is a great example of what I tried to say in my response to pjw. As you pointed out, Beck plays the first solo. But Beck also plays the melody of the tune in the opening. Two notes and I could tell it was Beck. Had it been McLaughlin (without my knowing who the players were) I would not had been able to tell. That is one of the things that for me separates Beck from a lot of other players; so much personality. We all listen for different things in players and you obviously like the speed and intensity in McLaughlin’s playing. However, his solo sounds fragmented to me without enough musically logical connection between the melodic bursts that he plays. Beck’s solo has more musical coherence; more melodic connection from beginning to end. Still, neither plays over the changes of the tune with the kind of control of the harmony, nor melodic development that a great jazz player does. That may seem overly critical; but, as always, different players have different strengths,

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rLWzIsT4-o0

pryso, your link didn’t work for me so I am reposting in case anyone else has the same issue.  Great recording and very important recording.  Several years ago I had the pleasure of playing a new composition for large ensemble that Ornette composed for a performance by a dance troupe.  He oversaw the production and I was thrilled to get the chance to have a couple of conversations with him.  I will never forget some of the interesting (some would say “off the wall”) things that he spoke of re his and music in general.  My favorite comment of his was his indication to the ensemble to play one particular passage “ahead and behind the beat...at the same time”.  Very unusual and brilliant musician.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OIIyCOAByDU

Frogman, I also like the complexity and ability to play silence as he did in Mila Repa. Reincarnation is another track from the same album worth listening, different enough.
In Django composition I think, it is my guess, John intentionally stayed somewhat in the background, letting Jeff play his best. In fact, everyone played his best with McLaughlin. I only know one more musician with the same talent - Miles Davis.
Even Paco de Lucia played his best with John, with some exceptions.
I used to like Joe Pass, I said it, he is good.
Returning to McLaughlin, for me there was no album after 1992, Que Alegria, that I like. There were performances from time to time, that's all.

Orpheus10, I didn't really explored modern Sub-Saharan African music, but you may be right that most of it moved to the New World.
Slavery, loss of habitat and strange new lands are obvious. But there is at least one more factor that surely contributed - daily interactions with white people. Not all slave owners were bad or mostly bad, but interaction even with bad can give a lot. Black music in Americas developed in a situation of unusual environment. Let's give credit to everyone who often unknowingly contributed. 

I was thinking..there are almost 1.5 million views of this thread. The contributors did a lot to 'spread the word of gospel'. This is the most important thread on Audiogon.