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.
Track listing
All tracks composed by John McLaughlin; except where indicated
"Django" (John Lewis) – 7:24
"Thelonius Melodius" – 5:22
"Amy and Joseph" – 2:28
"No Return" – 7:20
"El Ciego" – 9:10
"Jazz Jungle" – 14:45
"The Wish" – 8:39
"English Jam" (Vinnie Colaiuta, John McLaughlin, Sting) – 1:12
"Tokyo Decadence" – 0:39
"Shin Jin Rui" – 10:47
"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
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 (track 8 only) 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
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!"