Vinyl Vault — Shakti, “A Handful of Beauty”

“Shakti” is an Indian word meaning creative intelligence, power, and beauty. It’s also the name of a pioneering World Music/Fusion band led by John McLaughlin and Zakir Hussain. The band traces its roots to jam sessions in New York City 50 years ago. By 1975, the band was fully formed, touring and releasing albums on the Columbia label. This Tuesday on the Vinyl Vault we’ll hear some tracks from the band’s second album, “A Handful of Beauty” released in 1977.

After a successful sojourn in Miles Davis’s band during the “Bitches Brew” era, guitarist McLaughlin then formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra which rocketed to commercial, artistic and critical success. By 1973, McLaughlin was growing restless and was searching for a new sound. He was introduced to Hussain by a music shop owner in Greenwich Village and the two immediately began jamming and collaborating with Hussain helping McLaughlin learn the intricacies of Indian music.

Tabla player Hussian was a star in his home country and the son of master tabla player Alla Rakha who played extensively with Ravi Shankar. The band added two more players, L. Shankar on violin and “Vikku” on additional percussion. The resulting sound, a fusion of Western jazz with Indian music, helped create the genre of World Music and forged a new musical frontier. The band released three albums in the 1970s before disbanding around 1978. The band reformed in the late 1990s and resumed touring and released three more albums. In 2023, in honor of its 50th anniversary, the band reformed yet again, released an album and went on tour. Inexplicable, the tour did not include Denver.

“A Handful of Beauty” displays the band’s stunning virtuosity and its groundbreaking, unique style of music, fusing Eastern and Western sounds in a sometimes ethereal, sometimes intense, and always innovative set.

Join Geoff Anderson, on Tuesday, December 19 at 8:30 pm on the Vinyl Vault for this one-of-a-kind sound, only on KUVO JAZZ.

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