**** The Mahavishnu Orchestra

THE LOST TRIDENT SESSIONS

(Legacy/Columbia)

Most "lost" albums should stay lost. But this is a sterling exception -- proof that the original Mahavishnu Orchestra had at least one more great recording in them. Tempering aggression and ascension, these six performances were cut in a 1973 day at Trident Studios in London, and they may be the pioneering fusion outfit's best work.

The Trident sessions would have produced Mahavishnu's third studio album had dissent not dissolved this line-up. They followed two years of constant touring, so the level of interplay and the improvisations are astounding. Folk themes, carnival music, ragas, and nail-biting rock all have their say -- sometimes merely for seconds as a guitar phrase or a rhythmic pattern emerges only to be swept aside by the next impulse. The tempos rocket, especially in the hummingbird melodies and harmonies of guitarist John McLaughlin, keyboardist Jan Hammer, and violinist Jerry Goodman. Yet even the high-velocity playing is about texture and beauty, creating artfully shifting sheets of sound. Pieces like "Dreams" are dazzling for their tonal breadth and dynamics, the way they carouse from acoustic-guitar and violin shadings to full-out electric fury. Bold sounds slash through like thunderbolts, altering moods instantly. Really, this music isn't about jazz or rock. It's about the human capacity to create.

-- Ted Drozdowski