The Promise is an album by the English musician John McLaughlin, released in 1995 on Verve Records. It peaked at number 4 in the Billboard Top Jazz Albums chart.

Critical reception

AllMusic gave it four stars and reviewer Thom Jurek stated: "Ultimately, The Promise stands as one of McLaughlin's towering achievements as a guitarist and leader." Walter Koslosky in his All About Jazz review classifies The Promise as "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!" Guitar Player wrote that "The Promise is segued like a global tour through McLaughlin's musical vision, and, like its author, it is of historic proportions."

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 musicians 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) Philippe Loli - acoustic guitar (track 11)

Production 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

Chart performance Year Chart Position1996Billboard Top Jazz Albums4

References