NEW YORK (Billboard) - In the midst of John McLaughlin's fall tour with his latest band, the 4th Dimension, the guitarist is upbeat about having returned to the road with jazz-rock rhythms pulsating in his veins.

Supporting last year's plugged-in "Industrial Zen," McLaughlin said the time is right for a change after spending the last few years touring with Shakti, a band he co-founded to further explore the improvisational nexus between jazz and Indian classical music.

"I'm a Western musician, and my discipline is jazz," he said. "I want to give testimony to my roots. This isn't a retrospective band, but some of the pieces we're playing date back 30 years."

This year, the 65-year-old fusion pioneer returned to the spotlight on several fronts. Columbia/Legacy breathed new life into "The Trio of Doom Live," a volcanic 1979 Havana Jazz Festival set featuring McLaughlin, Jaco Pastorius and Tony Williams that previously existed only in fragments. Legacy also just released Miles Davis' "The Complete On the Corner Sessions," a six-CD boxed set that prominently displays McLaughlin's explosive guitar work from the early '70s.

But the biggest McLaughlin bonanza is Eagle Eye Media's October 2 release of the two-DVD set "Live at Montreux 1974-1984" by the groundbreaking jazz-rock fusion group Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Formed in 1971, Mahavishnu grew through several iterations. This set captures two editions, recorded 10 years apart. "It's a document of my history with the band," McLaughlin said. "It's like being a painter. You go through periods where your instincts change."

MUSICAL EVOLUTION

Mahavishnu burst onto the scene as a quintet with two artistic and commercial blockbusters, "The Inner Mounting Flame" and "Birds of Fire." However, by 1974, personnel and vision changed. For his 1974 Montreux date, McLaughlin ecstatically led an 11-piece band that included jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. "The quality of the recording is not great," McLaughlin said. "But by 1984, the technology was better and as a band we were so much more evolved."

That show, with saxophonist Bill Evans co-leading the charge, marked Mahavishnu's return after a nearly 10-year hiatus. "So much had happened to me during that time," McLaughlin said. "Shakti was formed; I worked with Carlos Santana, Chick Corea and Billy Cobham; I did an acoustic guitar project with Paco de Lucia. But by the end of 1983 I was ready to get back into the electric mode."

McLaughlin's only Mahavishnu regret is not having a video document of the original band, which flamed out within two years. "We played Montreux in 1972, but they weren't doing videos then," he said. "I've heard of people saying they have videos of the original band. I'd love to find a high-quality one."

If one does surface, there's a strong chance Eagle Eye might be interested. "Jazz on DVD is successful," said Mike Carden, Eagle Rock Entertainment executive vice president and president of North American operations.

The company releases DVDs in other genres, but it's found a niche in jazz. In September, Eagle released the two-DVD set "Improvisation" that features rare footage of such jazz giants as Charlie Parker. It includes such Gjon Mili-Norman Granz films as "Jammin' the Blues," which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1944 in the best short category.

Reuters/Billboard