2003 · Album
Thieves and Poets
Verve · Released: 2003 · Chart Performance: Number 20, Billboard Top Jazz Albums
Helmut Schartlmüller's Foundation Beneath the Guitar
Schartlmüller's bass work anchors McLaughlin's restless guitar, making space where there could be only noise.
What makes Thieves and Poets (2003) distinctive is Helmut Schartlmüller's presence on bass. McLaughlin is the name on the spine, but Schartlmüller does something crucial here: he doesn't chase the guitar's virtuosity. Instead, he plants himself, creates harmonic weight, and lets the leader breathe around him. This is harder than it sounds. A bassist playing with someone of McLaughlin's technical reach could disappear into accompaniment or try to match intensity note for note. Schartlmüller does neither. He listens.
The album reached number twenty on Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart, a solid showing that suggested McLaughlin's audience was ready for something less frantic than his fusion work but still grounded in his restless harmonic thinking. For listeners coming to this record, it's not a starting point—go to his earlier material first. But it's worth hearing for the way these two voices negotiate space. Schartlmüller's approach allows the record to breathe in ways a busier bassist might prevent.
The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings rated it 3/4, and that feels right. This is a good album with strong moments, a collaboration that works because both musicians understood what the other needed to say. It's not a peak or a departure, just solid work from people who knew how to play together.
Who's playing
Helmut Schartlmüllerbass
John McLaughlinguitar
