“He was a guy in my neighbourhood who played... I was scared to say it at the time, but he played at the level of John McLaughlin!”: Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid pays tribute to a lost genius

Vernon Reid [left] wears a brightly patterned suit and plays his signature Reverend onstage; [right] a still of the late great Arthur Rhames performing.

Vernon Reid’s new solo album Hoodoo Telemetry features a track inspired by a multi-instrumentalist he compares to such revered virtuosos as Jimi Hendrix and John McLaughlin.

The track is titled Meditation On The Last Time I Saw Arthur Rhames. It is Reid’s tribute to the late Arthur Rhames, the New York-born jazz musician who died in 1989 at the age of 32.