McLaughlin, John

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McLaughlin, John

McLaughlin, John, innovative jazz-fusion guitarist, leader; b. Yorkshire, England, Jan. 4, 1942. An extraordinary musician, John McLaughlin was one of the first jazz guitarists to incorporate the advances and techniques of John Coltrane and Jimi Hendrix. His bold and unique compositions fuse those influences with Indian music. He has alternated, somewhat confusingly for his audience, between acoustic and electric bands, but his virtuosity and commitment are always evident.

McLaughlin played piano and guitar from age 11, and formed a band as a schoolboy. He left home when he was 15 or 16. He supported himself as a truck driver, and sold caviar to English hotels between R&B (and organ trio) gigs during the 1960s. In the early 1960s, he did studio work for 18 months but couldn’t stand it, so to make money he sold his carved-top 1960 L-4C guitar with a Charlie Christian pickup, a sale he later regretted.

He worked with Georgie Fame, Alexis Korner, Brian Auger, and Graham Bond. His first known recording is in a club with Mike Carr in 1967. He emigrated to the U.S. in 1968; the next year, he issued his first album as a leader which displayed his virtuosity in a free-jazz context. On the advice of Dave Holland, Tony Williams recruited McLaughlin, and together with Larry Young, they recorded the immensely influential Emergency, a potent blend of jazz and rock. He played with Tony Williams’s Lifetime at Newport 1970 and elsewhere. He played a significant role in the historic sessions led by Miles Davis for In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, A Tribute to Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, On the Corner, and Big Fun.

In 1970, he sought spiritual expansion through an association with a Bengal mystic, Sri Chimnoy, cut his long hair and formed the Mahavishnu Orch. (1971–73). The name Mahavishnu was given to him by his guru. The band originally included Billy Cobham, Jerry Goodman, Jan Hammer, and Rick Laird but later, by 1973, they had added Jean Luc Ponty and Narada Michael Waiden. The Mahavishnu Orch. mixed rock and jazz with Hindu religiosity. McLaughlin’s striking compositions involved unusual meters and much written counterpoint. Their album Birds of Fire reached #20 on the British charts in 1973.

Also in 1970, he teamed up with fellow guru-inspired guitarist Carlos Santana for a duet LP entitled Love, Devotion, and Surrender, which reached #7 on the U.K. charts. He performed on a specially designed guitar with two necks so that he could essentially have two sounds without switching guitars. From 1974–76, he recorded three albums credited to Mahavishnu, but other musicians were used. McLaughlin later renounced the Mahavishnu name, but in 1984 recorded an album that also featured Billy Cobham, again as “Mahavishnu.”

In 1975, he had already organized an acoustic outfit known as Shakti, with Indian musicians, violinist L. Shankar and percussionists Zakir Hussein and Ragha-van. Again he produced a technical innovation, supplementing his guitar with a set of resonant strumming strings similar to those found on a sitar. Around this time, he also invented a special metronome (now lost) that could produce several different beats at once; you could have 98 against 99 if so desired. Shakti was together for three years (through 1978), then McLaughlin and Shankar moved on to form the One Truth Band. By this time, he had settled in France.

In the early 1980s, McLaughlin hooked up with Al DiMeola and Paco DeLucia, touring together until 1985. In 1986, he appeared in Bertrand Tavernier’s movie Round Midnight, and then formed a new trio with Trilok Gurtu that toured for four years and recorded two albums. He also worked with Wayne Shorter, and Larry Coryell. He wrote and performed a rather traditional classical guitar concerto in 1985, which he performed on TV. He continues to work in a variety of contexts, including a tribute to Bill Evans featuring the Aighetta Quartet and a trio with a Hammond organ. He currently lives in Monte Carlo. In 1999, he revived the group Shakti for recording and touring.

Discography

Extrapolation (1969); Where Fortune Smiles (1970); My Goal’s Beyond (1970); Devotion (1970); Love, Devotion, and Surrender (1972); Shakti with John McLaughlin (1976); Handful of Beauty (1977); Natural Elements (1978); Electric Guitarist (1978); Electric Dreams (1978); Friday Night in San Francisco (1981); Belo Horizonte (1981); Passion, Grace, and Fire (1982); Music Spoken Here (1983); Mahavishnu (1984); Adventures in Radioland (1987); Live at the Royal Festival Hall (1989); Mediterranean Concerto (1990); Que Alegria (1991); Free Spirits: Tokyo Live (1993); Time Remembered: John McLaughlin Plays Bill Evans (1993); Shakti (1994); After the Rain (1995); Colaiuta, in from the Storm (1995); The Promise (1996). Mahavishnu Orch.:Inner Mounting Flame (1971); Birds of Fire (1972); Between Nothingness & Eternity (1973); Apocalypse (1974); Visions of the Emerald Beyond (1974); Inner Worlds (1976). Mike Carr: Blues for Bells (1967).