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John McLaughlin (musician)

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John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin performing in 2008
John McLaughlin performing in 2008
Background information
Also known asMahavishnu John McLaughlin
Born (1942-01-04) 4 January 1942 (age 82)
Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
GenresJazz fusion, jazz, world fusion, post-bop, progressive rock, psychedelic rock
Occupation(s)Musician, songwriter
InstrumentGuitar
Years active1963–present
LabelsAbstract Logix, Verve, Douglas
Websitewww.johnmclaughlin.com

John McLaughlin (born 4 January 1942 in Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire, England), also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer. His music includes many genres of jazz which he coupled with elements of rock, Indian classical music, Western classical music,[1] flamenco[2] and blues[3] to become one of the pioneering figures in fusion.

After contributing to several key British groups of the early 1960s McLaughlin made Extrapolation, his first album as a bandleader, in 1969. He then moved to the USA, where he played with Tony Williams's group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his landmark electric jazz-fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, A Tribute to Jack Johnson and On the Corner.

His 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Indian influences.

McLaughlin has been cited as an influence by a number of prominent musicians. He is a Grammy award winner and has been awarded multiple "Guitarist of the year" and "Best Jazz Guitarist" awards from magazines such as Down Beat and Guitar Player based on reader polls. In 2003, he was ranked 49th in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[4] In 2010, guitarist Jeff Beck called him "the best guitarist alive".[5] Tabla player Zakir Hussain has often referred to him as one of the greatest and most important musicians of our time.

Style

John McLaughlin is a leading guitarist in jazz and jazz fusion. His style has been described as one that incorporates aggressive speed, technical precision, and harmonic sophistication.[6] He is known for using exotic scales and unconventional time signatures. Indian music has had a profound influence on his style, and, it has been written, he is one of the first westerners to play Indian music to Indian audiences.[7] He was influential in bringing jazz fusion to popularity with Miles Davis, playing with Davis on five of his studio albums, including Davis' first gold-certified Bitches Brew, and one live album, Live-Evil. Speaking of himself, McLaughlin has stated that the guitar is simply "part of his body," and he feels more comfortable when a guitar is present.

Biography

1960s

From a family of musicians (his mother being a concert violinist), McLaughlin studied violin and piano as a child and took up the guitar at the age of 11, exploring styles from flamenco to the jazz of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. He moved to London from Yorkshire in the early 1960s, playing with Alexis Korner[8] and the Marzipan Twisters before moving on to Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, the Graham Bond Organisation (in 1963)[9] and Brian Auger.[10] During the 1960s he often had to support himself with session work which he often found unsatisfying[11] but which enhanced his playing and sight-reading. Also, he gave guitar lessons to Jimmy Page.[12]

In January 1969 McLaughlin recorded his debut album Extrapolation in London. It prominently features John Surman on saxophone and Tony Oxley on drums. The album's Post-bop style is quite different than McLaughllin's later fusion works, though it gradually developed a strong reputation among critics by the mid-1970s.

McLaughlin moved to the U.S. in 1969 to join Tony Williams' group Lifetime. A recording from the Record Plant, NYC, dated 25 March 1969, exists of McLaughlin jamming with Jimi Hendrix. McLaughlin recollects "we played one night, just a jam session. And we played from 2 until 8, in the morning. I thought it was a wonderful experience! I was playing an acoustic guitar with a pick-up. Um, flat-top guitar, and Jimi was playing an electric. Yeah, what a lovely time! Had he lived today, you'd find that he would be employing everything he could get his hands on, and I mean acoustic guitar, synthesizers, orchestras, voices, anything he could get his hands on he'd use!"

He played on Miles Davis' albums In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew (which has a track named after him), Live-Evil, On the Corner, Big Fun (where he is featured soloist on "Go Ahead John") and A Tribute to Jack Johnson. In the liner notes to Jack Johnson, Davis called McLaughlin's playing "far in". McLaughlin returned to the Davis band for one night of a week-long club date, recorded and released as part of the album Live-Evil and of the Cellar Door boxed set. His reputation as a "first-call" session player grew, resulting in recordings as a sideman with Miroslav Vitous, Larry Coryell, Joe Farrell, Wayne Shorter, Carla Bley, the Rolling Stones, and others.

1970s

John McLaughlin, Zirkus Krone, Munich, West Germany, 13 April 1973

He recorded Devotion in early 1970 on Douglas Records (run by Alan Douglas), a high-energy, psychedelic fusion album that featured Larry Young on organ (who had been part of Lifetime), Billy Rich on bass and the R&B drummer Buddy Miles. Devotion was the first of two albums he released on Douglas. In 1971 he released My Goal's Beyond in the US, a collection of unamplified acoustic works. Side A ("Peace One" and "Peace Two") offers a fusion blend of jazz and Indian classical forms, while side B features melodic acoustic playing McLaughlin on such standards as "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", by Charles Mingus whom McLaughlin considered an important influence. My Goal's Beyond was inspired by McLaughlin's decision to follow the Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, to whom he had been introduced in 1970 by Larry Coryell's manager. The album was dedicated to Chinmoy, with one of the Guru's poems printed on the liner notes. It was on this album that McLaughlin took the name "Mahavishnu".

In 1973 McLaughlin collaborated with Carlos Santana, also a disciple of Sri Chinmoy, on an album of devotional songs, Love Devotion Surrender, which featured recordings of Coltrane compositions including a movement of A Love Supreme. McLaughlin has also worked with the jazz composers Carla Bley and Gil Evans.

McLaughlin performing in The Netherlands, 1978

In 1979 he formed a short-lived funk fusion power trio named the Trio of Doom with Tony Williams on drums and Jaco Pastorius on bass. Their only live performance was on 3 March 1979 at the Havana Jam Festival (2–4 March 1979) in Cuba, part of a US State Department sponsored visit to Cuba. Later on 8 March 1979 the group recorded the songs they had written for the festival at Columbia Studios, New York, on 52nd Street.[13] Recollections from this performance are captured on Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra

Main article: Mahavishnu Orchestra

McLaughlin's 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra,[14] included violinist Jerry Goodman, keyboardist Jan Hammer, bassist Rick Laird, and drummer Billy Cobham. They performed a technically difficult and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Eastern and Indian influences. This band helped establish fusion as a new and growing style. McLaughlin's playing at this time was distinguished by fast solos and exotic musical scales.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra's personality clashes were as explosive as their performances, and consequently the first incarnation of the group split in late 1973 after two years and three albums, including a live recording entitled Between Nothingness and Eternity. In 2001 the Lost Trident Sessions album was released; recorded in 1973 but shelved when the group disbanded. McLaughlin then reformed the group with Narada Michael Walden (drums), Jean-Luc Ponty (violin), Ralphe Armstrong (bass), and Gayle Moran (keyboards and vocals), and a string and horn section (McLaughlin referred to this as "the real Mahavishnu Orchestra"). This incarnation of the group recorded two more albums, Apocalypse with the London Symphony Orchestra and Visions of the Emerald Beyond. A scaled-down quartet was formed with McLaughlin, Walden on drums, Armstrong on bass and Stu Goldberg on keyboards and synthesiser, which generated a third "Mahavishnu 2" recording in 1976 largely due to contractual obligations, Inner Worlds.

Shakti

McLaughlin then became absorbed in his acoustic playing with his Indian classical music based group Shakti (energy). McLaughlin had already been studying Indian classical music and playing the veena for several years. The group featured Lakshminarayanan L. Shankar (violin), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram (ghatam) and earlier Ramnad Raghavan (mridangam). The group recorded three albums: Shakti (1975) A Handful of Beauty (1976), and Natural Elements (1977). Based on both Carnatic and Hindustani styles, along with extended use of konnakol, the band introduced ragas and Indian percussion to many jazz aficionados.[15]

In this group McLaughlin played a custom-made steel-string acoustic guitar made by Abe Wechter and the Gibson guitar company that featured two tiers of strings over the soundhole: a conventional six-string configuration and seven strings strung underneath at a 45-degree angle – these were independently tuneable "sympathetic strings" much like those on a sitar or veena. The instrument's vina-like scalloped fretboard enabled McLaughlin to bend strings far beyond the reach of a conventional fretboard. McLaughlin grew so accustomed to the freedom it provided him that he had the fretboard scalloped on his Gibson Byrdland electric guitar.

Other activities

John McLaughlin, Remember Shakti Concert, Munich/Germany (2001)

McLaughlin also appeared on Stanley Clarke's School Days and numerous other fusion albums. They later recorded three tracks at CBS Studios in New York, 8 March 1979. The same year he teamed up with flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía and jazz guitarist Larry Coryell (replaced by Al Di Meola in the early 1980s) as the Guitar Trio. For the tour of fall 1983 they were joined by Dixie Dregs guitarist Steve Morse who opened the show as a soloist and participated with The Trio in the closing numbers. The Trio reunited in 1996 for a second recording session and a world tour. Also in 1979 McLaughlin recorded the album Johnny McLaughlin: Electric Guitarist, the title on McLaughlin's first business cards as a teenager in Yorkshire. This was a return to more mainstream jazz/rock fusion and to the electric instrument after three years of playing acoustic guitars.

Left to right: Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucía performing in Barcelona, Spain in the 1980s

1980s

The short-lived One Truth Band recorded one studio album, Electric Dreams, with L. Shankar on violins, Stu Goldberg on keyboards, Fernando Saunders on electric bass and Tony Smith on drums. After the dissolution of the One Truth Band, McLaughlin toured in a guitar duo with Christian Escoudé.[16]

With the group Fuse One, he released two albums in 1980 and 1982.[17]

In 1981 and 1982, McLaughlin recorded two albums, Belo Horizonte and Music Spoken Here with The Translators, a band of French and American musicians who combined acoustic guitar, bass, drums, sax, and violin with synthesizers. The Translators included McGlaughlin's future wife, classical keyboardist, Katia LaBeque.

From 1984 through to (circa) 1987, an electric five-piece operated under the name "Mahavishnu" (omitting the "Orchestra"). Two LPs were released, Mahavishnu and Adventures in Radioland. The former featured McLaughlin making extensive use of the Synclavier synthesizer, allied with a Roland guitar/controller. The first of the two albums was recorded with a line-up of McLaughlin, Bill Evans (saxophones), Jonas Hellborg (bass), Mitchel Forman (keyboards) and both Danny Gottlieb and Billy Cobham on drums. Initial advertising for concert dates in support of the album included Cobham's name, but by the time the tour started in earnest, Gottlieb was in the band. Forman left at some point between the albums, to be replaced on keyboards by Jim Beard.

In tandem with Mahavishnu, McLaughlin worked in duo format (c. 1985–87) with bassist Jonas Hellborg, playing a number of concert dates, some of which were broadcast on radio and TV, but no commercial recordings were made.

In 1986 he appeared with Dexter Gordon in Bertrand Tavernier's film Round Midnight. He also composed The Mediterranean Concerto, orchestrated by Michael Gibbs. The world premier featured McLaughlin and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. It was recorded in 1988 with Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. Unlike what is typical practice in classical music, the concerto includes sections where McLaughlin improvises. Also included on the recording were five duets between McLaughlin and his then-girlfriend Katia Labèque.

In the late '80s McLaughlin began performing live and recording with a trio including percussionist Trilok Gurtu, and three bassists at various times; firstly Jeff Berlin, then Kai Eckhardt and finally Dominique DiPiazza. Berlin contributed to the trio's live work only in 1988/89, and didn't record with McLaughlin. The group recorded two albums: Live at The Royal Festival Hall and Que Alegria, the former with Eckhardt, and the latter with di Piazza for all but two tracks. These recordings saw a return to acoustic instruments for McLaughlin, performing on nylon-string guitar. On Live at the Royal Festival Hall McLaughlin utilised a unique guitar synth which enabled him to effectively "loop" guitar parts and play over them live. The synth also featured a pedal which provided sustain when pressed. McLaughlin played parts which sound overdubbed and creating lush soundscapes, aided by Gurtu's unique percussive sounds. This approach is used to great effect in the track "Florianapolis", among others.

1990s

In the early 1990s he toured with his trio on the Que Alegria album. By this time, Eckhardt had left, with McLaughlin and Gurtu joined by bass player Dominique Di Piazza. In the latter stages of this trio's life, they were joined on tour by Katia Labeque alone, or by Katia and her sister Marielle, with footage of the latter configuration forming part of a documentary on the Labeque Sisters. Following this period he recorded and toured with The Heart of Things featuring Gary Thomas, Dennis Chambers, Matt Garrison, Jim Beard and Otmaro Ruíz. In 1993 he released a Bill Evans tribute album entitled Time Remembered: John McLaughlin Plays Bill Evans, with McLaughlin's acoustic guitar backed by the acoustic guitars of the Aighetta Quartet and the acoustic bass of Yan Maresz. In recent times McLaughlin has toured with Remember Shakti.

In addition to original Shakti member Zakir Hussain, this group has also featured eminent Indian musicians U. Srinivas, V. Selvaganesh, Shankar Mahadevan, Shivkumar Sharma, and Hariprasad Chaurasia. In 1996, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia and Al Di Meola (known collectively as "The Guitar Trio") reunited for a world tour and recorded an album of the same name. They also released an album entitled Passion, Grace, & Fire. In that same year he recorded The Promise. Also notable during the period were his performances with Elvin Jones and Joey DeFrancesco.

2000s

In 2003 he recorded a ballet score, Thieves and Poets, along with arrangements for classical guitar ensemble of favourite jazz standards and a three-DVD instructional video on improvisation entitled "This is the Way I Do It" (which contributed to the development of video lessons.[18]) In June 2006 he released the post-bop/jazz fusion album Industrial Zen, on which he experimented with the Godin Glissentar as well as continuing to expand his guitar-synth repertoire.

In 2007 he left Universal Records and joined Abstract Logix. Recording sessions for his first album on that label took place in April. That summer, he began touring with a new jazz fusion quartet, the 4th Dimension, consisting of keyboardist/drummer Gary Husband, bassist Hadrian Feraud, and drummer Mark Mondesir. During the 4th Dimension's tour, an "instant CD" entitled Live USA 2007: Official Bootleg was made available comprising soundboard recordings of six pieces from the group's first performance. Following completion of the tour, McLaughlin sorted through recordings from each night to release a second MP3 download-only collection entitled, Official Pirate: Best of the American Tour 2007. During this time, McLaughlin also released another instructional DVD, The Gateway to Rhythm, featuring Indian percussionist and Remember Shakti bandmate Selva Ganesh Vinayakram (or V. Selvaganesh), focusing on the Indian rhythmic system of konnakol. McLaughlin also remastered and released a shelved 1980 project called The Trio of Doom, featuring jazz/fusion luminaries Jaco Pastorius and Tony Williams. The project had been aborted due to conflicts between Williams and Pastorius as well as what was at the time a mutual dissatisfaction with the results of their performance.

On 28 July 2007, McLaughlin performed at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival in Bridgeview, Illinois.

McLaughlin, 2007 Crossroads Guitar Festival

On 28 April 2008 the recording sessions from the previous year surfaced on the album Floating Point, featuring the rhythm section of keyboardist Louis Banks, bassist Hadrien Feraud, percussionist Sivamani and drummer Ranjit Barot bolstered on each track by a different Indian musician. Coinciding with the release of the album was another DVD, Meeting of the Minds, which offered behind the scenes studio footage of the Floating Point sessions as well as interviews with all of the musicians. He engaged in a late summer/fall 2008 tour with Chick Corea, Vinnie Colaiuta, Kenny Garrett and Christian McBride under the name Five Peace Band, from which came an eponymous double-CD live album in early 2009.

McLaughlin performed with Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Billy Cobham at the 44th Montreux Jazz Festival, in Montreux, Switzerland, on 2 July 2010, for the first time since the band split up. In November 2010, a new book was released by Abstract Logix Books entitled Follow Your Heart- John McLaughlin Song by Song by Walter Kolosky, who also wrote the book Power, Passion and Beauty – The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra. The book discussed each song McLaughlin wrote and contained photographs never seen before.

Influence

Al Di Meola and John McLaughlin in 1979

McLaughlin has been cited as a major influence on many 1970s and 1980s guitarists. Examples are prominent players such as Steve Morse, Eric Johnson, Mike Stern, Al Di Meola, Shawn Lane, and Scott Henderson. His influence did not stop in the 80's, though; hardcore punk guitarist Greg Ginn of Black Flag cited Birds of Fire by The Mahavishnu Orchestra which inspired him to record more progressive guitar work and even record instrumental songs. Current players still hold him as highly influential, including Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta. According to Pat Metheny, McLaughlin has changed the evolution of the guitar during several of his periods of playing. McLaughlin is also considered a major influence on composers in the fusion genre. In an interview with Downbeat, Chick Corea remarked that "what John McLaughlin did with the electric guitar set the world on its ear. No one ever heard an electric guitar played like that before, and it certainly inspired me. John's band, more than my experience with Miles, led me to want to turn the volume up and write music that was more dramatic and made your hair stand on end". Frank Zappa said of McLaughlin: "A person would be a moron not to appreciate McLaughlin's technique. The guy has certainly found out how to operate a guitar as if it were a machine gun. But I'm not always enthusiastic about the lines I hear or the ways in which they're used. I don't think you can fault him, though, for the amount of time and effort it must have taken to play an instrument that fast. I think anybody who can play that fast is just wonderful. And I'm sure 90% of teenage America would agree, since the whole trend in the business has been 'faster is better'."[19]

Perhaps the most unusual tribute to McLaughlin's influence came in the 1970s from the musician and comedian Darryl Rhoades. In the 1970s, he led the "Hahavishnu Orchestra," which did parodies of the funk, rock and jazz musical styles of the era. [20]

Personal life

McLaughlin's wife is named Ina. They had a son named Luke in 1998.[21] He has lived in Monaco since the late 1980s.[22][23] He was formerly married to the French pianist Katia Labèque, who was also a member of his band in the early 1980s. Before that he was married to Eve when he was a disciple of Sri Chinmoy. He was first married to Sue, with whom he had a son Julian in 1966.[24]

Discography

Main article: John McLaughlin discography

Equipment

  • Gibson EDS-1275 – McLaughlin played the Gibson doubleneck between 1971 and 1973,[25] his first years with the Mahavishnu Orchestra;[26] this is the guitar which, amplified through a 100-watt Marshall amplifier "in meltdown mode," produced the signature McLaughlin sound hailed by Guitar Player as one of the "50 Greatest Tones of All Time."[27]
  • Double Rainbow doubleneck guitar made by Rex Bogue, which McLaughlin played from 1973 to 1975.[28][29]
  • The first Abraham Wechter-built acoustic "Shakti guitar,"[30] a customised Gibson J-200[31] with drone strings transversely across the soundhole.[32]
  • He has also played Godin electric/MIDI guitars, one of which can be seen on the Eric Clapton's Crossroads Chicago 2007 DVD. He discusses the Godin and other gear in an interview for Premier Guitar online.[33]
  • John currently is endorsed by PRS guitars.[34]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Classical music". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ "Flamenco". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  3. ^ "Blues". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
  5. ^ Uncut magazine, March 2010. Jeff Beck: "John McLaughlin has given us so many different facets of the guitar. And introduced thousands of us to world music, by blending Indian music with jazz and classical. I'd say he was the best guitarist alive".
  6. ^ "John McLaughlin". Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  7. ^ "John McLaughlin Biography, Videos & Pictures". GuitarLessons.com. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  8. ^ Jazzreview.com Archived 2009-06-20 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ Mo Foster, '17 Watts? The Birth of British Rock Guitar', Sanctuary Publishing 1997
  10. ^ thodoris. "Interview: Brian Auger (Oblivion Express,Trinity)". Hit Channel.
  11. ^ Guitar Player Magazine, interview August 1978.
  12. ^ thodoris. "Interview:John McLaughlin (solo,Mahavishnu Orchestra,Miles Davis)". Hit Channel.
  13. ^ Trio of Doom
  14. ^ "Power, Passion and Beauty, The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu-Orchestra". Allaboutjazz.com. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  15. ^ "Chembur.com". Chembur.com. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "Christian Escoude – Jazz – Guitar". All About Jazz. Retrieved 18 October 2011.
  17. ^ Allmusic Discography
  18. ^ All About Jazz (17 August 2004). "Walter Kolosky". All About Jazz. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  19. ^ Guitar Player, January 1977.
  20. ^ "Rolling Stone". Music-comedy.com. 25 August 1977. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  21. ^ "In Conversation with John McLaughlin". Walter Kolosky, Jazz.com. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  22. ^ "Nocookies". The Australian. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  23. ^ "Guitar legend John McLaughlin answers your questions". Joe Bosso, Music Radar. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  24. ^ "JOHN McLAUGHLIN INTERVIEWED (2009): Has guitars, will travel | Elsewhere by Graham Reid". Elsewhere.co.nz. Retrieved 14 February 2016.
  25. ^ "An EDS-1275 and a Drone-Stringed J-200: The Tale of John McLaughlin's Two Rare Gibsons". Gibson Guitar Corporation. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  26. ^ Chapman, Richard (2000). Guitar: music, history, players. Dorling Kindersley. p. 115. ISBN 978-0-7894-5963-3.
  27. ^ Blackett, Matt (October 2004). "The 50 Greatest Tones of All Time". Guitar Player. 38 (10): 44–66.
  28. ^ Ferris, Leonard (May 1974). "John McLaughlin & Rex Bogue Creating the 'Double Rainbow'". Guitar Player. Retrieved 3 March 2010.
  29. ^ Cleveland, Barry. "John McLaughlin's 2007 Touring Rig". Godin Guitars. Retrieved 4 March 2010.
  30. ^ Milkowski, Bill (1998). Rockers, jazzbos & visionaries. Billboard Books. p. 176. ISBN 978-0-8230-7833-2.
  31. ^ Stump, Paul (2000). Go Ahead John: the music of John McLaughlin. SAF Publishing. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-946719-24-2.
  32. ^ Wheeler, Tom (August 1978). "McLaughlin's Revolutionary Drone-String Guitar". Guitar Player. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
  33. ^ "Rig Rundown - John McLaughlin". Retrieved 9 April 2016.
  34. ^ "John McLaughlin". PRS Guitars. Retrieved 23 February 2014.
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