John McLaughlin, guitarist, pianist, bandleader, synthesizer and self-taught composer, (#botd in 1942).

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Guitarist, pianist, synthesizer and self-taught composer, John McLaughlin, (Doncaster, January 4, 1942), began his career very young, playing in the late fifties with the group “Big Pete Deuchar and His Professors of Ragtime.” In the early sixties he performed with some of the most important British rhythm and blues musicians, such as Graham Bond, Jack Bruce and Brian Auger.

John McLaughlin (born 4 January 1942), also known as Mahavishnu, is an English guitarist, bandleader, and composer. A pioneer of jazz fusion, his music combines elements of jazz with rock, world music, Western classical music, flamenco, and blues.

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 U.S., where he played with drummer Tony Williams’s group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his electric jazz fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, 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.

He became interested in jazz and joined the saxophonist John Surman’s group, working with Dave Holland, Karl Berger and others. He moved to the United States in the early seventies and joined the group “Lifetime” led by drummer Tony Williams, who found in McLaughlin the ideal companion in musical adventures to perform a mix of jazz and rock. With “Lifetime” he recorded two very important albums, the one titled “Turn It Over” (Verve, 1970) and “Emergency” (Verve, 1969), in which he demonstrated that he had perfectly assimilated the language of new music.

Thanks to the collaboration with Williams, McLaughlin came into contact with Miles Davis, who at that time was immersed in his electrical experiences. In fact, McLaughlin participated in two of Miles’ cult albums of that time: “In A Silent Way” and “Bitches Brew.”

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Converted to Hinduism, in 1970 he recorded in his name the album that definitively established him as an extraordinary guitarist: “My Goal’s Beyond”, an album that, through techniques typical of Indian music, attempted to express his religious creed. In 1971, he founded the “Mahavishnu Orchestra”, another twist in McLaughlin’s new musical conception.

Among the great albums that he recorded within the “Mahavishnu” it is worth mentioning the extraordinary: “The Iner Mountain Flame” (Columbia, 1971), an album considered one of the best in the field of progressive rock and its fusion with the so-called , «Electric jazz».

McLaughlin’s 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, 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 non-western musical scales.

When the “Mahavishnu” disbanded, McLaughlin went through a period of crisis that ended when he formed an acoustic group in the late 1970s with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Tony Williams, Billy Cobham and Jack DeJohnette. With them he recorded an album titled: “Electric Guitarist” (Columbia, 1979) that marked the guitarist’s return to jazz fields.

In the eighties and nineties, McLaughlin began to explore other musical forms, participating in different and fascinating guitar trios with the master of flamenco guitar, Paco de Lucía, with Larry Coryell or with, Al Di Meola. In all his projects, McLaughlin has shown extraordinary generosity and musical sincerity, and his projects and recording works are proof of his constant creative attitude. McLaughlin will go down in history, not only as a great guitarist, but as someone who did a lot of good with fusion in jazz.

McLaughlin’s solo on “Miles Beyond” from his album Live at Ronnie Scott’s won the 2018 Grammy Award for the Best Improvised Jazz Solo. He has been awarded multiple “Guitarist of the Year” and “Best Jazz Guitarist” awards from magazines such as DownBeat 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”.

In 2009, DownBeat included McLaughlin in its unranked list of “75 Great Guitarists”, in the “Modern Jazz Maestros” category. In 2012, Guitar World magazine ranked him 63rd on its top 100 list.

In 2010, Jeff Beck called McLaughlin “the best guitarist alive”, and Pat Metheny has also described him as the world’s greatest guitarist. In 2017, McLaughlin was awarded an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College of Music.

Awards and nominations

John McLaughlin discography

John McLaughlin, Jean-Luc Ponty, Zakir Hussain: “Lotus Feet” | International Jazz Day Istanbul

John McLaughlin (guitar), Jean-Luc Ponty (violin) and Zakir Hussain (tabla) perform McLaughlin’s renowned composition “Lotus Feet” as part of the International Jazz Day All-Star Global Concert at the Hagia Irene in Istanbul, Turkey. Filmed on April 30, 2013.

Miroslav Vitous – 1972 Mountain in the Clouds – 01 “Freedom Jazz Dance”, from the album The Bass.

Miroslav Vitous – Bass John Mclaughlin – Guitar Herbie Hancock – Keyboards Joe Henderson – Saxophone Jack Dejohnette – Drums.

The Bass was recorded in November 1967, but was not released until 1972 on the Hör Zu Black label. “The Bass” was a huge critical success and found an audience within the jazz and fusion communities. The company “Warner Bros” decided to release The Bass in Europe in 1976 with the title “Magical Shepherd”, and added a bonus track titled “New York”.

“The Bass” was an innovative and pioneering album in the fusion sound that began to emerge in European jazz at that time. The passage of time has placed “The Bass” as one of the most important fusion albums and its influence is still valid. The Bass not only launched Miroslav Vitous’s career as a leader, but helped popularize fusion, and helped ensure that jazz in Europe remained relevant music.

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