John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin (born Jan. 4, 1942) is an English jazz-rock guitarist from Doncaster, South Yorkshire, active on the international jazz scene since the late 1960s. In 1969, he joined Tony Williams Lifetime for three albums and also appeared on the sessions for Miles Davis‘ seminal electrification releases In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew (1970). Concurrently, McLaughlin released his first solo album on Polydor-subsidiary Marmalade, followed by Devotion on Douglas in 1970.

In 1971, McLaughlin founded the Mahavishnu Orchestra with upcoming players from five different nations. The band released five albums and a live disc over a five-year period on Columbia. During 1976 and 1977, he released three albums with the ethno-jazz combo Shakti. A prolific run of solo and collaborative efforts followed over the next two decades.

Background

John McLaughlin was born Jan. 4, 1942, in Yorkshire, England. His mother, Mary McLaughlin, played violin and encouraged John toward music. The family moved to Northumberland when McLaughlin was seven. McLaughlin studied violin and piano as a child. At age eleven, he received a guitar from an older brother and concentrated on blues, flamenco, and jazz.

McLaughlin took his first professional band job in September 1959 as electric guitarist with Big Pete Deuchar and the Professors of Ragtime. He reached London by the start of the 1960s and found work on the R&B circuit with Alexis Korner and the Marzipan Twisters. Georgie Fame hired McLaughlin for the Blue Flames around June 1962, when the band held a regular London residency at the Flamingo Club. McLaughlin remained through the following March.

Graham Bond recruited McLaughlin in March 1963 for a quartet with bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. The quartet backed Duffy Power on the Beatles cover “I Saw Her Standing There” (b/w “Farewell Baby”), issued by Parlophone in May. Bond replaced McLaughlin with saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith in September, after a six-month run of club dates, package shows, and BBC sessions.

McLaughlin expanded his London session work through the middle of the decade, with recordings for Fame, Power, and Herbie Goins and the Night-Timers. By 1967, he also worked in the Johnny Dankworth big band and Gordon Beck quartet. Mike Carr employed McLaughlin in a house band at Ronnie Scott’s Club, where McLaughlin shared jazz work with bassist Dave Holland. McLaughlin briefly led a group with Holland amid a schedule dominated by studio dates.

In 1968, McLaughlin appeared on the Kenny Wheeler album Windmill Tilter and joined Jack Bruce for the IBC Studios session that produced Things We Like. McLaughlin also worked with German vibraphonist Gunter Hampel in the European free-jazz circuit. A London jam with Holland and drummer Jack DeJohnette gave McLaughlin another career opening when DeJohnette taped the session and played the recording to Tony Williams, who subsequently offered McLaughlin a place in Lifetime.

Producer Giorgio Gomelsky booked Advision Studios in January 1969 for the first McLaughlin album on Marmalade Records. McLaughlin assembled saxophonist John Surman, bassist Brian Odgers, and drummer Tony Oxley for Extrapolation.

Discography:

• Extrapolation (1969)
• Devotion (1970)
• Where Fortune Smiles (1971 • John McLaughlin, John Surman, Karl Berger, Stu Martin & Dave Holland)
• My Goal’s Beyond (1971 • Mahavishnu John McLaughlin)
• Love Devotion Surrender (1973 • Carlos Santana & Mahavishnu John McLaughlin)
• Electric Guitarist (1978)
• Electric Dreams (1979 • John McLaughlin With the One Truth Band)
• Friday Night in San Francisco (1981 • Al Di Meola, John McLaughlin & Paco de Lucía )
• Belo Horizonte (1981)
• Music Spoken Here (1982)
• Passion Grace & Fire (1983 • John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola & Paco de Lucía)
• Adventures in Radioland (1986 • John McLaughlin and Mahavishnu)
• Mediterranean Concerto (For Guitar & Orchestra) (1990)
• Qué Alegria (1992 • John McLaughlin Trio)
• Time Remembered: John McLaughlin Plays Bill Evans (1993)
• Molom – A Legend of Mongolia (1995)
• After the Rain (1995 • John McLaughlin With Elvin Jones and Joey DeFrancesco)
• The Promise (1996)
• The Guitar Trio (1996 • Paco de Lucia, Al Di Meola & John McLaughlin)
• The Heart of Things (1997)
• Thieves and Poets (2003)
• Industrial Zen (2006)
• Floating Point (2008)
• To the One (2010 • John McLaughlin & the 4th Dimension)
• Black Light (2015)