John McLaughlin (musician)

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John McLaughlin
Born	January 4, 1942 in Doncaster, Yorkshire England
Genre(s)	Jazz fusion World fusion
Affiliation(s)	Miles Davis Tony Williams Lifetime Mahavishnu Orchestra Shakti (band) Paco De Lucia Carlos Santana Katia Labeque
Notable guitars	Gibson EDS-1275 Double Rainbow Shakti Guitar Synclavier [Mike Sabre Custom] Glissentar
Years active	1963-present
Official site	Official Website

John McLaughlin (born January 4, 1942), also Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is a jazz fusion guitar player from Doncaster, Yorkshire in England. He came to prominence with the electric group of Miles Davis in the late 1960s, and with other well-known players such as Chick Corea and Tony Williams.

Before moving to the United States, McLaughlin recorded Extrapolation (with Tony Oxley and John Surman) in 1969. The album showcased McLaughlin as a guitarist of great technical virtuosity, power, speed, and inventiveness (such as the ability to play in odd meters).

He moved to the United States in 1969 to join Tony Williams's group Lifetime. He subsequently played with Miles Davis on his landmark albums In A Silent Way, Bitches Brew (which has a track named after him), Big Fun (where he is featured soloist on Go Ahead John) and A Tribute to Jack Johnson -- Davis paid tribute to him in the liner notes to Jack Johnson, calling McLaughlin's playing "far in". (In fact Davis's favorite guitarist was Mclaughlin. He returned to the Davis band for two recorded nights of a week-long club date, which was released as part of the album Live/Evil.

His reputation as a 'first-call' session player grew, resulting in recordings as a side-man with Miroslav Vitous, Larry Coryell, Wayne Shorter, Carla Bley, The Rolling Stones and others.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra, John's 1970s electric band, featured violinist Jerry Goodman (later Jean-Luc Ponty), keyboardist Jan Hammer (later Gayle Moran / Stu Goldberg), bassist Rick Laird (later Ralphe Armstrong), and drummer Billy Cobham (later Narada Michael Walden). The band were respected for their technical virtuosity and complex fusion of eclectic jazz and rock with hints of Eastern/Indian influence. This Band established fusion as a new and growing style within the jazz and rock worlds, and continues to inspire countless guitarists.

After the Mahavishnu Orchestra split, McLaughlin worked with the far more low-key, acoustic group Shakti. This group combined Indian music with elements of jazz and thus may be regarded as a pioneer of world music. John was the first westerner to attain any acclaim performing Indian music for Indian audiences.

Along with Carlos Santana, McLaughlin was a follower of the guru Sri Chinmoy, and in 1973 they collaborated on an album of devotional songs, Love Devotion Surrender, which included recordings of Coltrane compositions including A Love Supreme.

He has also worked with the jazz composer Carla Bley and Gil Evans

In 1979 he teamed up with flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía and Larry Coryell (replaced by Al Di Meola in the early 1980s) as the Guitar Trio, the virtuoso talents of all three musicians equally on display. The Trio, again featuring McLaughlin along with de Lucía and Di Meola, re-united in 1996 for a second recording session and a world tour.

In the early 1990s he toured with his trio on the Que Alegria album. The trio consisted of John Mclaughlin, Trilok Gurtu and Dominique DiPiazza.

In recent times he 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, Shivkumar Sharma, and Hariprasad Chaurasia.

His most recent recording projects have been a ballet score, Thieves and Poets, released in 2003 along with arrangements for classical guitar ensemble of favorite jazz standards, a three DVD instructional video on improvisation (which revolutionized video lessons) and a hard bop/ jazz fusion album entitled Industrial Zen, on which Mclaughlin experiments with the Godin Glissentar as well as continuing to expand the guitar-sythn repertoire, released in June 2006.

[edit] Guitars (Selection)

Double Rainbow doubleneck guitar made by Rex Bogue, which McLaughlin played between 1971 - 1975. (Confer: Gibson EDS-1275)

The first Abe Wechter-built acoustic "Shakti"-guitar with seven additional drone strings.
"Marielle", acoustic guitar with cutaway.
"Our Lady", built by Abe Wechter for John Mclaughlin.
Summary of the guitars played by John McLaughlin.