Lucky is my middle name,” laughs John McLaughlin serenely, though the point he’s making is a serious one. Although half a century has elapsed since he released his debut album, 1969’s Extrapolation, he still seems genuinely bewildered – and grateful – at how his career took off so spectacularly in the 70s and transformed him into an internationally-feted guitar deity.
“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” he says with an unfeigned sense of humility, tinged with wonderment. “I’m one of the most fortunate musicians ever to have studied, worked, and played with some of the greats from both east and west.”
Though McLaughlin is originally from Doncaster there are no vestigial traces of a regional Yorkshire accent in his smooth Mid-Atlantic tones. That’s not surprising, as he’s incredibly well-travelled. He’s spent a lot of time in the US, has journeyed to places like India, and the fact that he has resided in Monaco for many years underlines the feeling that the veteran guitarist prefers to perceive himself as a citizen of the world rather than align himself to any specific nation.
But it was the US that first really embraced McLaughlin and it’s where his career first ignited in 1969, initially as a Miles Davis sideman (on seminal albums like In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew) and as a member of Tony Williams’ Lifetime. He then formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1971, a groundbreaking fusion band whose music was a potent collision of jazz and rock enhanced by eastern spirituality. Against the odds, they enjoyed huge commercial success, which established the guitarist on the world stage. “We were really taken to heart by Americans,” acknowledges McLaughlin, “and because our music was accepted so readily there, it became a more global phenomenon.”
Though, like his mentor, Miles Davis, McLaughlin has rarely taken a backward glance during his career, his new album, Live In San Francisco, recorded on his farewell tour of the US in 2017, is that rare thing in the guitar guru’s discography: a return visit to the past. “I wanted to do something special as a thank you to America,” explains McLaughlin, who joined forces with US axe-slinger Jimmy Herring and his band, The Invisible Whip. “The idea was to make a really great show, so Jimmy did a set with his band, then I did one and then, for the third set, we joined forces to play only Mahavishnu music. It was really good and we had a wonderful response, but as a goodbye tour, it was somewhat emotional.”
Now 76, John McLaughlin admits he has arrived at a stock-taking stage in his life. “The older I get, the more aware of my mortality I become,” he confesses, which means that it’s the perfect time to ask him to reflect on his storied career and leaf through its back pages. He happily obliges, recalling memories of past recording sessions with a warm nostalgia combined with a sense of disbelief.
“How lucky can you get?” he wonders, following his question with a gentle, philosophical laugh that suggests he knows that his life has been extraordinarily blessed.
EXTRAPOLATION (1969)
Imperious debut
for Giorgio Gomelsky’s short-lived Marmalade imprint that announced the 27-year-old McLaughlin’s arrival on the international stage. Not long after its release, the label folded and Polydor acquired the album.
“We recorded it in December of ’68. I was very excited, and nervous, because it was the first recording that I did as a leader. It was a good feeling to have someone like Giorgio Gomelsky – who gave me enough money to go in the studio and pay the musicians – to have faith in me and my music and let me make the record I wanted. It was a lovely band with baritone saxophonist John Surman, bassist Brian Odgers – who replaced Dave Holland when he left to join Miles – and Tony Oxley, a great drummer. We played a few gigs at the 100 Club in Oxford Street but by the time the album came out, I was already playing with Tony Williams in New York. I feel very humbled that it’s been called a landmark record but I wouldn’t call it that myself because I hear all of the glaring things that I shouldn’t have done. I was completely new to the game and just getting people
to play, feel good, and make a record.”
MY GOAL’S BEYOND (1971)
Released on Jimi Hendrix’s producer Alan Douglas’ own label, McLaughlin’s third solo album blended eastern-influenced ensemble tracks with lone acoustic guitar standards. It also reunited the guitarist with drummer Billy Cobham, who had gelled with McLaughlin on A Tribute To Jack Johnson and would be the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s first recruit.
“I met Alan Douglas through Jimi Hendrix when I was playing in Tony Williams’ Lifetime and he said, ‘Do you want to make a record?’ He gave me $2,000 for two albums but took the publishing. After I made Devotion, the first record, I went on tour with Tony and came back to find that Alan had been in the studio and chopped it up, making it almost unrecognisable. I said, ‘You did that without me being there’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I did – because it’s better.’ I had one more record to do and told him, ‘If I see you in the studio, I’m going to walk out.’ I was really angry but I did the record. On the first side I used a band – with saxophonist Dave Liebman and percussionist Badal Roy, who would later join Miles – and the second side was just solo acoustic guitar. I was inspired by Bill Evans’ Conversations With Myself, when he recorded one piano and then overdubbed another. I did that with a couple of tunes on the guitar and also played music by Chick [Corea] and Mingus. I really like this album and it was very important for me but Alan Douglas resold it maybe 15 times and because I had no rights I never got paid.”
THE INNER MOUNTING FLAME w/ MAHAVISNHU ORCHESTRA (1971)
Encouraged by Miles Davis to form his own group, McLaughlin recruited keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jerry Goodman, bassist Rick Laird and drummer Billy Cobham and formed the jazz-rock supergroup, Mahavishnu Orchestra. This was their trail-blazing, high-decibel debut that redefined fusion by meshing raw rock power with dazzling jazz improv and eastern mysticism.
“We’d only been playing together about three weeks, including rehearsals, when we recorded it. Our first gig was at the Cafe Au-Go-Go in New York’s Greenwich Village, opening up for John Lee Hooker, and it was so successful – the whole week was sold out – they held us over for another week. That was really good because we were planning to go into the studio right after because we’d be warmed up and familiar with all the music. We recorded it live in the studio, which everybody did in those days but we were so well run-in, playing every night for two weeks non-stop, that we had everything done within a couple of days. It was really easy. Its success surprised me because, when our manager, Nat Weiss, said, ‘I’ve got this instrumental band,’ the general response in the record industry was, ‘Are you out of your mind? Where’s the vocalist?’ Nat took me to Clive Davis who was head of CBS and he said: ‘I know you’ve worked with Miles, but what’s this band you’ve got?’ I told him it was hard to explain but I had a great feeling about the band and its music and that something deep down in me was telling me it’s going to be a success. He said, ‘I like the way you talk, we’ll sign you.’”
BIRDS OF FIRE w/ MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA (1973)
An orgy of incendiary, mind-bending solos delivered in crazy time signatures with seismic drumming, this was the swashbuckling second album from the original incarnation of Mahavishnu Orchestra just before the cracks started to appear.
“A year on from The Inner Mounting Flame, we had evolved quite a bit. It was new music but in the same vein, and moving on. It was a happy album for the band but it was after that that weirdness started to creep into the relationships between us. It started after I recorded Love Devotion Surrender on the west coast with Santana, which none of the band was involved with apart from Billy. Afterwards, the Mahavishnu guys picked me and Billy up in Hawaii to go to Japan for a tour but Jerry and Jan decided that they didn’t want to talk to me anymore and it ended up very weird. They were very angry but no one ever really told me the reasons why.
The guys in the band would get high or get drunk or play golf but I wasn’t into that. After a gig, I’d go back to the hotel, meditate and eat my vegetarian food, which was important to me. But I didn’t expect the rest of them to do it. Maybe they took that as me being antisocial because I didn’t want to hang out or get high, but I was on my own trip.”
A HANDFUL OF BEAUTY
w/ SHAKTI (1977)
Following the demise of Mahavishnu Orchestra, McLaughlin went unplugged and joined forces with Indian musicians to form Shakti. This, their first studio LP, is one of his favourite albums.
“When I folded the Mahavishnu Orchestra and formed Shakti, some people said to me, ‘Are you out of your mind? You’re ending a very successful band and you’re sitting on a carpet with these Indians?’ But it was a wonderful experience playing with Vikku [Vinayakram], [Lakshminarayana] Shankar, and Zakir [Hussein]. A Handful Of Beauty was a pivotal recording. We’d been playing together for a while by this time and there was such a lovely feeling of unity and understanding, that it was just so easy. There’s a piece called Two Sisters on that album. It was just [violinist] Shankar and me. We just played it once and then recorded it. Vikku, the ghatam player, was weeping when we walked in the control booth and said: “It’s too beautiful, it’s too lovely.” That made you see what kind of vibe was in the band. Just one take and one of the percussion players is weeping because it’s too lovely! You don’t see that too often.”
ELECTRIC GUITARIST (1978)
After three years playing nothing but acoustic guitar, McLaughlin plugged his axe into the mains again and cranked up the volume on his first solo album for seven years. Its star-studded supporting cast included Santana plus former Mahavishnu members, Jerry Goodman and Billy Cobham.
“Here I had a chance to invite so many of my peers and people that I really loved and admired. It was a real thrill to make that album. I got to play with Tony [Williams] again, and Jack DeJohnette. I introduced those two to each other. It was great to get back together with Tony but we’d lost Larry Young by that time. I’d been playing acoustic guitar exclusively since ’76, so with the album title I was reminding people that I also play electric guitar. Out of that recording I formed the One Truth Band and from that point I began playing more electric guitar but actually it didn’t last too long because, shortly after that, I ran into Paco [De Lucia] and then I was back into
the acoustic guitar.”
MEDITERRANEAN CONCERTO (1990)
McLaughlin serves up an Hispanic-tinged classical guitar concerto on Side One, with five duets with classical pianist Katia Labeque on Side Two.
“This was one of the so-called classical albums I did and it was commissioned by the LA Philharmonic. We performed it live in 1985 and Miles [Davis], who had moved to Malibu, came to the concert. It was such
a thrill that he was in the audience because the second movement of the concerto [Slow & Sad] was written for him. It opens on flugelhorn, which he played a lot in the late 50s. Finally, we recorded it in 1988 with
the London Symphony Orchestra and then I caught up with Miles in Glasgow, and gave him the tape. We went back to his hotel where he got his ghetto-blaster and put the tape on. He listened to the whole piece, all three movements, while eating salad. When it ended, he turned around and said: ‘John, now you can die!’ And that, for me, was probably the greatest compliment he could ever pay and the greatest I ever had.”
AFTER THE RAIN (1995)
A nostalgic nod to 60s jazz organ trios, McLaughlin joined forces with his hero, drummer Elvin Jones, and Hammond B3 maven, Joey DeFrancesco, to pay tribute to John Coltrane’s music.
“After the Rain is really a traditional kind of jazz record. I loved Elvin Jones and talked to one of the producers at Universal and told him, ‘I’ve been dreaming about playing with Elvin Jones and I’d like to make a record with him.’ He just said, ‘Let’s do it.’ It was a homage to Trane and Elvin. I wanted to play with Elvin because he had such a strong impact on my life but I didn’t want a bass player and pianist on the record, I wanted Joey DeFrancesco on Hammond organ. Elvin was really happy in the studio. He was just all heart. You could hear him groaning, he was swinging so hard, but it was marvellous. What an experience!”
THE HEART OF THINGS (1997)
This return to full-throttle jazz-rock found McLaughlin fronting a new band, including powerhouse drummer Dennis Chambers. A live edition of the album, subtitled Live In Paris, featured the same band but replaced original keyboardist Jim Beard with Otmaro Ruiz.
“There were two versions of this album. The first one was in the studio but the second, recorded live in Paris, I liked better. When you go into the studio, people have got to read their parts together and it’s another vibe, but when you do everything by heart live onstage, there’s almost more of a sense of liberation. But the studio album was wonderfully done and I was very happy the way it all worked out because it was hard work playing this new music. On Mister D.C. – named after Dennis Chambers – I really cranked up the guitar, and then did a short homage to Jimi Hendrix with Purple Haze, but instead of playing it in 4/4, just to make it more interesting, I played it in 15/8. I’m very happy that we did both studio and live versions, because you see two quite different aspects of the same band.”
TO THE ONE w/ THE 4TH DIMENSION (2010)
Here, McLaughlin unveiled a new band, the 4th Dimension, featuring keyboardist/drummer Gary Husband, to deliver a blistering
jazz-rock odyssey inspired by Coltrane’s A Love Supreme.
“I was on holiday in Spain with my family after I had finished touring with Chick [Corea] and the Five Peace Band. I had no intention of recording but we were in a restaurant and I said to my wife, ‘Do you have any napkins? I’ve got to write something down,’ and all this music came out. After it was written, I woke up in the middle of the night and had all the titles of the tunes and
the sleevenotes in my mind, all dictated by a higher source. I thought, This is wonderful, and told myself, I’ll write it in the morning. But a voice said, ‘No, you’re going to get out of bed now and you’re going to write it down,’ which I did. It was a very peculiar experience. I saw the titles and realised that they were a chronological diagram of my musical and spiritual endeavours since 1965 when I first heard A Love Supreme, an album that changed my life in the way Coltrane singlehandedly integrated spiritual dimensions into jazz.”
John McLaughlin’s Live In San Francisco
is out now via Abstract Logix.
