John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia

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John McLaughlin and Paco De Lucia filmed in Freiburg, Germany in 1987.

John McLaughlin was born January 4, 1942, in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. After contributing to several key British groups of the early sixties and making his first solo record Extrapolation (with Tony Oxley and John Surman) he 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 1970’s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, performed a technically virtuosic and complex style of music that fused electric jazz and rock with Indian influences.

John McLaughlin is a leading guitarist in jazz and jazz fusion. His style has been described as one of aggressive speed, technical precision, and harmonic sophistication. 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. 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 in an interview with Going Thru Vinyl, McLaughlin has stated that the guitar is simply “part of his body,” and feels more comfortable when a guitar is present.

*In 2003 McLaughlin was ranked 49th in Rolling Stone magazine list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”

*The Indian tabla maestro, Zakir Hussain has called him “one of the greatest and one of the important musicians of our times.”

*In 2010 Jeff Beck referred to John McLaughlin as “the best guitarist alive.”

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