John McLaughlin - British virtuoso guitarist: biography, creativity

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

John McLaughlin is a famous musician from Great Britain. He was born on January 4, 1942 in Loncaster. The musical career of this guitarist was very interesting. In 2003, John was ranked 49th in the ranking of the best guitarists - according to the music magazine Rolling Stone.

Career start

John started his musical activity in his native country. In 1969, his first album, called Extrapolation, was released. Colleagues John Schurman and Tony Oxley helped the Englishman prepare this creation. Having listened to the compositions of this musician for the first time, music lovers appreciated McLaughlin's ability to improvise. In the same year, the virtuoso guitarist goes to the United States. The reason for this move was that John was invited to join the Lifetime group. However, after playing a little with Tony Williams, John switched to other areas of activity. So, he took part in the recordings of Miles Davis, where he helped not only with his virtuoso playing, but also soloed with Miles. It was in Davis's band that he made his first live performance in public. Later, McLaughlin spoke very warmly about his participation in this musical group, about Miles himself, saying that this experienceturned out to be very significant for him, which influenced his further creative activity.

Mahavishnu

1970 marked the release of the electric album Devotion. Critics considered this work quite tolerable, classifying it as a psychedelic fusion. McLaughlin's playing style on this collection was influenced by the work of another great guitarist, Jimi Hendrix, and drummer Buddy Miles, who previously played with Hendrix, was also present on the recording of this album. A year later, McLaughlin releases the next album, which is purely acoustic.

At the same time, John McLaughlin became a follower of the Indian preacher Sri Chinmoy. John dedicates an entire album to his mentor. Sri Chinmoy gives the English guitarist the spiritual name of Mahavishnu. The beginning of the seventies is associated with the improvement of McLaughlin's musical technique, which he produced, trying to play the instrument more aggressively, more quickly. All new skills John implements in his new project, which he will call The Mahavishnu Orchestra, and which will be enthusiastically received by the audience.

The Mahavishnu Orchestra

In his new band, John invited bass player Rick Laird, keyboardist Jan Hammer, drummer Billy Cobham, and violinist Jerry Goodman. It was the original composition, which subsequently changed completely. The group performs jazz fusion - a kind of fusion of psychedelic rock, electric jazz, performed with an eye on Indian classical music. It wasthe first band to play fusion music. Moreover, the band's compositions were to the liking of both jazz fans and rock fans. The British guitarist's magnificent solo digressions, as well as exotic inclusions in the structure of the compositions, did not leave these music lovers indifferent.

But soon the composition of the group changed. The reason was the difficult relationship within the team. Having released only three albums by 1973, the group recruited new musicians, including Gail Moran, singing and playing keyboards, Jacques-Luc Ponty - violinist, Michael Woden - drummer, Ralph Armstrong, playing bass guitar. With these guys, McLaughlin recorded only three albums, and then he plunged headlong into the work of his other group.

Shakti

This new McLaughlin project has become less flashy. The work of the guitarist in this group was based on the creation of Indian music, to which individual elements of jazz were added. To create such music, John McLaughlin devoted several years of his life to studying all the subtleties and nuances of Indian folklore. In 1975, Shakti debuted, and a year later a live album was released. McLaughlin became one of the first Western musicians to gain recognition from Indian listeners. The Shakti group consisted of Indians who played folk instruments: mridangai, tabla, hatame. A violinist was also present. After the collapse of this group, the guitarist from the UK created many more musical projects that the public appreciated.

Creativity

McLaughlin John, whose albums are still very popular among guitar fans, entered the history of music as an extraordinary guitarist. During his rather long career, he was able to work with many well-known performers. Moreover, the playing style of this musician had a significant impact on many followers who began to perform fusion and raga rock. Already in the seventies of the last century, guitarists appeared who played with an eye on McLaughlin. Among them are such famous people as Steve Morse, Paul Masvidal, Scott Henderson, Pebber Brown. John's virtuoso technique has inspired many to improve their musical compositions. Many dreamed of playing like the famous John, but not everyone succeeded. To be more precise, no one has succeeded in this technique.

Some famous guitarists note that John McLaughlin has made a significant contribution to the overall evolution of guitar playing. “What John did while playing his guitar stunned the whole world. Before that, no one could have thought that such sounds could be extracted from it,” many musicians comment on the work of the legendary performer.

Frank Zappa, a well-known rock musician, also spoke very flatteringly about John: “What this guy did with his guitar was incomprehensible. It is unlikely that anyone else will be able to extract such incredible sounds from this instrument so quickly. The solos performed by McLaughlin were just great.”

A little bit about personal life

About family lifelittle is known about the British musician. The virtuoso guitarist has been married twice. His first chosen one was Kate Labeque, who was French. The girl was a professional pianist and in the eighties (at their very beginning) she was a member of McLaughlin's group. However, the marriage suddenly broke up. Today, John is married for the second time. His wife is Ine Behrend. The couple have two sons, Luke and Julian.