John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin

By Brian Tarquin

One of my all-time favorite guitar heroes Jeff Beck once called John McLaughlin “the best guitarist alive”. This to me is a testament to the true greatness that John possesses in both his music compositions and playing. This is overwhelmingly evident when you a listen to the first Mahavishnu Orchestra album The Inner Mounting Flame from 1971. Not only he is a pioneer of jazz fusion, combining elements of jazz with rock, world music, western classical music, flamenco, Indian and blues, but the entire band was pioneering new musical territory. Just consider the original members of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jan Hammer on keyboards, Billy Cobham on drums, Jerry Goodman on violin and the Irishman bass player Rick Laird. As we know Jan Hammer alone went on to play with Jeff Beck and created some of the most everlasting rock fusion anthems on Beck’s release Wired.

McLaughlin reminds me very much of Larry Coryell who we lost way too soon. In fact, I worked with Larry in the studio on one of his last recordings. Larry explained how John and he would teach each other musical preludes and exchange wonderful ideas. They both lived in a special musical time when instrumental music was embraced by the public, especially experimental jazz compositions. Like Larry, John collaborated with so many talented musicians of the 70’s as bassist Jaco Pastorious, drummer Tony Williams, violinist Jean Luc Ponty, guitarist Al Di Meola and with the renowned Carlos Santana.

But it was his relationship with Miles Davis in the beginning that set him apart and on fire for the world to hear. In particular, the electric jazz fusion albums that Miles recorded as In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, and On the Corner. These albums set a new cornerstone in the musical world especially jazz in the 70’s which showed off the technically virtuosic and complex style that John became revered for throughout the world. It was the fussing of contemporary music with Indian influences that set him apart with the band Mahavishnu and in his solo work. In 2018 he received a Grammy Award for the Best Improvised Jazz Solo for “Miles Beyond” from his album Live at Ronnie Scott’s. But there are some that still don’t understand what he did to this day as he was ranked at only #49 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. And equally underrated by Guitar World magazine in 2012, as #63 on its top 100 list. How is this possible? Well, I can only retort by saying that John McLaughlin’s music and talent is far beyond their limited vision and scope of musical understanding.

BTQ: I bring you a very special and rare interview with fusion guitarist John McLaughlin, from Mahavishnu Orchestra, one of my favorite fusion bands. So, John tells me how he started with piano and went on to guitar.

JM: I had three older brothers and I started studying piano at the age of 8. My mother was an amateur violinist, and she tried to teach me violin, but it was useless. I couldn’t stand the sound because I was playing so badly. So, I ended up selling it and playing the piano for the next three years. Rewind to 1952 or something like this. The moment what they call the “Blues Boom” hit the UK, especially amongst universities and the students. I already had two brothers at university, and they got hit by it. And one of them bought a guitar and brought it home. He was playing it, but I wasn’t really paying much attention because I was playing the piano. Then after six months he got bored, and he handed it to brother #2 who then got bored with it after another 6 months and handed it to brother #3. So, then suddenly, brother #3 came up to me and said the guitar is now yours. He showed me the D chord and I played it against my body. That was that. I quit the piano right away. I started to sleep with the guitar. It’s a true love affair, Brian. And it hasn’t ended after all these years. It’s something.

It was the “Blues Boom” that was a tsunami in the UK at that time. It was a revelation for me. You know, I’ve been playing Mozart and Beethoven on the piano and then I started to play the guitar. My brothers, saw how taken I was with the guitar. So, they started to bring records in like Muddy Waters. I was a kid learning classical piano and then tak en with the guitar to hear Muddy Waters. I mean, going back when Muddy was playing acoustic slide with Little Walter. My brothers just kept bringing these records in like Lead Belly, incredible.

BTQ: The 50s was a really interesting time in England because there was a real Blues sensation coming over from America and young English musicians were discovering all these Blues licks. John went on and told me that he was great friends with Cream and Eric Clapton.

JM: Eric and Cream – I was really happy for them, because they really made it big. But if you talk to Eric about Jack and Ginger, he will tell you it was too intense. A little too intense for me as well, but very provocative. And I like to be provoked on stage. So, Jack came in on Tony Williams Lifetime which took on a new dimension with Jack playing bass and singing. Tony had me writing music all the time and I could say quite safely that a lot of the work and the music of my mission had roots in Lifetime.

Miles told me to get involved with his band for the Jack Johnson Sessions and Billy Cobham knocked me out. You know the opening tune right off. That’s the tune that started the whole thing because Miles was in the control room with Teo Macero. There was Michael Henderson playing bass. Herbie Hancock was playing this Farfisa organ-really far out. Steve Grossman was playing saxophone. Bennie Maupin was the guy playing bass clarinet. I was getting bored, and I had been working on this thing and I thought, well, I just wanna boogie. So, I started playing, using these strange changes that I’ve been fooling around with. Billy picked it up. Michael Henderson picked it up. And we hit a groove. Within a minute Miles heard what we were doing, he ran into the studio with his trumpet and proceeded to play the most amazing licks. It was such a trip because it was totally spontaneous, and some of the harmonies I was using eventually became “The Dance Of Maya”.
So, you can see the link there. You know, I was coming from Tony through Miles and eventually into Mahavishnu, but more developed. I had a chance to develop all my ideas with Mahavishnu. But it was wonderful to work with Miles because he was a real master in the studio. I got to know him pretty well by hanging out with him. He had some sketches, you know, but he was looking to find the right groove. But he didn’t really know what it was or how to get it, so it was an experiment. He said count off a beat and we start playing and then he talked to the bass player and just said, “Play more space”. And then came up to me and said, “Let me hear the Waka chew.” Ha Ha it was beautiful. And then sometimes he stopped the drummer and said “Boom, boom, bat”. You know the most obscure instructions you’ve ever heard in your life. But we settled into a groove, and as soon as he liked it, then he would start playing. This is how the album developed. Because he didn’t know what he wanted, but he knew what he didn’t want.

BTQ: I love John’s stories about Miles in the studio. I think it’s great how Miles was really leaving it up to the guys and just giving them very loose instructions. Now John tells me how he formed Mahavishnu Orchestra and how he got Jan Hammer to join the band.

JM: That’s another strange story, because before I left the UK and moved to Belgium, I met Miroslav Vitous, and we got really tight in Europe. And then when I moved to New York we carried on the friendship and recorded together. It’s a really nice album with Joe Henderson. This is right after Miles told me to form my own band. I got a call from Miroslav, and he said “Listen, John I’m with Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter and we’re making a band called Weather Report. We want you to be in it.” And I said, “Ohh man, what a cool idea, but I’m under orders. I have to form my own band – Miles has told me. I gotta do it.” He said “But listen, if you need a keyboard player, I know one named Jan Hammer (Miroslav and Jan were both from Prague). He’s out right now in California playing piano for Sarah Vaughan.” I thought, if he’s playing with Sarah Vaughan, I want him. She was amazing. What a musician. What a singer. So, I knew he could play. I said, “Have him call me and we’ll do it.” That’s how Jan came in.

The bass player Rick Laird and I were playing in the UK with Brian Auger and that’s how Rick joined. I wanted a violin player. My mother played violin as I said earlier. I didn’t want a jazz player and I knew Jean Luc Ponty, but I didn’t want this kind of straight-ahead jazz. I wanted a blues player. And so, I was hunting around and finally found an album by a band named The Flock. We’re talking late 60s, ’68-’69. They made one album. I heard this guy playing and I said this is the guy (Jerry Goodman) on violin and I called him. We first recorded a much more sober album. I had a contract with Alan Douglas who is, how shall I say, not the most honest, decent person. But I had to finish the two-record contract. I wanted to do it with acoustic guitar because I was really angry with him, and I didn’t want to see him. I just wanted to get it over. He gave me peanuts. He sold it for about 20 times that. Anyway, to make a long story short, it was called My Goal’s Beyond which is just acoustic guitar on one side, sometimes solo, sometimes multitracked 2 guitars. But on the flip side Billy Cobham is playing. Then, because we were all rehearsing together, Jerry came in and a tabla player. Cause I was already getting into Indian music. That was My Goals Beyond which became very successful. And it’s too bad I didn’t make any money out of it!

But from that point, once that album and my contract was over, I was able to sign with CBS and we started rehearsing. But I started rehearsing with Billy at least three weeks before the rest of the band came in. So, by the time they came in, I had so much music. I had more than an album’s worth. Because Billy and I were so tight by the time Jan, Rick and Jerry came in, it was just so easy, and they could play anything. I’ll never forget we opened up for John Lee Hooker. And I loved John Lee. We did a week of shows, but it was so successful that they held us over for another week. And right after that we went into the studio recorded live just like we had been doing at The Whisky. That became The Inner Mounting Flame album, and the rest is history. I and many other people did not expect such a reaction. Such a wonderful and positive reaction. It really blew me away.

BTQ: You know, that was an incredible time in the early 70s for music where experimental and progressive bands were really welcomed with open arms. Now John tells me about his relationship with Larry Coryell and Paco De Lucia.

JM: Ohh, I loved Larry. He cut a tragic figure in the world-didn’t he? When I hooked up with Paco De Lucia I said, you know, we gotta have three guitars. I thought of Larry right away. I loved the way Larry played and what a fine musician. I mean, we’re going back to ‘78 here, but he had personal problems, and he was drinking. It was very difficult. And in the end, I mean, both Paco and I would be on the road and suddenly we’d lose Larry, we didn’t know where he was. It was a very difficult time and I felt really bad. Because I loved him. I really did love Larry because we met in the UK. I mean, before I even got to know him better in the US. And he was a sweetheart and a lovely musician.

Paco hooked up with Al Di Meola and he said when Larry left, let’s just get Al. And that really kicked off another storm with this Friday Night in San Francisco 1981 live album. That was another trip. Yeah, Paco was very dear to me, too. Gee, I miss him. We were supposed to record. He passed away on the 25th of February 2014, a day I’ll never forget. I spoke to him about 10 days just before he left from Spain for Central America and Mexico. He bought it in Mexico. We’d already organized a lot of music to make a duo acoustic album at that time. Anyway, it wasn’t to be.

BTQ: It was such a great honor to speak to John McLaughlin. He’s such a fantastic musician and has brought us such great compositions and performances with Mahavishnu Orchestra.