John McLaughlin

I was a teenager when I first saw John McLaughlin play live. It was at The Stone on Broadway in San Francisco. The venue is no longer there - I think it's a strip club now, but as a concert venue it was a great place to see a live show. I went with some high school buddies and we got in early, so we sat directly in front of the stage - we so happened to position ourselves to be directly in front of McLaughlin when he and his band came out.

It was in 1985 or '86 and McLaughlin was touring with his 80's incarnation of Mahavishnu (he had dropped the "Orchestra" from the band name by this time). It was also the period where he was playing mostly guitar synthesizer - the Synclavier II - but on that evening he stuck with his Les Paul for the entire show. No complaints about that from me...I even remember at one point, in between songs, someone in the crowd yelled out "Where's your Synclavier???" and someone else responded "He doesn't need it!". McLaughlin just smiled and launched his band into the next tune.

Until this show, I had only heard McLaughlin on vinyl recordings of the original Mahavishnu Orchestra as well as some of his other acoustic albums such as "My Goal's Beyond" and "Friday Night in San Francisco", recorded with Al Di Meola and Paco De Lucia. My guitar teacher turned me on to McLaughlin a few years before this show. I knew that McLaughlin was a respected player and technically very impressive, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw that night at The Stone.

What blew me away was not only the technical precision and speed at which McLaughlin could play, but the overall mastery he seemed to have over the instrument. Since we were sitting literally a few feet in front of him for the entire show I was able to focus on this. The way he positioned his left hand - almost at a right angle to the actual fretboard - made it appear that he was "controlling" the guitar rather than merely playing it. He almost never looked at what he was doing; he played with his head tilted sideways and his eyes closed most of the time while playing the most instricate, technical - and musical - solos that really complemented what the rest of the band were playing. It appeared effortless to him even though what he was playing was beyond description. I felt that evening as though I was watching a real master.

And he had a killing band too - a young Jonas Hellborg on bass, Danny Gottlieb playing drums and Bill Evans on sax. I think the keyboardist was Mitch Foreman but I can't quite remember. It was essentially the lineup he used on his mid-80's Mahavishnu albums ("Mahavishnu" and "Adventures in Radioland").

Since then, I've seen McLaughlin play in various formats: solo acoustic, with a group of Indian musicians, and in a few other electric bands - most recently with Chick Corea and Christan McBride in the Five Peace Band. I have enjoyed everything he's done, no matter the format, and he still impresses beyond belief but more than that - he seems to reinvent himself with each new band he plays in. His style, while unmistakenly "McLaughlin", adapts to the situation and the players around him. To me, this says something about a guitarist that many today consider THE elder statesman of the instrument...he doesn't have to adapt for anyone, but he does so for the sake of the music he's creating.

The original Mahavishnu Orchestra records still blow me away every time I hear them. This was a band I would have loved to see play live, and those I know who have seen them tell me that it was something like a religious experience. I've also enjoyed his other offerings since the Mahavishnu years - during the early 80s he recorded a couple of albums that I enjoyed very much: "Music Spoken Here" and "Belo Horizonte", and he composed and recorded his "Guitar Concerto" with the London Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas). In the 90s he did some amazing work with his "Heart of Things" band. These are just some of my favorites, but they all feature John in various musical formats and he breezes through each effortlessly.

My favorite CD came out in 1996 and is called "The Promise". John plays with a variety of musicians on this one - a different group of players on each track - and the results are amazing. Some standouts are a version of "Django" that he plays with Jeff Beck, "Jazz Jungle" - a 15-minute jam featuring Mike Brecker (worth the cost of the CD all on its own), and a tune called "Thelonius Melodius" with Joey DeFrancesco playing the B3. This CD sort of sums up all of McLaughlin's career, to me. Each group of players playing at the top of their game, and John content not to be the focus but happy to support the others and let them shine through.

I guess he may have learned this from playing with Miles Davis all those years ago; Miles had a way of nurturing new talent and "discovering" many musicians who, today, are considered Jazz greats: Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, John Scofield, McLaughlin...the list goes on. Many of these players went on to nurture and introduce new talent to the jazz world, and we can see that continuing today. Many of the musicians that played with McLaughlin have gone on to respected (if not entirely successful) careers of their own.

And even though John is pushing 70 as of the time of this post, he shows no signs of slowing down. His current band - The 4th Dimension - just released a new CD ("To The One") and the music is inspired as always. While I wish I could have been around for the original Mahavishnu Orchestra tours, I am glad I got turned on to him when I did and was able to catch that show at The Stone. I've seen hundreds of live shows in my lifetime but very few made any lasting impression as this one. Come to think of it, few guitarists have made as much an impression on me as John McLauhglin.

Here's an old clip of John playing "Spain" with Paco de Lucia:


...and here's a short clip of Mahavishnu in the mid-80's. This is around the time I first saw McLaughlin play live:

A Little Shameless Self-Promotion

What better time than the holidays for a little shameless self-promotion? :)


A few years back my jazz quartet recorded a CD of Christmas tunes. The CD is called "Yuletide Jazz" and is available on cdbaby.com, iTunes, and amazon.com. We're quite proud of this recording, and I hope you get the chance to hear and enjoy it! We took some well-known Christmas carols (and a few not-so-well-known ones) and rearranged them in various jazz settings from bop to swing to latin, etc.

The musicians on the recording are:

Alex Bootzin - piano
Steve Cassinelli - bass
Ruben Salcido - sax/flute
Kevin McAuliffe - drums

...as well as some appearances by friends and fellow players.

It also makes a great Christmas present for the jazz fanatic in your life (we all have one, right?)

So take a look for "Yuletide Jazz" by Nucleus. Thus ends the self-promotion for the year. Happy Holidays!