Those in the know regard him as one of the most influential and technically gifted guitarists of all time. His work covers a wide range of styles and genres, including jazz, Indian classical music, flamenco and fusion.
It has been said that John McLaughlin has been on a constant quest. The guitarist, like his early mentor Miles Davis, has reinvented his music several times over. And his recent output suggests he isn't likely to stop any time soon.
Before moving to the U.S. to join Tony Williams' group Lifetime, he recorded Extrapolation (with Tony Oxley and John Surman) in 1969. Here he showed the world for the first time his technical virtuosity as well as inventiveness. Subsequently he played with Miles Davis on his landmark albums 'In A Silent Way,' 'Bitches Brew' (which has a track named after him), 'On The Corner,' 'Big Fun' (where he is featured soloist on 'Go Ahead John') and 'A Tribute to Jack Johnson.'
His reputation as the first session player to call grew, resulting in recordings as a sideman with Miroslav Vitous, Larry Coryell, Joe Farrell, Wayne Shorter, Carla Bley, The Rolling Stones and many others.
During the 1970s, he recorded 'Devotion' - a high-energy, psychedelic, fusion album that featured Larry Young on organ (who had been part of Lifetime), Billy Rich on bass and the R&B drummer Buddy Miles (who had played with Jimi Hendrix). For his next album, however, he went in a different direction. 'My Goal's Beyond was an amazing collection of unamplified acoustic works. Many tracks were a fusion blend of jazz and Indian classical forms. Others were more straightforward melodic acoustic playing, including such standards as 'Goodbye Pork-Pie Hat.'
My Goal's Beyond was directly inspired by McLaughlin's decision to follow the Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy. The album was dedicated to Chinmoy, with one of the guru's poems printed on the liner notes. It was on this album that McLaughlin took the name "Mahavishnu."
McLaughlin's 1970s electric band, The Mahavishnu Orchestra included violinist Jerry Goodman (later Jean-Luc Ponty), keyboardist Jan Hammer (later Gayle Moran and Stu Goldberg), bassist Rick Laird (later Ralphe Armstrong), and drummer Billy Cobham (later Narada Michael Walden). The band performed a complex style of eclectic jazz and rock with eastern and Indian influences. It was the success of this band that established fusion as a new and growing style within the jazz and rock worlds.
In 1973, McLaughlin worked with Carlos Santana, also a follower of Sri Chinmoy, on an album of devotional songs, 'Love Devotion Surrender,' which included recordings of Coltrane compositions including A Love Supreme.
The Mahavishnu Orchestra's personalities meant that the first line-up lasted only until late 1973 - after two years and three albums (one of which was a live recording). In 2001, 'The Lost Trident Sessions' was released, recorded in 1973 but left on the shelf until this date.
McLaughlin reformed the group with Narada Michael Walden (drums), Jean Luc Ponty (violin), Ralphe Armstrong (bass) and Gayle Moran (keys and vocals). They recorded two more albums before Mclaughlin became absorbed in his playing with his Indian classical music based group Shakti. A third album was recorded - but only to satisfy contractual obligations.
Shakti combined Indian music with aspects of jazz and is now seen as a pioneer of 'world music.' The group comprised Lakshmirnaraya L. Shankar (violin), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram (ghatam) and Ramnad Raghavan (mridangam).
McLaughlin was the first westerner to gain acclaim by performing Indian music for Indian audiences.
At the end of the 70s, he teamed up with flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucma and jazz guitarist Larry Coryell (replaced by Al Di Meola later) as the Guitar Trio. The Guitar Trio reunited in 1996 for a second recording session and a world tour.
In 1979, McLaughlin recorded 'Johnny McLaughlin: Electric Guitarist.' This was the title on McLaughlin's business cards as a teenager in Yorkshire. For this recording, he returned to a more mainstream Jazz/Rock fusion and from acoustic back to an electric guitar. He also formed the One Truth Band who recorded just the one studio album: "Electric Dreams, Electric Sighs". The group featured L. Shankar on violins, Stu Goldberg on keyboards, Fernando Saunders on electric bass and Tony Smith on drums.
McLaughlin was busy in 1979 as he also formed Trio of Doom. Here he teamed up with Jaco Pastorius (bass) and Tony Williams (drums). They only played one concert, at the Karl Marx Theater in Havana, Cuba on March 3 1979. They also recorded three of the tracks in a studio.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s McLaughlin recorded and performed live with a trio including bassist Kai Eckhardt and percussionist Trilok Gurtu. The group recorded two albums: 'Live at The Royal Festival Hall' and 'Que Alegria.' For these recordings, he performed on a nylon-string guitar.
In the 1990s he toured with his Quartet on the Que Alegria album. The quartet comprised John McLaughlin, Trilok Gurtu, Kai Eckhardt and Dominique DiPiazza.
Next he recorded and toured with The Heart of Things featuring Gary Thomas, Dennis Chambers, Matthew Garrison, Jim Beard and Otmaro Ruiz. In more recent times he has toured with Remember Shakti.
In 2003, he recorded a ballet score, 'Thieves and Poets,' along with arrangements for classical guitar versions of jazz standards.
In 2006 he released a hard bop/jazz fusion album 'Industrial Zen,' on which hecontinues to expand his guitar-synth repertoire.
In 2007 he began touring with a new jazz fusion quartet, the 4th Dimension, consisting of keyboardist/drummer Gary Husband, bassist Hadrian Feraud, and drummer Mark Mondesir. Following completion of the tour, McLaughlin personally sorted through recordings from each night to release an MP3 download-only collection entitled "Official Pirate: Best of the American Tour 2007".
During this time, McLaughlin also was releasing instructional DVDs for the guitar. He also remastered and released a shelved project dating back to 1980 called "The Trio of Doom" featuring Jaco Pastorius and Tony Williams. The project had previously been aborted.
In 2008 he released 'Floating Point,' featuring the rhythm section of keyboardist Louiz Banks, bassist Hadrien Feraud, percussionist Sivamani and drummer Ranjit Barot
McLaughlin is now set to begin a late tour with Chick Corea, Vinnie Colaiuta, Kenny Garrett and Christian McBride under the name 5 Peace Band.
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