String theorist: an audience with jazz guitar great John McLaughlin
British guitarist John McLaughlin has proven himself one of music's most curious and versatile talents for more than 50 years, writes Richard James Havis
UNLESS YOU'RE A FAN of jazz fusion, or are a guitar player, John McLaughlin is probably the greatest guitarist you've never heard of. In fact, in some circles he's known as the greatest guitar player ever.
McLaughlin's history supports that claim. The British-born guitarist began his career during the British blues boom of the 1960s, the era in which musicians such as Eric Clapton and John Mayall discovered and reinvented American blues for the nascent rock generation.
McLaughlin first played with popular pianist and jazz singer Georgie Fame before joining innovative R & B band the Graham Bond Organisation alongside Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, who later both played in supergroup Cream. A move to the US resulted in McLaughlin being invited to join jazz genius Miles Davis' band.
He recorded five studio albums with the jazz great, including Bitches Brew, Davis' controversial first electric album. That disc even included a track named John McLaughlin, a rare honour.
After that, McLaughlin formed one of the first jazz-rock fusion bands, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, in 1971. The Mahavishnu part of the name resulted from his serious studies in Indian philosophy; he also studied Indian music, a very different system to that of the West.
Mahavishnu's blend of jazz and rock, with a touch of the East, made McLaughlin popular with rock fans, and a series of fiery albums including The Inner Mounting Flame and Visions of the Emerald Beyond vaunted him into the public eye and made him a star.