John McLaughlin - The Oneness Of Freedom

Reunited with old friends Gary Husband and Mark Mondesir, along with newcomer Etienne M’Bappé, McLaughlin shows a reenergised passion for electric jazz, an attachment which began back in the 1960s when he still lived in England. McLaughlin talks exclusively for Jazzwise to Stuart Nicholson.

For some it is the journey that matters, for others it is purely about the destination. In guitarist John McLaughlin’s case it’s all about the journey. His non-stop odyssey through jazz began in the 1960s and it shows no sign of letting-up 50 years on. Almost as soon as “Johnny Mac” first emerged on the London jazz scene in 1961 he was widely tipped as a musician going places. For a while he seemed everywhere, performing with jazz artists as diverse as Gordon Beck, Howard Riley and Mike Taylor, playing in R&B groups led by Georgie Fame and Graham Bond, performing jazz and poetry with The First Real Poetry Band, backing the Four Tops on their first UK tour, developing a friendship with legendary producer George Martin doing session work with the likes of Petula Clark and Engelbert Humperdink, appearing on Top of the Pops backing Wilson Pickett and recording Extrapolation, now regarded as a classic of British jazz. Then he was gone.

Moving to New York in 1969, three prolific years of groundbreaking recordings followed, as a member of drummer Tony Williams’ Lifetime, as a sideman on key Miles Davis albums of the period such as In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew and On the Corner, and with his own Mahavishnu Orchestra, one of the great bands of the jazz-rock era of the 1970s.

This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #141 – to read the full article click here to subscribe and receive a FREE copy of Dewey Redman's classic 'The Struggle Continues'.