Daily Dose Of Jazz…

John McLaughlin was born on January 4, 1942 into a family of musicians in Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. As a child he took up the guitar at the age of 11, exploring styles from flamenco to the jazz of Tal Farlow, Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli. Moving to London, England from Yorkshire in the early Sixties, hestarted playing with Alexis Korner and the Marzipan Twisters before moving on to Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, the Graham Bond Organisation, and Brian Auger.

During this period he often supported himself with session work, which he often found unsatisfying but which enhanced his playing and sight-reading. Also, he gave guitar lessons to Jimmy Page. In 1963, Jack Bruce formed the Graham Bond Quartet with Bond, Ginger Baker and John McLaughlin. They played an eclectic range of music genres, including bebop, blues and rhythm and blues.

By the end of the decade McLaughlin recorded his debut album Extrapolation in London. The album’s post-bop style is quite different from McLaughlin’s later fusion works. He moved to the U.S. in 1969 to join Tony Williams’ group Lifetime. He went on to play on Miles Davis’ albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Live-Evil, On the Corner, Big Fun and A Tribute to Jack Johnson.

As his reputation as a “first-call” session player grew, he was tapped to record as a sideman with Miroslav Vitous, Larry Coryell, Joe Farrell, Wayne Shorter, Carla Bley, the Rolling Stones, DExter Godon, Santana, Paco de Lucia and others.

The Seventies saw him put together the Mahavisnu Orchestra, delved into Indian classical music, and recorded with Stanley Clarke on his School Days album. Throughout the rest of the century he continued to perform with Mahavisnu, no longer the orchestra, as well as sideman duties on a variety of albums, performances and genres well into the new century.

He has recorded nineteen albums as a leader, six collaborative albums, twelve live albums, and 45 as a sideman. Guitarist John McLaughlin continues to perform and record.

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