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Jazz Articles about John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension: Live at Ronnie Scott's
by Geno Thackara
Music has taken him and his guitar to some of the most exotic far reaches of the world, but Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club will always have a special place in John McLaughlin's heart. His mid-1960s time in the famous London venue's house band was a key early step in his musical life, and he idly wonders “where would I be without them?" five decades later. No doubt he would still be a legend today; such boundless curiosity and imagination would ...
Continue ReadingJohn McLaughlin's American Farewell Tour with Jimmy Herring
by Alan Bryson
Nearly five decades have passed since John McLaughlin set foot in America as a relatively unknown musician to join the fusion band Lifetime, with the great drummer Tony Williams and equally great organist Larry Young. Two days later he was in the studio with Miles Davis recording In a Silent Way. The breadth and scope of his musical endeavors in the ensuing decades boggle the mind. It's doubtful we will ever fully know the impact he has had on music ...
Continue ReadingJohn McLaughlin & Paco de Lucia: Paco and John - Live at Montreux 1987
by John Kelman
It's truly a shame that, all too often, artists with diverse careers become pigeon-holed, defined by the primary genre in which they first achieved notoriety. Take guitarist John McLaughlin, for instance. Ask most jazz fans about him and what will first come out of most of their mouths will include either the words “fusion," “jazz-rock" and/or Miles Davis, in any permutation/combination (not that there's anything wrong with that). Those a little further in the know might also be aware of ...
Continue ReadingJohn McLaughlin
by Alan Bryson
With a musical career that spans five decades and as many continents, John McLaughlin has established himself as one of the premier guitarists on the world stage. At the age of 73 his youthful vigor is nothing short of astounding. If he's not touring with one of his two working bands, chances are he's either preparing for his next tour, or he's in the recording studio, or he's embarking on a new project that has captured his imagination. He continues ...
Continue ReadingJohn McLaughlin
by Walter Kolosky
Few tasks are more daunting than picking just ten of a great jazz artist's albums for a library collection. Each record adds in its own way to the appreciation of any artist. But in the case of guitarist John McLaughlin (b. 1942), choosing representative albums is made an even more difficult chore because so many of his records run at odd angles to each other. He seems to change styles so often that just keeping track can be a daunting ...
Continue ReadingModern Jazz Guitar
by AAJ Staff
Six strings, ten fingers, improvisation, and a sense of adventure: these are the tools required to play modern jazz guitar. While guitar greats like Wes Montgomery and Jim Hall laid the foundation for bop guitar, a whole new crop of musicians came of age starting in the late '60s. Modern jazz guitar, for lack of a better term, describes the new players who took the traditional forms and twisted them asunder. The new generation has absorbed swing, bop, ...
Continue ReadingJohn McLaughlin & The 4th Dimension at The Royal Festival Hall
by Ian Patterson
John McLaughlin & The 4th Dimension Royal Festival Hall EFG London Jazz Festival November 20, 2014 For any artist to be invited to play three years in a row is unusual by the standards of most festivals. Guitarist John McLaughlin, however, is not 'any artist,' having blazed a unique and highly influential trail from his collaborations with Miles Davis and The Tony Williams' Lifetime in the 1960s and with his own groundbreaking bands the Mahavishnu ...
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