British guitarist John McLaughlin has had an extraordinary career. Having recently turned 80, he has given mixed messages on retiring. While it seems tours of the United States may be out of the question, he will continue to play live and most likely continue to record.
McLaughlin is best known as one of the world’s foremost jazz guitarists. He co-founded the seminal jazz fusion group, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, collaborated on several albums with Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucia and, since the mid-’60s, recorded with an array of artists, mostly from jazz, but also from rock, world, and pop music. Two groups he co-founded—Shakti and Remember Shakti—offer fresh takes on Indian music.
His earliest forays into music, were oddly as part of the burgeoning British blues scene of his birthplace. He played with a variety of ’60s British blues and rock legends at that time, including Alexis Korner, Graham Bond, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Jimmy Page, Brian Auger, and Georgie Fame.
His work from that period and his prowess as a guitarist extraordinaire could have made him a rock guitar god in the same company as Page, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and others if he had chosen that direction. If all that wasn’t enough, he played on and off, beginning in 1969, with Miles Davis, including as part of the groundbreaking and legendary Miles Davis Quintet, as well as on Bitches Brew and as late as 1989.
For roughly the past ten years, McLaughlin has primarily been playing with his group the 4th Dimension. In 2021 he released the solo album Liberation Time. Like the 4th Dimension band, this album includes Gary Husband, Étienne M’Bappé, and Ranjit Barot, along with many other musicians, including drummer Vinnie Colaiuta.
The album is filled with McLaughlin’s tasteful, mostly unbusy, electric jazz fusion style. He brings things up to date with “Lockdown Blues” and surprisingly plays piano on “Shade of Blue.” Throughout, the fusion sound is lightened by songs of spiritual searching, which is a hallmark of his music and his life.
Rather than use the guitar to bludgeon, McLaughlin seeks out the subtleties of the instrument and finds the joy and peace of life in his music. McLaughlin is one of the few guitar gods who plays with no ego. Even after all these years, McLaughlin continues to expand his jazz style palette, while retaining his singular musical style beloved for more than 50 years.
For McLaughlin at his best live, working in a variety of styles with iterations of some of the group’s he co-founded, don’t miss the just released The Montreux Years, a double album gatefold package, pressed on 180-gram vinyl with extensive liner notes and previously unpublished photos.
This double album (also available on CD formats) includes selections from shows he has performed at the famed Montreux Jazz Festival from 1978 (featuring the One Truth Band), 1984 (featuring the Mahavishnu Orchestra), 1987 (featuring John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia), 1995 (featuring John McLaughlin & The Free Spirits), 1998 (featuring John McLaughlin & The Heart of Things), and 2016 (featuring Jon McLaughlin & The 4th Dimension).
Some of the recordings here come directly from the personal archives of the late, great founder and general manager of the Montreux Jazz Festival, Claude Nobs. In 2003, Warner Music released the 17-CD Montreux Concerts from John McLaughlin, from which all but one of these recordings was drawn.
In 2016, Paco and John Live at Montreux 1987 was released on Verycords featuring an entire concert recording. A DVD and a Blu-ray of McLaughlin’s Montreux concert with Carlos Santana were also released by Eagle. For McLaughlin, who has lived in Monaco since the late ’80s, taking the one-hour flight to Montreux, makes playing there almost like playing for his neighbors.
As evidenced by Liberation Time, it’s clear that McLaughlin can still make excellent new music and the Montreux package hopefully signals the beginning of releases from Mclaughlin’s vaults.
Liberation Time
B
The Montreux Years
B+
