JOHN McLAUGHLIN HAS BEEN THERE
"As musicians, as instrumentalists, we only have two disciplines possible. One is classical and the other is jazz." So says John McLaughlin, the extraordinarily gifted guitarist, whose involvement with (among many others) the Miles Davis Group, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Tony Williams' Lifetime has made his name synonymous with fusion music.
CREEM SHOWCASE
JOHN McLAUGHLIN HAS BEEN THERE
John Kordosh
by
"As musicians, as instrumentalists, we only have two disciplines possible. One is classical and the other is jazz." So says John McLaughlin, the extraordinarily gifted guitarist, whose involvement with (among many others) the Miles Davis Group, the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Tony Williams' Lifetime has made his name synonymous with fusion music. Once well-known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin—this when the second Orchestra album. Birds Of Ftre, hit *15 on the pop charts—he's faded a bit from the public eye, but has always remained tremendously active. ' His latest LP, Adventures In Radioland, may be on a slightly-less-than-major label...Relativity Records, one of the most creative companies extant...but McLaughlin is, as ever, honing his craft. He explains his above-quoted delineation:
"What I mean by discipline is technique on your instrument and the theoretical knowledge to back it up. It's . classical—whether it's Eastern or Western—or it’s jazz. In terms of discipline. I'm a jazz musician.’'