Talk:John McLaughlin (musician)

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Hmmph. Some idiot really messed this page up. I'm writing an essay on McLaughlin & Co, so as soon as I finish finding resources elsewhere (sigh) I'll try and fix this up a little.

The article states: The Mahavishnu Orchestra, John's 1970s electric band, are respected the world over for their complex fusion of jazz, Indian music, and electric jazz rock.

I have never thought that MO have diplayed much Indian flavor. Music journalists of the time were aware of John's fondness of Indian music, but (other than lotus feet on Visions of the Emerald Beyond), what is an example of Indian music in Mahavishnu Orchestra's work?

The entire feel of most of their sound was based on Indian music. Try the Title track from Birds of Fire (e.g.). Shakti, is nearly identical to real Indian music, but even MO is more realistically indian sounding and Indian influenced than the best attempt by the Beatles to bring the sound of India to the west! Gosh: To what do you think the name Mahavishnu Orchestra refers?Thaddeus Slamp 22:33, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Obviously Shakti was a different story.

[edit] Expansion

i would like to add that john mclaughlin is considared a pioneer and founder of the fusion style, not simply a master of style. before mclaughlin was playing jazz, he was playing blues, although recordings in this style are not easy to come by, he could easily be considared a master of the blues..also i would like to add that the guitaristic standards mclaughin set in the early 70s are still in place today, and that because of his the combination of his vast musical knowledge, experimentation, and technically ability not to mention his emmense discography he is comparable to few if any guitarists-and only by comparison of influence, its more suitable to compare him to the likes of john coltrane, debussy, stravinsky, davis etc.


John McLaughlin is one of the greatest (opinion) and most influential (fact) guitarists of our time. Lets expand this article, and possibly put this up for featured article status.

So. What do you say? Mkaycomputer 18:10, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

Notes - The Indian thing is in reference to some of the pulse rythmns they used, mainly the 9/8 and 19/4. The Indian thing definatley comes over on "My Goals Beyond" as well, although, the album isn't even mentioned. The Picture is REALLY terrible.

First Paragraph John is mentioned to have "(come) to prominence with the electric group of Miles Davis in the late 1960s, and with other well-known players such as Chick Corea and Tony Williams." Tony was playing with Miles since 1965 I think, and Chick was pretty big with the Blue Mitchell group (he was pretty amazing too). A better example would maybe be Airto, or somebody like that.

Second Paragraph The time is acutally 11:8. Brian Odges is missed out.

Third Paragraph The names should be split into Mahavishnu 1 and 2, not just muddled up like that.