John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (January 4, 1942) is a British rock- and jazz guitarist, best known as a member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
McLaughlin became a solo act in 1969. He played with jazz drummer Tony Williams and also with Miles Davis on his jazz fusion albums In A Silent Way (1969), Bitches Brew (1969), Jack Johnson (1971), Live-Evil (1971) and On the Corner (1972).
In 1971, McLaughlin founded the jazz fusion band Mahavishnu Orchestra. Together with L. Shankar, Zakir Hussain and Vikku Vinayakram, McLaughlin founded the group Shakti in 1973, combining jazz with Indian traditional and classical music.
McLaughlin has also collaborated with Al Di Meola.
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Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa liked John McLaughlin. The Mahavishnu Orchestra was opening act for Zappa in the early 1970s. In the interview Thing-Fish Rap. Ike Willis named McLaughlin one of his influences.
Frank Zappa about John McLaughlin
"(...) in the seventies everybody was going as fast as John McLaughlin. As long as the media celebrates the guy who is the fastest, that's what people are going to go for." - Frank Zappa, Zappa's Inferno.
"I met John. I think he's a great guitar player and I think that he's probably done a lot to educate American audiences to some aspects of Eastern music that they wouldn't have come into contact with before. We did a tour with McLaughlin and old Mahavishnu, we did 11 concerts with them." - Frank Zappa, The Frank Zappa Interview Picture Disk, pt.2.
"A person would be a moron not to appreciate McLaughlin's technique. The guy has certainly found out how to operate a guitar as if it were a machine gun. But I'm not always enthusiastic about the lines I hear or the ways in which they're used. I don't think you can fault him, though, for the amount of time and effort it must have taken to play an instrument that fast. I think anybody who can play that fast is just wonderful. And I'm sure 90% of teenage America would agree, since the whole trend in the business has been "faster is better." - Frank Zappa, One Size Fits All Interview, Guitar Player Magazine, January 1978.
John McLaughlin about Frank Zappa
"Frank was crazy, first of all, but a very good musician. I have to remind you that I am a fan of The Mothers of Invention since 1966, their first album. Do you know this album, 'Freak Out!'? The minute I heard this album, I am a fan of Frank Zappa. Of course, years later I met him but... two things: 1) He was a very good musician but he was a dictator in his band, I'm sorry to say. [Laughs] Plus, he was not only a dictator, but he was taking very long guitar solos. 10-15 minute guitar solos and really he should have taken two- or three-minute guitar solos, because they were a little bit boring. 2) He was very interesting as a human being and a very interesting composer." [1]
"I think he was just jealous! I toured with Frank, and while I've always enjoyed his recordings, on tour he would take very, very long guitar solos, and he just didn't have what it takes to play long guitar solos. That said, he has every right to his opinions, and in earlier days, I'm sure he had some validity in his criticisms of my playing." - John McLaughlin, interviewed by The Dallas Observer, 29 November 2010. [2]
