In a career spanning over four decades, guitarist and composer John McLaughlin has thrived in a cross-section of musical genres.
The guitarist and composer, who is in India to launch his new album Floating Point, talks to AVEEK BHOWMIK about his fascination for desi rhythms
In a career spanning over four decades, guitarist and composer John McLaughlin has thrived in a cross-section of musical genres. From performing with the legendary Miles Davis, to leading the historic jazz-rock fusion group the Mahavishnu Orchestra, from forming the Indo-jazz group Shakti with tabla maestro Zakir Hussain to redefining flamenco music with Spanish composer and guitarist Paco DeLucia and jazz guitarist Al DiMeola, McLaughlin has always pushed himself to the limits.
Now, McLaughlin is in India to celebrate the nationwide launch of his new album Floating Point, which he says is the most ‘fluent, evocative and powerful album’ in his career. It’s a western-style jazz-fusion album played mostly by Indian musicians.
“It is only because of the love for jazz and other music on the part of the Indian musicians, that this CD was made. For the first time I have Indian musicians coming over to the ‘western’ style, and not me going over to the ‘eastern’ one ,” says McLaughlin. Ranjit Barot, Sivamani, Louis Banks and Shankar Mahadevan are some of the Indian musicians associated with Floating Point.
McLaughlin’s fascination with Indian music traditions began seeping into his work in the ’70s. “To tell you how much Indian culture has influenced me would take a book. By the late ’ 60s I had discovered India and its spiritualism, philosophy and music. Also, Indian music includes every human dimension. It took a jazz musician like John Coltrane to integrate the spiritual dimension in jazz. Coltrane was also a great admirer of the Indian culture. It’s not mere chance that his son was named Ravi.”
McLaughlin grew up in an atmosphere that was cross cultural. He says his family was Francophile, which meant that he was ‘taught French very young’. “From my teenage years, I began to hear different kinds of music that included Indian, blues, flamenco and jazz,” he says.
He also recalls a moment that happened almost 40 years ago when he was a young musician and had met his all-time idol Miles Davis in New York. “I saw Miles not only with Louis Armstrong (legendary musician), but with Dizzy Gillespie also. It was a historic moment,” he says.
Later on McLaughlin also performed with Davis. “It’s very difficult to put into words the feelings of a 27-year-old who was in the recording studio with his hero of 12-13 years! It was the In a Silent Way recording. After recording the first piece, Miles said he wasn’t happy. He asked me to play it on the guitar. I told him that it would take a minute to organise. He didn’t have a minute, so he told me, ‘Play it like you don’t know how to play the guitar’. This was the first time I was introduced to the way Miles spoke to his musicians. I started playing. When I heard the playback, my opinion that Miles was a genius was confirmed,” he recalls.
John McLaughlin will launch his album Floating Point on June 23 at The Blue Frog Club and will also play live there.
b_aveek@dnaindia.net
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