John McLaughlin on Miles Davis and the recording(s) that changed his life
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- On June 2, 2012 at the Alfa Jazz Fest in Lviv, I interviewed guitarist John McLaughlin for the Ukrainian magazine, Counterpoint. Just before he had to leave for sound check, I pulled out my camera and shot this excerpt of John talking about In a Silent Way and the recordings that changed his life. Here is his insightful, unedited answer.
Complete transcribed interview is here: larryappelbaum....
Guy is a class act. One of the best guitarist ever and he's as humble and selfless as you can be. But thats how you keep evolving as a musician!
too bad his ego was the cause of the end of the original Mahavishnu incarnation
This is great. Listening to In A Silent Way with my son (a 13 year old drummer). It’s just us here in a well-lived-in apartment. Just being transformed in a silent way… processing the world, growing, becoming… A beautiful moment indeed.
"In A Silent Way" is a masterpiece.
It’s quite strange
I love how everyone who ever played with Miles has their own Miles imitation. Just another one of the fascinating facets of Miles. Thanx for the clip!!
'I'm still learning' he says in the end.. Mark of a maestro 👍
I saw miles several times over the years from his 2nd great quintet (Herbie, Wayne etc.) he was different each time always changing and growing. A Master!!🙏🎭
For a short interview it packs a punch about McLaughlin's musical aesthetics, appreciation and observations in his musical journey.
John Mc Laughlin is still my favorite guitar player after all these years, thank you for your inspiration and the uploaders video.
Miles and space...
It is not hard to compose, but what is fabulously hard is to leave the superfluous notes under the table.
Johannes Brahms
Simplicity is the final achievement. After one has played a vast quantity of notes and more notes, it is simplicity that emerges as the crowning reward of art.
Frederic Chopin
The legacy of Miles is incomparable with any other in music: not only he was an extraordinary solist, composer and bandleader, but almost all of his alumni went on to become giants on their own.
A great man and a great musician. I will never forget having my mind blown every time I saw him play.
Great interview. John McLaughlin has been one of my guitar heroes since Inner Flame album that I got when I was 13. I just realized I missed him with 4th dimension a few days ago near my town. I'm kicking myself.
I love John McLaughlin and I am hoping he is going to to play and tour until he is ninety years old.
I saw him at 80 and he was incredible
I get goosebumps listening to In a Silent Way. What a masterpiece I can listen to it a million times and it’ll still sound fresh to my ears. Amazing set of musicians , all of them !
So the beauty of modern communication is the access we have to all these important musicians/people. We use to watch the great musicians from the audience then carry the mystery of their personality around without knowing what they were like on a private personal level. Hearing John McLaughlin talk about Miles and music in such a casual way is just a blessing to everyone who's a player or a listening fan. Thanks for sharing and hopefully the legacy of their music will live on and grow from all of this modernism.
McLaughlin is inspiring and uplifting whether he's playing or just talking.
My brother David and I can't score. From the reefer man. We had tickets for the John McLaughlin mahavishna orchestra concert in the winterland San Francisco. However ones we got turned on to McLaughlin's music. I was higher than I ever been in my life. Thank you John.
i saw that same concert in milwaukee 1973, but thank you for posting this great interview with one of the great legends of the time!
thank you. unfortunately, no more video from this, i just pulled out the camera for the final question. the rest of my interview with John will be transcribed for a magazine called Counterpoint.
4:03 John asks “what isn’t fusion?” Go ahead John! Right off!
Saw a little know JM and the Mahavishnu Orchestra release the 'Birds of Fire' album at a concert headlined by Frank Zappa in 1973.
We were blown away by JM and left rock n roll and followed him into jazz and Miles Davis.
Ron Miller You saw the original lineup of the Mahavishnu Orchestra live in concert?
Yes, as I mentioned the Mahavishnu Orchestra played second after an Englishman named Stanley Watson played solo twelve string guitar. Headliner was Zappa. That was at the War Memorial in Rochester, NY. To be honest, me and my mates never heard of JM but became huge fans after.
Ron Miller Words cannot possibly describe how jealous I am! Ever since I discovered their music about a year ago, I've become obsessed with the 3 albums by their original lineup
Funny as may seem, in all my travels around the US, I never saw or heard of another JM concert. i remember the concert in 1973 like it was yesterday. We stood right up close and personal to the stage and saw the angst on JM's face as he played the notes and chords. One of mates afterwards said he thought JM looked "evil." At any rate, we became and still are huge fans. It was good to give up rock n roll which got watered down and commercialized after the sixties. JM was anything but commercialized.
Nothing got watered down. In fact there was and is great rock and all types of alternative music coming out. Every genre has great artists and mostly bad stuff as always in history.
I didn't get the chance to see him play with Miles, but did see him play with the Mahavishnu Orchestra a couple of times, which remain among the best concerts I've attended, in any musical genre.
incredible interview from a master about a master!!
I would Love to have a conversation with John about music.
John is very generous in all things here, but somehow never mentions Teo Macero when talking about 'In A Silent Way'.. most of the putting in and leaving out was done by Teo. Hours of playing cut and spliced by Teo, repeats and overlays to make the final thing. There are monsters on this record and Miles directed traffic during the session, but Teo - as always - made the record.
It is not stealing, John, it is a grand conversation. I wish people would stop using this word “stealing.”
might be worth asking who publishes it and make the money from it?
Miles' fusion - the core of his genius. Very true!
inspirational man.
What a cool interview! I will go forth with his quote: "what's NOT fusion?" Got to see him at the SFJAZZ fest a few years back with the 4th dimension. Thanks!
I really like this interview, he really opens up here.
Great interview.
thank you John Mclaughlin, and thanks to uploader (this seems like an improvised interview, well done for making it work). I wonder if there is more from the beginning that is watchable?
One of those musicians that can if,you don't mind me saying, can sound rough but when he's on it he is totally unique sublime beautiful and truly mesmerising. I love the gamble of true improvisation.
i love the attitude and rawness of it, just like the best rock and roll
"What's not fusion? We all steal from everybody!" - John McLaughlin
Miles Davis' music changed my life as well…
thank you John!!!
thanks for this!
JM is the most intriguing "jazz" musician to me of all time so far...he has been as experimental and forward moving as his heroes Miles, Coltrane, Cannonbal, etc. Even more so i'd say...
Thank you very much, Johnjii is great, it is like loving.
Miles and JohnMcLauglin;They changed my Life ...Along with Coltrane ....Fusion.Never mind the rules you will be playing all the notes in your Solo anyway (J Coltrane)
one of the greatest Musician of our Era
'What isn't fusion!'. Indeed!!
Great musician and the accent he picked up has sone ibdian too but to me playing wifh paco di lucia. Is fantasti. Gracias john
Thats beautiful. Hungarian folksong-bartok-coltrane.
Profound
Great insight from a world thinker.
He's always been so interesting to listen to, his note selection is unusual. He finds the notes he wants and learns how to play them. Some of these modern players are amazing but it's not as fascinating on the ear.
John is probably the coolest yt guy on the planet. ;)
McLaughlin reminds me of that villain in Columbo
good insights
John McLaughlin is a genius!!!
greatest guitarist in history.
Greatest? Really?
@@jimtakahashi4638 yes greatest
Yes
@@gavrilopricip11 : Compared to whom, for example? Name a few.
@@jimtakahashi4638 compared to all the sloppy boring minor pentatonic generic "guitar heros" like Page and Hendrix or the finger tapping Vanhalen rejects like Vai or the Metal players who make music for teenagers
Make known the unknown. The Miles Mandate.
"I pay to experiment on stage".
Jack Johnson - play it loud as you can
Oz Oz Absolutely incredible album. I think it’s actually my favorite Miles album.
I believe John McLaughlin to be the greatest living guitarist. It's not my choice alone but also that of Jeff Beck, who knows a little aout great guitar work.
Beck isn't quite as advanced, but he doesn't have to be. He's in his own lane
@@MrJadePinwheel ... And that's a great lane!
3:05 Haha great Davis impression XD
I completely agree with fabianidhesona. Johnny Mac is a genius.
In a Silent Way .....
Thank you random UA-cam algorithms that brought me here!
He is a genius. I loved his Remembering Shakti performances. I know a friend who might just make it as big !
He speaks in a New York American accent here whereas in other interviews he has a much more Yorkshire accent. Strange. Great stuff.
in all his recent interviews he sounds american.
A lot of people notice this and mention it. John speaks like 4 different languages and has lived or stayed in a lot different places for extended periods.. it's just natural for one's phonology to adapt to their environment after a while, especially if they're multilingual.
Nue Gai I think John has what you can call a "general" accent!
+don m Doncaster lad been round t'world
is it your face? No comments...
Note to photographers: If you're gonna take zillions of pics during a recorded interview, TURN OF THE "SHUTTER" SOUND ON YOUR DIGITAL CAMERAS. Man, that is so annoying.
Listen to A tribute to Jack Johnson; much prefer it to Bitches Brew or In a silent way.
Brasil Rio de Janeiro
Toca muito
A combination New Yawk/Irish brogue accent -- talk about weird fusion...
He is British but also speaks fluent French. In some interviews you can hear a hint of a French accent.
"I pay you to experiment on stage"
🌈❤️❤️❤️🌻🌹🌻🌹👌🙏🥰🌈
we should not use the word steal..rather ..improve..
"Dont play that F" (3:06) "What isnt fusion???" (4:01)
Preach on, my friend!
thanks anyway lapp9999. All the best.
Q :"What's *not* "fusion"? A: Nothing. All music is fusion.
LEAGUE
what is the fusion..,...The fusion is...
When two indomitable forces join forces...collide...head on: Nuclear particles....Jazz & Rock.....Miles Davis & everything else.
It's easy to remove that background noise these days. Free of cost.
All is fusion except grace.
but, can he djent?
Robert DeNiro's long lost twin?
How old are you? John looks more like Roger Federer...(in few years...;-))
I feel sorry for that musician.
Sound is awful.
really? that's the only thing you learned from this clip?
This guy is on, or has clearly done, an insane amount of drugs
what in this very lucid and straightforward interview would lead you to that conclusion. absurd...dismissive...
+Salvatore Giovanni If you knew anything about John's history you'd know that's absolutely not the case.
I guess you just have to be or think like a musician. It all made perfect sense to me.
Actually, you have, if you think that.
@@samadhistI always heard he was heavily into drugs in his youth. "We saw him around London stoned out of his mind."
In this interview he says "we were all tripping." ua-cam.com/video/GcM0lmeM6zo/v-deo.html
fantastic material, kudos