What a wonderful conversation. A superbly talented, thinking musician and a interviewer who listened so well and who knew so much about the interviewee. Perfect.
I had a unique chance to speak to Tony Williams for a few hours after a gig in Norfolk, Va. in the mid-1980s. What a beautiful person. I was and am still struck with is the fact that he was who he is. What I mean by that is; there was no pretense in his personality or character. He is as the Creator made him and so my being a drummer as well I could have asked him a lot of questions about sticking and drumming techniques. I realized that all this hinged on his character. He had the courage to be an artist. John here shows the same courage. When the going gets tough; That's the time to be committed. This is real life.
Great interview, Michael. I first heard a guitar player play me the Inner Mounting Flame album in 1972 when I was at Penn State. I was completely blown away! The next year, Mahavishnu Orchestra came to Penn State (1973) - slightly modified band - Jean Luc Ponty on violin instead of Jerry Goodman, etc. This was the time of the Visions of the Emerald Beyond album. I will never forget that concert. Thanks again for this!
Fantastic interview.....John is s prince! And concerning George Benson, he did record with Miles in 1968, the tune called "Paraphernalia" off of Miles In The Sky.
McLaughlin is a legend. He is something else and very different playing the guitar. I have listen to him for the past 40 years and learned a lot from his style of playing the guitar.
I am eternally grateful for this video. :) I could never imagine when I was 15 years old, there would be a video like this. This interview blew my mind.
What I love about this interview is the fact that Micheal gave maestro John McLaughlin space: both to think and also to talk and expand his ideas. Many thanks.🙏☀️🇬🇧🙏
seen JMcL recently few years ago in milan with fusion band, but he never played acoustic guitar with nylon strings,,probably because of the problems of different neck lenght, but the live london concert with trio and trilok gurtu was unbelievable! ciao from Italy-
Such a great man and musican love him John McLaughlin has been a big influence on my life of music since I listened to him and the Mahavishnu Orchastra Billy Cobham was a teacher at a drum seminar I went to and I learned alot from him I loved their music very spritual stuff thank for the video God Bless yall bros n sisters peace n love to all
Fripp had a Dorset peer group, that was Gordon Haskell, Greg Lake etc pretty much before he turned pro. but John came from Doncaster but moved to London and turned pro.
@@jasecole Nice of you to say. I think he responded to the fact I asked him about the Fender Mustang he was playing early on. He probably doesn't get asked that sort of thing often.
Great interview. I'm a big fan of John's. Especially The Mahavishnu Orchestra as well as his work with Miles Davis and The Guitar Trios he's played with over the years.
@@hoagyguitarmichael I've got to check out the band you were talking about with John, Joey De Francesco and Dennis Chambers. I first discovered Dennis on the Steely Dan live album Alive In America. Fantastic drummer.
Such a fantastic interview! Went to your UA-cam channel's page, noticed an interview with Tim Brady and the profile picture with a Teuffel guitar.... and immediately subscribed and hit the bell icon. Looking forward to viewing more videos from Guitare Moderne. Best regards from Montréal Québec, Canada 🙏
Apparently the great Ring Mod sound was 2 x Sony DSP M7 (actually he used these in the 90s) are rack mount units he used perhaps with the F7 unit too; they are around for about USD$500+ - Ive been seeking these for a couple of years,
why not asked him how developed his style soo speedy and scales modes oriented? the greats in the 60' 70',kessel montgomery,ellis ,raney,farlow, played jazz guitar in such a similar style. he was totally different.! harmonically too with his chords. Remember" my goals beyond,"extrapolation,"devotion"and then indian records,and miles records.. and then fusion records. all played with same famous quick scales modes style. only one in the world with such a style together with larry Coryell too.ciao from Italy.
Fender Mustang…I wonder how long the debate went on in the Birds of Fire blog. Was it a mustang or a duo sonic? Having owned a mustang I could see it was a mustang. McLaughlin is always a great interviewee. ❤️👍❤️
Could be interesting to hear where Mclaughlin got the idea to use arpeggiated chords played with a pick, used in so many Mahavishnu tunes and some Shakti tunes . Its rather unique and very typical for his way of writing. And also his fashion for odd meters.
Great interview Michael!!! John is my greatest guitar hero, and great influence in spirituality as well. I have to disagree with both of you however. That Johnny Smith with the sony preamp sound is a little off-putting for me. I has a "sour" sound with a lack of articulation to my ears. However it is only that Johnny Smith guitar sound of John's that I don't like, all the rest in his entire career I love, including the guitar synth sounds. His tone on the early Mahavishnu albums is among the best ever!
@@hoagyguitarmichael Thanks Michael. I really tried to like that sound. As you mentioned it was used on the album with Elvin J and Joeu D. Along with several other albums. And I didn't know that he didn't use an amp with it but instead went directly into the PA. As a guitar player, I can see how that is not a typical set-up that normally produces good sound. To me it lacked dynamics and articulation, which took away from the sffect and impact of his machine-gun-like picking. Then it had a peculiar sound that I describe as "sour". The sound is interesting, but not guitar-like, nor beautiful, IMO. Interestinly of late I have been able to open up my ears to get what other people such as yourself like about it. But in the past, as a fanatic of John's, I was quite disapointed with it. To reiterate, great interview - it really allowed me to understand John as a muscian and person better- Just found your channel. I also watched one of the Bill Frisell interviewa which was fascinating!
@@pjjmsn That is where we differ. I was never a fan of his early rock tone; I felt it lacked the range and expressiveness of the other great guitarists of the time: Beck, Clapton, Hendrix. I loved the "sourness" and expressive quality of his Bigsby work later. Glad you like the Frisell as well.
@@hoagyguitarmichael Thanks Michael. It is interesting to try to put myself into someone else's ears. And I must admit that I haven't had the greatest ears with regard to setting up my own guitar tone iin the past although I have gotten better at it. I actually went back and did a little listening to his Johnny Smith tone again with an attempt to open my ears more. I think I was able to grasp better what you are describing and liking. And also what John said about the pickups being "wide". So I think I got it, but I still came away with the feeling that the guitar was somewhat unresponsive to his fingers and was not faithfully putting out the sound that his fingers were telling it to do. And, along those lines, there were more than a few dead notes, which, to be fair could have been him missing notes with his fingers, but it didn't seem to be. I was listening to his solo on My Favorite Things here: ua-cam.com/video/FjPUrUI4_ek/v-deo.html&ab_channel=PavelLevin With regard to his old tone, a good example of what I was talking about was his solo on Dance of Maya from Inner Mounting Flame, starting at 4 minutes in.
This last record is completely unlistenable due the horrible sound quality of recording, honestly it sounds like it was made on four track home studio in a bedroom: the piano sounds like $69 Casio synthesizer piano setting , and drums and bas were programmed on drum Alesis $99 drum machine, not yo mention John’s guitar sound is like recorded through laundry machine: it’s completely despicable, I’m sorry… When the composition are absolutely brilliant and genius snd performances are brilliant, not even inch short of any expectations of John’s genius! I wish they could have gotten together in an actual studio now snd RE-recorded the entire album: it would be so much worth it, this album deserves it, 110%!!! As it is , it’s complete trash and unlistenable, I’m sorry
One of the best JM interviews I have seen. So good to hear him happily reflecting on his life and career.
Thanks - it was a joy
What a wonderful conversation. A superbly talented, thinking musician and a interviewer who listened so well and who knew so much about the interviewee. Perfect.
Thank you so much
I had a unique chance to speak to Tony Williams for a few hours after a gig in Norfolk, Va. in the mid-1980s. What a beautiful person. I was and am still struck with is the fact that he was who he is. What I mean by that is; there was no pretense in his personality or character. He is as the Creator made him and so my being a drummer as well I could have asked him a lot of questions about sticking and drumming techniques. I realized that all this hinged on his character. He had the courage to be an artist. John here shows the same courage. When the going gets tough; That's the time to be committed. This is real life.
You were lucky to speak to Tony and about drums. He often did not like to talk about drums sadly....he loved tennis ha ha.
Great interview, Michael. I first heard a guitar player play me the Inner Mounting Flame album in 1972 when I was at Penn State. I was completely blown away! The next year, Mahavishnu Orchestra came to Penn State (1973) - slightly modified band - Jean Luc Ponty on violin instead of Jerry Goodman, etc. This was the time of the Visions of the Emerald Beyond album. I will never forget that concert. Thanks again for this!
That second line up was worthy. You got lucky. Cheers!
Wonderful to learn more about his history and early life! Thanks for doing this interview!!
Thank you
Fantastic interview.....John is s prince! And concerning George Benson, he did record with Miles in 1968, the tune called "Paraphernalia" off of Miles In The Sky.
Thanks and thanks for the info.
Great interview. John is the cornerstone for many of us that play guitar and love adventurous music.
This is wonderful. You give John his space. All this music he is talking about made life special as I was growing up
Thanks - he was a joy to speak with.
McLaughlin is a legend. He is something else and very different playing the guitar. I have listen to him for the past 40 years and learned a lot from his style of playing the guitar.
I am eternally grateful for this video. :) I could never imagine when I was 15 years old, there would be a video like this. This interview blew my mind.
Wow! Thanks
What I love about this interview is the fact that Micheal gave maestro John McLaughlin space: both to think and also to talk and expand his ideas. Many thanks.🙏☀️🇬🇧🙏
Thank you so much. I wish I had had more time.
I love how Maestro McLaughlin credits both Coltrane and Hendrix as lifelong inspirations. Wonderful interview!
seen JMcL recently few years ago in milan with fusion band, but he never played acoustic guitar with nylon strings,,probably because of the problems of different neck lenght, but the live london concert with trio and trilok gurtu was unbelievable! ciao from Italy-
You mean he didn't play non in that koncert? Because he played nylon strings during several phases in his career
Wow what a scoop, bravo! Right off is one of the greatest tracks ever, period!
Thanks to John for bringing up King Pleasure. I'd forgotten about him. He was good!
Unbelievably fantastic interview!!!
Congratulations, what a great interview, I loved it, thanks a lot !
Thanks Fernando
Great great great interview. Thanks to both of you!
I wish he'd go back to the Mustang every now and then.
Such a great man and musican love him John McLaughlin has been a big influence on my life of music since I listened to him and the Mahavishnu Orchastra Billy Cobham was a teacher at a drum seminar I went to and I learned alot from him I loved their music very spritual stuff thank for the video God Bless yall bros n sisters peace n love to all
Fantastic interview, Michael, and nice to see you on the tube.
Thanks Avi - hope you are doing well
Great interview - so interesting to hear John talk about his past.
Thanks - it was a privilege
Fantastic interview!
Great stuff thankyou 🙏
Has John developed a slight German lilt to his voice? He is amazing, words cannot express his genius.
I believe his wife is German. Maybe picked up some through proximity ;-)
I've heard him with a New York and French accents too. To me the question is why don't more people lose their accents. He has a good ear, eh?
"My Foolish Heart" is the best coda, ever.
Beautiful!
Really great interview.
Thanks. i twas a pleasure.
Amazing.Well done !
Fripp had a Dorset peer group, that was Gordon Haskell, Greg Lake etc pretty much before he turned pro. but John came from Doncaster but moved to London and turned pro.
I was confusing him with andy Summers, who was from the same area as Fripp
@@hoagyguitarmichael Like McLaughlin, Allan Holdsworth was from Yorkshire as well - maybe that was who you were thinking of?
love it-----thank you
Excellent interview! There is a House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park, Maryland I used to go to. I wonder if they are related.
Terrific interview … lots of insights here…thanks to you - both!
Great interview. Well done getting this legend.
Thanks it was so lucky.
He seemed to connect with you as a kindred spirit. Like you were a good friend
@@jasecole Nice of you to say. I think he responded to the fact I asked him about the Fender Mustang he was playing early on. He probably doesn't get asked that sort of thing often.
Great interview. I'm a big fan of John's. Especially The Mahavishnu Orchestra as well as his work with Miles Davis and The Guitar Trios he's played with over the years.
Thanks.
@@hoagyguitarmichael I've got to check out the band you were talking about with John, Joey De Francesco and Dennis Chambers. I first discovered Dennis on the Steely Dan live album Alive In America. Fantastic drummer.
Excellent interview Guitar Moderne!
Thanks - please spread the word
Wonderful interview.
Thanks you
Listening to this interview made my day.
Such a fantastic interview! Went to your UA-cam channel's page, noticed an interview with Tim Brady and the profile picture with a Teuffel guitar.... and immediately subscribed and hit the bell icon. Looking forward to viewing more videos from Guitare Moderne. Best regards from Montréal Québec, Canada 🙏
Thanks. Please spread the word
Miles Davis would say "I sent them (players) to Notes-Aholic, too many notes!" ha ha. Great interview!
Great interview! On my way to the site for more!
Thanks David - hope you are well
Apparently the great Ring Mod sound was 2 x Sony DSP M7 (actually he used these in the 90s) are rack mount units he used perhaps with the F7 unit too; they are around for about USD$500+ - Ive been seeking these for a couple of years,
why not asked him how developed his style soo speedy and scales modes oriented? the greats in the 60' 70',kessel montgomery,ellis ,raney,farlow, played jazz guitar in such a similar style. he was totally different.! harmonically too with his chords. Remember" my goals beyond,"extrapolation,"devotion"and then indian records,and miles records.. and then fusion records. all played with same famous quick scales modes style. only one in the world with such a style together with larry Coryell too.ciao from Italy.
I think that has been covered in many interviews and I was more interested in some things I had never seen discussed.
Because he is, arguably, greatest. And so, as one of truly greats, he is completely original
Fender Mustang…I wonder how long the debate went on in the Birds of Fire blog. Was it a mustang or a duo sonic? Having owned a mustang I could see it was a mustang. McLaughlin is always a great interviewee. ❤️👍❤️
He is. Just checking out the Corey Wong interview.
Great interview!
Thanks. Please spread the word
Thanks - it was a pleasure
we got one there!
Love it phenomenon compulsion excellent!
Could be interesting to hear where Mclaughlin got the idea to use arpeggiated chords played with a pick, used in so many Mahavishnu tunes and some Shakti tunes . Its rather unique and very typical for his way of writing. And also his fashion for odd meters.
No link for the John Mclaughlin CD's?
Sorry. I just assume everyone is familiar with Google and Spotify
I think Shakti has been the best band McLaughlin has had. The music is stunning.
Great interview Michael!!! John is my greatest guitar hero, and great influence in spirituality as well. I have to disagree with both of you however. That Johnny Smith with the sony preamp sound is a little off-putting for me. I has a "sour" sound with a lack of articulation to my ears. However it is only that Johnny Smith guitar sound of John's that I don't like, all the rest in his entire career I love, including the guitar synth sounds. His tone on the early Mahavishnu albums is among the best ever!
Thanks. To each his own.
@@hoagyguitarmichael Thanks Michael. I really tried to like that sound. As you mentioned it was used on the album with Elvin J and Joeu D. Along with several other albums. And I didn't know that he didn't use an amp with it but instead went directly into the PA. As a guitar player, I can see how that is not a typical set-up that normally produces good sound.
To me it lacked dynamics and articulation, which took away from the sffect and impact of his machine-gun-like picking. Then it had a peculiar sound that I describe as "sour". The sound is interesting, but not guitar-like, nor beautiful, IMO.
Interestinly of late I have been able to open up my ears to get what other people such as yourself like about it. But in the past, as a fanatic of John's, I was quite disapointed with it.
To reiterate, great interview - it really allowed me to understand John as a muscian and person better- Just found your channel. I also watched one of the Bill Frisell interviewa which was fascinating!
@@pjjmsn That is where we differ. I was never a fan of his early rock tone; I felt it lacked the range and expressiveness of the other great guitarists of the time: Beck, Clapton, Hendrix. I loved the "sourness" and expressive quality of his Bigsby work later. Glad you like the Frisell as well.
@@hoagyguitarmichael Thanks Michael. It is interesting to try to put myself into someone else's ears. And I must admit that I haven't had the greatest ears with regard to setting up my own guitar tone iin the past although I have gotten better at it. I actually went back and did a little listening to his Johnny Smith tone again with an attempt to open my ears more. I think I was able to grasp better what you are describing and liking. And also what John said about the pickups being "wide". So I think I got it, but I still came away with the feeling that the guitar was somewhat unresponsive to his fingers and was not faithfully putting out the sound that his fingers were telling it to do. And, along those lines, there were more than a few dead notes, which, to be fair could have been him missing notes with his fingers, but it didn't seem to be. I was listening to his solo on My Favorite Things here: ua-cam.com/video/FjPUrUI4_ek/v-deo.html&ab_channel=PavelLevin
With regard to his old tone, a good example of what I was talking about was his solo on Dance of Maya from Inner Mounting Flame, starting at 4 minutes in.
JM can Really talk! Like no other player
I remember reading that interview with robert Fripp And another with Ingvei Malmsteen that one was funny ,
When was this recorded?
A year ago
John "gets by speaking English..." Ha ha. He's more French now than English. Funny Fripp story about the chocolates.
Fripp met John at Charles De Gaulle airport and one thing I recall as related by Fripp is both can experience synathesia when hearing notes and chords
I can never quite work out his accent.
I know he's Scots, but there's other things in there too! 🤔
He has lived in Monaco for years speaking French
Scots? Yorkshire. Close. Alan Holdsworth is also Yorkshire. Lots of Pakistan influence there.
@@Frisbieinstein ha ha. great comment. also true.
@@grainmachine Yorkshire. The birthplace of fusion music.
Benjamin Whorf did that work. Not Noam Chomsky.
It is he. Not it is him.
It's Mc - GLOCK - lin not Mc - glauf- lin. OK thanks,I'll see myself out
This last record is completely unlistenable due the horrible sound quality of recording, honestly it sounds like it was made on four track home studio in a bedroom: the piano sounds like $69 Casio synthesizer piano setting , and drums and bas were programmed on drum Alesis $99 drum machine, not yo mention John’s guitar sound is like recorded through laundry machine: it’s completely despicable, I’m sorry… When the composition are absolutely brilliant and genius snd performances are brilliant, not even inch short of any expectations of John’s genius! I wish they could have gotten together in an actual studio now snd RE-recorded the entire album: it would be so much worth it, this album deserves it, 110%!!! As it is , it’s complete trash and unlistenable, I’m sorry
what record is that ?