FUSION-JohnMcLaughlin

The Orchestra was initially a quintet noted for radically high volume levels, complex textures, and fast modal playing, especially by McLaughlin, in long passages of 16th-note scales and arpeggios, on a guitar with two parallel necks, one with 6 strings, the other with 12. They played concerts in rock, rather than jazz, venues and were among the handful of stars of jazz-rock fusion music; they recorded popular albums such as The Inner Mounting Flame (1971) and Visions of the Emerald Beyond (1975). The involvement of electric violinist Jean-Luc Ponty in 1974–75 enhanced the Orchestra’s popularity. In the mid-1970s McLaughlin left Chinmoy, abandoned the name Mahavishnu, and began playing acoustic guitar in his trio Shakti, with Indian violinist L. Shankar and tabla player Zakir Hussain. His new guitar had two fretboards, one with raised strings crossing the other. McLaughlin’s improvising—with phrases from blues, rock (especially Jimi Hendrix), flamenco, jazz, and Indian music—fit readily into a variety of fusion music. He went on to play duets and trios with fellow guitar virtuosos Al DiMeola, Paco de Lucía, and Larry Coryell, to team with Indian percussionist Trilok Gurtu, to play electric guitar in a revived Mahavishnu Orchestra in the mid-1980s, and to perform guitar concerti by Mike Gibbs (1985) and by himself (1990) with symphony orchestras.McLaughlin recorded an acoustic homage to jazz pianist Bill Evans in 1993, and he returned to the electric guitar for After the Rain (1994) and The Promise (1995). His inventiveness remained undiminished in the 21st century. He revived Shakti for the live album Saturday Night in Bombay (2001). Other notable later works included Industrial Zen (2006); Floating Point (2008); Five Peace Band Live (2009), which won a Grammy Award for best jazz instrumental album; Now Here This (2012); and Black Light (2015). His recording of “Miles Beyond,” from the 2017 album Live at Ronnie Scott’s, took the Grammy for best improvised jazz solo. In 2017 McLaughlin made what he said was his final tour, performing music from the various incarnations of the Mahavishnu Orchestra.