Jazz, soul & blues
John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin, born in 1942 in Yorkshire, is one of the greatest guitarists in history, ranked by Rolling Stone among the “100 Greatest”. A pioneer of jazz-rock fusion with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and an explorer of Indian music with Shakti, he was a faithful presence at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where he played many times between 1978 and 2016. In 2011 he shared the bill there with his friend Carlos Santana for the “Invitation to Illumination” concert.
John McLaughlin, the virtuoso guitarist and Montreux
From the Mahavishnu Orchestra to Shakti
Born in 1942 in Yorkshire, John McLaughlin ran through every current: the incandescent jazz-rock of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the encounter with Indian music within Shakti, the electric jazz of Miles Davis, whose “Bitches Brew” he marked, and the flamenco-jazz with Paco de Lucía and Al Di Meola. His playing, of a unique velocity and spirituality, earns him a place among the greatest guitarists of all time.
A Montreux regular, from 1978 to 2016
John McLaughlin performed many times in Montreux, with his various line-ups, from the Mahavishnu Orchestra to the 4th Dimension, by way of The Heart of Things and The Free Spirits. The album “John McLaughlin: The Montreux Years”, released in 2021, gathers selected moments between 1978 and 2016, restored in high definition.
In 2011 he reunited with his friend Carlos Santana at the Auditorium Stravinski for the “Invitation to Illumination” concert, echoing their album “Love Devotion Surrender” (1973), a shared tribute to John Coltrane.
