Which would seem to suggest that it's Hendrix who was the key influence behind fusion. But, first of all, as mentioned, nobody ever heard Miles and Hendrix playing together except Miles and Hendrix, so it's only possible to deduce and infer, not outright calculate Hendrix's influence. Second, jazz was never really Hendrix's speed. He was adding jazzy elements to his playing from the time he met Miles to his death in September 1970, but only elements: he wasn't inclined towards, or interested in, exploring the basic bedrocks of jazz, like harmonic relationships or polyphonic voicings or even swing. Experimental and radical though he was, at heart Hendrix was planted in hard-charging urban and folk blues - closely related to jazz, but ultimately headed in a different direction. What Miles, and jazz in general, really needed was a guitarist who had fully absorbed Hendrix's sonic innovations, but who had the context to transpose them into the jazz discipline.
Enter John McLaughlin.
Twenty-seven years old in 1969, McLaughlin was an Englishman who’d spent his formative years playing blues and swing, those two primary jazz ingredients. Indeed, McLaughlin had worked with British blues godfather Alexis Korner, and along with the jazz training he’d gotten from playing along with records by Django Reinhardt, Tal Farlow, Christian, and Kessel, he’d followed the Korner tradition through blues-rock guitarists like Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page; from there into innovators like George Harrison and Frank Zappa. When Hendrix showed up in England and both embodied and outdid ALL of those players’ developments, what choice did McLaughlin have but to assimilate him, too?
If Miles Davis was the movement’s commander-in-chief, McLaughlin was his most trusted general — the Eisenhower to Miles’ FDR. He played guitar on all of Miles’ most important fusion albums, from In A Silent Way all the way through On the Corner. When he wasn't with Miles, he was one-third of Tony Williams Lifetime, the seminal trio that some critics even place ahead of Miles in the development of fusion. McLaughlin's early solo records (especially Extrapolation and Devotion, from 1969 and ’70) are groundbreaking classics of the movement. And his early 1970s band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra was — in its original incarnation — one of the only fusion bands to really get it.
Article comments
1 - Pico
You didn't disappoint, Michael, this is very insightful study on Johnny Mac. The statement "He and Miles stand toe-to-toe in that sub-genre's pantheon: Miles, the man with the vision, and McLaughlin, the only one who knows how to execute it." hits the nail on the head.
His first three solo records "Extrapolation," "My Goals Beyond," and "Devotion" are all extraordinary and yet so diametrically opposed to each other, and unjustly overshadowed by his Mahavishnu work, IMO. But there's no argument from me that McLaughlin is a key figure in the development of fusion, and without him, fusion could have likely gone down a completely different path.
2 - Mark Saleski
great writeup michael....though i have to say that my favorite McLaughlin comes from the trio he had with Triloc Gurtu and...oh shoot, who was it now dangit?! uh, Jonas Helborg? a sort of mini-Shakti.
3 - zingzing
i am reserving judgment... reserving... man, it's pushing at me like a 2 mile line for the toilet the morning after octoberfest... all lubed up with coffee and nicotine... i can smell the judgment already, and it smells awful. awful judgment.
4 - Phil Peters
I don't necessarily disagree but your point about Bitches brew having a funk backbeat is correct. That was fusion... (I was listening back then, coming from Allman Brothers to Return to Forever & Mahavishnu Orch and backwards)not Jazz-Rock. Bass players, Harvey Brooks,Dave Holland and most especially Michael Henderson helped make Miles Electric Bands Fusion
5 - Michael J. West
Phil, what? I think you're either missing a negatory syllable or you added an extra one. You don't disagree, but you think I'm right?
Let me get to what I think you're trying to say: you will never, ever hear me say a negative word about Dave Holland's work. In addition to his brilliant bass on Miles' records from Bitches Brew on, and his breathtaking early solo records like Conference of the Birds (hasn't somebody, somewhere, done a piece on that at BC? Or am I misremembering?) he is to the best of my knowledge leading the single best jazz band in the world today. But he didn't play NEARLY the part that McLaughlin did in creating fusion, on Miles' records or anywhere else.
6 - Michael J. West
Pico and Mark, I'm amused (in a good way) that each of us agrees on McLaughlin's place in fusion's ranks, but that each person has a different favorite of his work. That, to my mind, is one of the marks of a great musician: he has so many different aspects, all of them great.
7 - Pico
"breathtaking early solo records like Conference of the Birds (hasn't somebody, somewhere, done a piece on that at BC? Or am I misremembering?) "
Why yes, Michael, someone has ;&)
clicky clicky
8 - Mean Bunny
I also agree that John McLaughlin is the most important figure in the "fusion" movement. His sense of abandon and risk-taking combined with his mind-boggling virtuosity and originality captured the "edge" of rock 'n roll combined with the harmonic sophistication of jazz in a way that NONE of his contemporaries (in either rock or jazz) could ever match. Putting all the descriptives aside, he simply was and is one of the most original, creative musicians of our times. What more could a music fan ask for?