

It was Miles who advised him to form his own band and guru Sri Chinmoy - since discredited - who named him Mahavishnu.


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Wed 25: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Wed 25: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 25: Four @ The Exchange, North Shields. 7:00pm.
Wed 25: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 26: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, North Tyneside. 1:00pm.
Thu 26: Deep Pope + Garner & Pope @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 7:00pm. £7.00.
Thu 26: 58 Jazz Collective @ Hops & Cheese, Hartlepool. 7:30pm.
Thu 26: Knats @ Hoochie Coochie, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Thu 26: Jeremy McMurray & the Pocket Orchestra @ Arc, Stockton. 8:00pm.
Thu 26: Maine Street Jazzmen @ Sunniside Social Club, Gateshead. 8:30pm.
Thu 26: Tees Hot Club @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.
Fri 27: Alice Grace Quartet @ The Gala, Durham. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm.
Fri 27: Fergus McCreadie Trio @ The Witham, Barnard Castle. 7:30pm.
Sat 28: Whitley Bay Carnival: Northern Monkey Brass Band (1:00-1:45pm & 4:00-4:45pm); Baghdaddies (2:00-2:45pm & 5:00-5:45pm) @ Spanish City Plaza Arena, Whitley Bay. Northern Monkey Brass Band (2:30-2:45pm) @ Rainbow Corner (Marine Ave.), Whitley Bay.
Sat 28: Jack Logan & the Swing Section @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm.
Sun 29 Vieux Carré Hot 4 @ Spanish City, Whitley Bay. 12 noon.
Sun 29: Musicians Unlimited @ Hartlepool United Supporters’ Club, Hartlepool. 1:00pm.
Sun 29: Foundry Jazz Ensemble @ The Exchange, North Shields. 3:00pm.
Sun 29: Groovetrain @ Tyne Bar, Newcastle. 4:00pm. Free.
Sun 29: Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Allendale Village Hall, Northumberland. 7:30pm.
Sun 29: Two of a Mind: Sue Ferris-Steve Summers Quartet @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £10.00 adv., £12.00. door.
Sun 29: Cedric Burnside @ Cluny, Newcastle. Superb Mississippi hill country blues!
Mon 30: Jazz in the Afternoon @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm.
Tue 31: Jam session @ Black Swan, Newcastle. 7:30pm. House trio: Stu Collingwood, Paul Grainger, Rob Walker.
4 comments :
Steve
Many thanks for your timely piece: a fitting tribute to a great musician (beyond genre, but certainly embracing jazz).
I've just read the (too detailed!) "Bathed in lightning" bio of JM, and a couple of new things came up:
1. I knew he he hailed from Yorks, but was brought up in Whitley Bay!
2. You rightly extol his virtuosity, and that of various of his bands. But that was just the starting point and was always worn lightly (unlike some prog of that era...) . The remarkable thing to me was the compositions of the first MO, which are as stunning and fresh today as when I first heard themm (sadly never live!). Apparently he wrote the whole two albums worth in the space of a few months prior to forming the band: and very little of his previous recordings gave any hint of what was arriving!
Anyway, happy birthday Johnny Mac, electric guitarist! I live in hope that we might see more heirs to his tradition in due course.
Chris K
He often sat in with local trad bands at the New Orleans Club as well as the jam session at the Wheatsheaf in New York (not the NY in America).
Some memorable McLaughlin occasions...
As Steve mentioned - Mahavishnu Orchestra at Newcastle City Hall.
The band's BBC Television 'in concert' performance. Folklore has it BBC technicians threatened to down tools and walk out of the soundcheck...it was rather loud! For those who missed it first time round it's readily available on the internet.
McLaughlin's two concerts in a day at the Newcastle International Jazz Festival (some were in attendance at both houses!).
Standing (geek-like) in a reverie outside the building at the top of Forth Banks in Newcastle which was once home to Newcastle's New Orleans Club - McLaughlin and many other 'names' gigged there.
Shakti at Newcastle City Hall.
Hearing Vital Transformation from Inner Mounting Flame for the first time. Every guitar student on the planet should check it out...and give up/take up the banjo.
Many years later...at a Billy Cobham drum clinic at the People's Theatre, Newcastle, in a Q&A a 'drum head' asked Cobham to demonstrate the drum intro to Vital Transformation. The next day's edition of the local newspaper (The Evening Chronicle) carried numerous 'drum kit for sale' ads.
McLaughlin in London with new bassist Jonas Hellborg.
McLaughlin in London with Paco de Lucia and (a late dep for Al Di Meola) Larry Coryell.
Puff - apparently Richard Starkey is a neighbour.
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