

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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Sun 10: Musicians Unlimited’s Xmas Party with Zoë Gilby Quartet @ Park Inn, Hartlepool. MU 1:00-3:00pm; Zoë Gilby Quartet 4:00-6:00pm. Tickets: £7.50.
Sun 10: Alan Law, Paul Grainger & Abbie Finn @ Darlington Market, Market Square, Darlington. 1:00pm. Free. A ‘Christmas Market’ outdoor gig. Wrap up warm!
Sun 10: Am Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 2:00-4:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Funk Soul Sista @ Stack, Seaburn. 5:00-7:00pm. Free.
Sun 10: Beth Clarke @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 7:00pm. Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Sun 10: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Whittingham Memorial Institute, Alnwick. 7:30pm. £12.00., £10.00.
Sun 10: Tele-Port @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Line-up inc. Zhenya Strigalev.
Mon 11: Harmony Brass @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Mon 11: Interim Final Recitals @ Newcastle University. Details TBC.
Tue 12: Stu Collingwood Organ Trio @ Forum Music Centre, Darlington. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Wed 13: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Wed 13: Darlington Big Band @ Darlington & Simpson Rolling Mills Social Club, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free. Rehearsal session (open to the public).
Wed 13: Take it to the Bridge @ The Globe, Newcastle. 7:30pm. Free.
Wed 13: Bold Big Band @ Cluny 2, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Wed 13: Giles Strong Quartet @ Alphabetti Theatre, Newcastle. 7:30pm.
Thu 14: Vieux Carré Jazzmen @ The Holystone, Whitley Road, North Tyneside. 1:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Hot Fingers @ The Lubetkin Theatre, Peterlee. 7:00pm. £10.00.
Thu 14: After Hours Student Jazz Jam @ The Globe, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Merlin Roxby @ Prohibition Bar, Newcastle. 8:00pm. . Free. A ‘Jar on the Bar’ gig.
Thu 14: Niffi Osiyemi Trio @ Harbour View, Sunderland. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Mo Scott ‘Little Mo’s Festive Appearance’ @ The Schooner, Gateshead. 8:00pm. Free.
Thu 14: Tees Hot Club w. Kevin Eland, Josh Bentham, Garry Hadfield, Adrian Beadnell @ Dorman’s Club, Middlesbrough. 9:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis @ Lit & Phil, Newcastle. 1:00pm. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Classic Swing @ Cullercoats Crescent Club. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: New Orleans Preservation Jazz Band @ Oxbridge Hotel, Stockton. 1:00pm. £5.00.
Fri 15: Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms, Monkseaton. 1:00pm. Free.
Fri 15: Paul Skerritt @ Black Horse Inn, Crook. From 7:00pm.
Fri 15: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ St Cuhtbert's Centre, Crook. 7:30pm. £15.00. SOLD OUT! Waiting list open.
Fri 15: Zoë Gilby Trio @ Seventeen Nineteen, Hendon, Sunderland. 7:30pm. £12.00. POSTPONED!
Fri 15: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. First night of two. SOLD OUT!
Fri 15: Darlington Big Band @ Traveller’s Rest, Darlington. 8:00pm. £10.00. Opus 4 Jazz Club.
Fri 15: Baghdaddies @ Cobalt Studios, Newcastle. 8:00pm. £14.00.; £10.00.
Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Sage Gateshead. 2:00pm. A Jazzy Christmas + Jambone.
Sat 16: Porritt & Barrett & Friends Xmas Special @ Cullercoats Watch House. 7:00pm. £4.00.
Sat 16: Milne-Glendinning Band @ The Vault, Darlington. 7:00pm. Free.
Sat 16: Red Kites Jazz Band @ The Staithes Café, Gateshead. 7:00pm--9:00pm.
Sat 16: Hayley's Little Big Band @ Ellingham Village Hall, Chathill. 7:30pm. £12.00., £8.00.
Sat 16: Paul Edis: A Jazzy Christmas @ Sage Gateshead. 8:00pm.
Sat 16: Strictly Smokin' Big Band @ Gosforth Civic Theatre, Newcastle. 8:00pm. Second night of two.
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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