He then moved to the U.S., where he played with drummer Tony Williams's group Lifetime and then with Miles Davis on his electric jazz fusion albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew, Jack Johnson, Live-Evil, and On the Corner.

[9] Also, at the age of 7, the younger John McLaughlin heard classical music on the phonograph, and considered it a "message to my heart and soul more than anything";[10] this motivated him to become a musician.

[28][29] McLaughlin would later state in a July 2024 interview for JazzTimes that his experience with Hampel was "self-indulgent" and that he needed "structure ... the more restraints I put on myself, the happier I felt.

"[citation needed] He played on Miles Davis' albums In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew (which has a track titled after him), Live-Evil, On the Corner, Big Fun (where he is featured soloist on "Go Ahead John") and A Tribute to Jack Johnson.

McLaughlin returned to the Davis band for one night of a week-long club date, recorded and released as part of the album Live-Evil and of the Cellar Door boxed set.

His reputation as a "first-call" session player grew, resulting in recordings as a sideman with Miroslav Vitous, Larry Coryell, Joe Farrell, Wayne Shorter, Carla Bley, the Rolling Stones, and others.

My Goal's Beyond was inspired by McLaughlin's decision to follow the Indian spiritual leader Sri Chinmoy, to whom he had been introduced in 1970 by Larry Coryell's manager.

McLaughlin's 1970s electric band, the Mahavishnu Orchestra,[32] included violinist Jerry Goodman, keyboardist Jan Hammer, bassist Rick Laird, and drummer Billy Cobham.

The first incarnation of the Mahavishnu Orchestra split in late 1973 after two years and three albums, including a live recording Between Nothingness & Eternity, due to personality clashes and overwork imposed by their management;[33] Jan Hammer and Jerry Goodman were among the outspoken members who disputed with McLaughlin's leadership, religious beliefs and songwriting credits.

[34][30] Upon reading an article from Crawdaddy Magazine en route to Japan for a tour, McLaughlin was offended by the writeups and disparagement of his religious beliefs.

[40][41] A scaled-down quartet was formed with McLaughlin, Walden on drums, Armstrong on bass and Stu Goldberg on keyboards and synthesiser, for their final album in the 1970s, Inner Worlds, which was released on February 1976,[41] largely due to contractual obligations.

The group featured Lakshminarayanan L. Shankar (violin), Zakir Hussain (tabla), Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram (ghatam) and earlier Ramnad Raghavan (mridangam).

For the tour of fall 1983 they were joined by Dixie Dregs guitarist Steve Morse who opened the show as a soloist and participated with The Trio in the closing numbers.

[45] In 1981 and 1982, McLaughlin recorded two albums, Belo Horizonte and Music Spoken Here with The Translators, a band of French and American musicians who combined acoustic guitar, bass, drums, saxophone, and violin with synthesizers.

The first of the two albums was recorded with a line-up of McLaughlin, Bill Evans (saxophones), Jonas Hellborg (bass), Mitchel Forman (keyboards) and both Danny Gottlieb and Billy Cobham on drums.

Initial advertising for concert dates in support of the album included Cobham's name, but by the time the tour started in earnest, Gottlieb was in the band.

In tandem with Mahavishnu, McLaughlin worked in duo format (c. 1985–87) with bassist Jonas Hellborg, playing a number of concert dates, some of which were broadcast on radio and TV, but no commercial recordings were made.

In the late 1980s, McLaughlin began performing live and recording with a trio including percussionist Trilok Gurtu, and three bassists at various times; firstly Jeff Berlin, then Kai Eckhardt and finally Dominique Di Piazza.

Following this period he recorded and toured with The Heart of Things featuring Gary Thomas, Dennis Chambers, Matt Garrison, Jim Beard and Otmaro Ruíz.

In 1996, John McLaughlin, Paco de Lucia and Al Di Meola (known collectively as "The Guitar Trio") reunited for a world tour and recorded an album of the same name.

That summer, he began touring with a new jazz fusion quartet, the 4th Dimension, consisting of keyboardist/drummer Gary Husband, bassist Hadrian Feraud, and drummer Mark Mondesir.

During the 4th Dimension's tour, an "instant CD" entitled Live USA 2007: Official Bootleg was made available comprising soundboard recordings of six pieces from the group's first performance.

On 28 April 2008, the recording sessions from the previous year surfaced on the album Floating Point, featuring the rhythm section of keyboardist Louis Banks, bassist Hadrien Feraud, percussionist Sivamani and drummer Ranjit Barot bolstered on each track by a different Indian musician.

Coinciding with the release of the album was another DVD, Meeting of the Minds, which offered behind the scenes studio footage of the Floating Point sessions as well as interviews with all of the musicians.

He engaged in a late summer/fall 2008 tour with Chick Corea, Vinnie Colaiuta, Kenny Garrett and Christian McBride under the name Five Peace Band, from which came an eponymous double-CD live album in early 2009.

Frank Zappa, who toured with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in May 1973,[52] made some back-handed compliments to the English player: A person would be a moron not to appreciate McLaughlin's technique.

[7] Former Deep Purple and Rainbow leader Ritchie Blackmore, a notoriously abrasive character,[54] also critiqued his and friend Carlos Santana's playing.

"[6] McLaughlin has been cited as a major influence on many 1970s and 1980s guitarists, including prominent players such as Steve Morse,[56] Gary Moore,[57] Eric Johnson,[58] Mike Stern,[59] Al Di Meola,[60] Shawn Lane,[61] Scott Henderson,[62] and Trevor Rabin of Yes.

[63] Other players who acknowledge his influence include Omar Rodríguez-López of The Mars Volta,[64] Paul Masvidal of Cynic,[65] and Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan.

John's band, more than my experience with Miles, led me to want to turn the volume up and write music that was more dramatic and made your hair stand on end.