Crossroads Festival 2007 - John McLaughlin

[jrcsgtpeppers]

jazz practically invented shredding

[fabianidhesona]

senor carlos santana

[raphexe]

"Senor C.S." from the album "Industrial Zen" ! if someone has a video of john playing "just so only more so", or any other song from this album, please upload it ! ;)

[rbwilton1]

Amazing performance. There is a much better and complete version of this if you search Google Video for "Senor Carlos". This looks like a home vid, while the other versions done professionally. This is one of the most inspired performances I've seen by JM

[enewc]

Yes, this was done with what is probably the smallest Canon point and shoot in video mode. Actually pretty good quality considering the camera is the size of a cell phone! Thanks.

[blahdelablah]

@WorldCulturalArchive

Genres are meaningless anyway, but this has just as much right to be called jazz as any example of what you call jazz.

[chillichomper]

Blues is like meat and potatoes. Jazz is like a sophisticated medley of flavors. However, both can taste the best when the time is right and both can be screwed up just as easily by unpractised players.

[grahamlikessantana]

Blues is like meat and potatoes...jazz is like meat and icecream..it just doesnt work for me. i love music but jazz fusion makes my head hurt, it simply isnt pleasing to listen to.

[videolover61]

I know you said that 8 months ago...I hope you have evolved some in your listening in those 8 months...obviously there's some great jazz and jazz fusion recordings. And if you have not evolved to relate to it? No biggie...the world moves on...

[easguitar]

"Technical velocity" is of course an important component of guitar playing, as is it's inverse quality "rest notes" (silence) e.g.Jim Hall's creative use of such in a way as to reverse the relationship of notes to rests in his unique phrasing. Let's face it-they're all great!

[dapunkof1975]

Now this is guitar playing, not that overrated blues bullshit. I can tell that the audience weren't ready fo Johnny Mac cos what they waiting for is Eric Clapton to do the SAME shit over and over again like "LAYLA!" Mclaughlin can open a can of whoop ass.

[dimebag983]

I kind of agree with you, some blues sounds the same. But some of those guys you can't help to appreciate, for example, Derek Trucks, Clapton, Duane Allman, etc.

[dapunkof1975]

Oh yeah no doubt but, what I'm saying is that people are convinced that Eric Clapton and the other blues cats are the only guitar players who can play guitar.

[rorygg1]

derek trucks is a one trick pony. hasn't improved or expanded playing since he was 14. rory gallagher, roy buchanan are awesome players !!!!!!!!!!

[benvye]

Were awesome. Sadly they are both dead. Roy Buchanan was an utter monster on the Telecaster.

[ak47mustang]

derek trucks is actually expanding himself as of late

[ratsalad86]

...the blues gives you something to hold on to when listening.

some ppl would say jazz is a bunch of jumbled notes without a concrete foundation like the blues , because their ears are trained different ways.

plz dont say blues is overrated bullshit, because if u had a shred of an idea of what it is u wouldnt have said that.

anyone can shred, it's physical muscle memory. maybe u need to listen to some bb king.

[dapunkof1975]

What a cliche. I'm not crazy about any particular genre, they can all get tiresome but there's a mainstream mentality about the blues that I'm sick of.

[ratsalad86]

i dont favor any genre over the other but i just dont like it when ppl bash the blues, cuz jazz wouldnt be the same without it.

[dapunkof1975]

Who's denying that? Don't read here if you get your feelings hurt about the blues, we all have our opinions.

[Kinshasa9200]

if you're talking about people like john mayer and eric clapton, then yeah i agree with you. jazz seems much less accessible, real jazz, not kenny g

[dapunkof1975]

I feel ya.

[mstern18]

yeah, I can see how it can be called less accessible. that's unfortunate though...it's only inaccessible because people are not used to hearing it. most people seem used to only simple pop and even then they dont seem to really feel it...

[jazzguitar1221]

if you have no blues you have no jazz, but jazz is alot harder trust me

[guitarvirtuoso53]

nice. the blues is great. im into varying styles like jazz, classical, metal, rock, and blues. blues is a style of music and how can we "diss" music

[chillichomper]

Saying that anyone can shred is like saying anyone can win the 100 meter dash. Its ignorant. Muscle memory take a shyt load of practising to achieve. Guitar like sports have many styles. I would liken Golf to the blues. You don't have to be physically fit but you can get alot out of just 3 clubs as long as you know how to use them. BBall or Soccer is like Jazz. You can be very creative but it takes alot of time to learn those skills and gain that creativity.

[lfitomshi]

It wouldn't seem to be in McLaughlin's character to indulge in such a contest. Speed isn't the only thing that makes McLaughlin or any guitarist great. McLaughlin offers so much more in addition to that. Nevertheless, he is faster than Yngiwe.

[ThomasRiekki]

Yngiwe, and a few others, have a tone I can't stand. It sounds fake and mechanical. Mclaughlin's playing burns through your soul. He isn't just speed, he is thoughtful articulation within multiple styles and time signatures.

[cronoyuha]

I agree. He's one of the few guitarists that play with the technicallity and speed of of people like Yngwie and Petrucci (or even faster) yet actually sounds good and interesting.

[miguelhx]

Is that true that Yngiwe Malmsteen Challenged all guitar players to see whos the fastest?? and that JOhn Mclaughlin Beat hiim??

[noonward]

MAYBE malmsteem could beat him, BUT does it matter? nope

[WindsOfCreation]

I doubt John McLaughlin would really care who is the fastest - what matters is that he can play the ideas that come into his head effortlessly.

[WindsOfCreation]

Hang on I just got dragged into a 'playing speed' argument on youtube. Shame on me :(

[litisbar]

MclAughlin is not a 'Shredder', he's an artist...one of the best of all times

[cronoyuha]

I'd say that he shreds (in terms of speed and tone)... except he actually sounds amazing while doing it.  "jazz shredding" I guess.

[PhantomNote]

I never heard about yngwie malmsteen doing that. If he did, that would be totally jackassed of him

[alexeykr]

I think this tune's name is "Senor C.S." (from "Industrial Zen")

[railcar123]

Everybody move on over...Johnny Mac is in the house. Wailing!!!

[stringrip]

The radio station PBS FM has a weekly fusion show called "BITCHES BREW" and is streaming on the web (past shows can be down loaded) . They are going to be playing tracks off new official bootleg live album of McLaughlin's latest band -4th Dimmension . Can't give web adress here ,but do google serach on "len davis pbs " to find it.

[Alcivarus]

The search on Google should be conducted as:

"len davis"+"pbs"

This way the page MUST contain both "len davis" AND "pbs". The link was no.1 when I did this search.

[noonward]

This is just beautiful.

[clovis2012]

Can someone post more of his set? He is RIPPING on this. I wish he would have been that clean and precise when he was with Mahavishnu back in the day. At least he's doing it now. I hope his new CD sounds like this.

[stringrip]

I think he was clean and precise with Mahavishnu . Listen to the unison riffs following the drum solo on "One Word" from Birds Of Fire album , thats pretty precise . I also preferred his tone with mahavishnu . Nowadays he plas thru computer which goes into the PA and the tone is a bit muddy and lost . I wish he would use real amps again.

[stringrip]

Another example of clean precise playing in Mahavishnu's day was the intro guitar solo on "dream" on the Between nothingness and eternity" live album.

[Alcivarus]

Extremely "clean and precise" when I saw him with Mahavishnu where he followed Jeff Beck. That was Stony Brook University in LI New York early 70's. Although I actually find his playing more mature and relaxed now.

[captkrate]

Still shredding after all these years. The MAN has played with all the greats from Jimi Hendrix to Miles Davis and has held his own. Go to MSN video for the whole clip. The track is called Senior C.S. (Carlos Santana).

[enewc]

Oh yeah, thanks, I had forgotten, but before he launched into it he dedicated it to Santana.

[MahavishnuJM]

I think the song is called 5 piece band.

[enewc]

thanks!

[jacs91]

No it is actually Señor C.S., from the CD industrial Zen.

[prasiddha]

Is it just me, or is Johnny getting more and more aggressive on the electric?

It seems to me that he's always been fastest when he plays acoustic. He is capable of going to 240 BPM on 16th notes on acoustic (cleanly).

But on electric, as fast as he is, he always seems to fall short. He's (slightly) slower and choppy.

Now it seems as if he's getting better on electric. Bravo John. He does get better with age!

[enewc]

Yeah, he was great. He was just getting warmed up at the end it seemed. I believe this excerpt is from the last tune they did. I could have listened to him for a lot longer than the standard 30 minute set they had, especially after it seemed like he was just getting warmed up!

[countsmokula]

Cool , Thanks for posting I am Going To See Him"Them" at Lobero Theater in Santa Barbera , Ca in just a couple Months - I Cant Wait :) This Will Be My 3rd Time seeing him - I was fortunate enough to catch the Guitar trio in fullerton high scool Ca Tour with Al and Paco from the 2nd row/ also i saw John touring with Steve Morse band at The Goldenbear about 1990 or so???He Is definately one of the all time greats !!!!!!!

[IGSXIII]

Ah nice, I'll be at that show too!