Prior to leaving the U.K. and taking up residency in New York as a member of Tony Williams’ “Lifetime”, John McLaughlin had mostly been an aspiring session guitarist. His credits included stints with familiar names like David Bowie, Georgie Fame, Graham Bond and the Rolling Stones (!), as well as less familiar ones – Duffy Power, Herbie Goin and Howard Blake. I’ve heard some of these recordings and there’s nothing terribly special there that I want to include in this series. However, following on the heels of a couple of exceptional jazz albums (Where Fortune Smiles and Extrapolation, both recorded with British saxist John Surman) and subsequently having moved to the U.S., things just exploded for McLaughlin. First off, joining “Lifetime” exposed McLaughlin to a whole different level of musicianship and a whole new landscape of musical exploration compared to what he would have experienced back in the UK at that time.
Within months he received a call from Miles Davis, and was soon playing alongside people like Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland, Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett. His first album appearing with Miles was “In A Silent Way”, its title taken from the haunting Zawinul composition, and the subject of this week’s post.
“In A Silent Way” is a fragile, introspective piece. As a composition it fascinated Miles, and as an album, it paved the way towards a radical new sound and style that leant more heavily on electronics and free-form playing as a precursor to “Bitches Bew” and everything that followed in the 70s from the magnetic trumpeter and the great musicians that he drew towards him. The composition sandwiches another piece, “About That Time”, and together they took up the whole of side 2 of the original vinyl release, running at just under 20mins total (I’m hoping I can sneak the whole thing up here in this post – listen to the first 4 mins only if that’s all you have time for, but it’s worth hanging in for the whole thing!).
Miles is famous for supposedly having said to McLaughlin “Play like you don’t know how to play”. I have often wondered if this accounts for the “out of tune” guitar playing on this piece (which is not at all annoying even to my guitarist ear, but actually adds to the delicate charm of the piece). Whatever, the more I listen to it, the more I appreciate its open honesty and simplicity. There was plenty of furious fusion style playing to follow in later recordings but this piece stands alone as an important landmark in McLaughlin’s career.
Enjoy.
My Trusted MOGs
Its interesting, the phrase by Miles “Play like you don’t know how to play” makes me think about Picasso saying something along these lines: "It took me 4 years to learn to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child". I believe its about finding that authentic sound or expression, where you don't filter it through an "adult" or learned filter.
My Trusted MOGs
I agree, letting his subconscious take over in order to capture a more intuitive performance.
My Trusted MOGs
You can hear the true genius of Davis on this disc - his art of assembling the right outfit for this multi-layered hallucinatory fusion. As I'm not musically trained, McLaughlin's guitar doesn't so much out of tune for as sort of free - a sort of stream of consciousness on his guitar... And free association could also apply to the whole album.
Another beautiful post, MM. Thanks.
My Trusted MOGs
Love it when the bass and the organ come in.
My Trusted MOGs
Oops, Oatmeal's comment alerted me to the fact that I haven't acknowledged any of your replies yet! Very poor of me.
Oatmeal: Yes I like that bit too. There's also a bit around there that got sampled and looped to great effect on Bill Laswell's "Panthalassa" remixes.
Bartleby: Dunno where you've disappeared to but I hope you're ok. I think you're remarkably well attuned to guitar stuff for a non-guitarist :-)
Prawler: Very true. And more constructive than just taking drugs (which McLaughlin did do in his very early days before moving to the U.S.)
Mick: nice analogy!