John McLaughlin: God of Fusion

Author’s note: I reviewed John’s Cork Jazz Festival gig circa January 1996, and then interviewed him in London shortly after that. Features based on the interview were published in The Guitar Magazine and Record Collector in April and May 1996 respectively. This one, a more leisurely account of the interview, was commissioned by Irish magazine Hot Press but remained, alas, unpublished. I think they were hoping for more sensationalism. Well, they came to the wrong guy. But I think you do get a real sense of John’s character from this. He’s a one-off.