By: Marcos Rios
Follow Your Heart John McLaughlin Song by Song
Walter Kolosky the writer of Power, Passion and Beauty: The Story of the Legendary Mahavishnu Orchestra, brings us a listener’s guide that leads the reader through the different depths of John McLaughlin’s music. Kolosky’s Follow Your Heart – John McLaughlin Song By Song
McLaughlin is considered by many guitarists today as one of the most influential players of the past 50 years. McLaughlin has managed to influence many different styles of music such as jazz, fusion, world music, rock and beyond. Kolosky’s book is an excellent resource for future and current fans of McLaughlin’s music who want to get the bigger picture behind each song in his catalogue.
In the listener’s guide, Kolosky outlines all of McLaughlin’s different styles known throughout his career, such as his Electric fusion guitar playing in Mahavishnu Orchestra, World music with Shakti, acoustic guitar playing from his trio days with Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucia, as well as orchestra concertos that McLaughlin has written.
Kolosky’s explanations are also enhanced by the help of musicologist’s that aided the author in order to describe the music in rather profound depths. But, regardless of the help he had from musicologists, it really did not affect Kolosky’s writing, by which one still feels the author’s love for McLaughlin’s music in his writing.
Another plus to the book, is that it is very approachable by anyone, musician or not, because it is not overloaded with theoretical jargon. Kolosky’s writing is very simple and straightforward in his descriptions of the music, which helps music fans connect to the writing and McLaughlin’s music in a deeper level. After reading some of the descriptions of my favorite McLaughlin’s recordings, Kolosky’s lovely writing brought me back to the first time I ever heard John McLaughlin’s playing, when my ears were entranced by McLaughlin’s guitar tone, technique and compositions.
Kolosky lays out three ways for the reader to enjoy the book, one being to read the descriptions while listening to McLaughlin’s Recordings. The second way to approach this book is to read it straight through in order for the reader to be conscious of the amount of McLaughlin’s musical catalog. The third way is that it also acts as a reference of future recordings fans would like to know more about.
The book also shows us McLaughlin’s compositional style, something that many performers really do not concentrate enough on, they only remember McLaughlin because of his incredible chops and fearless soloing on complicated music.
Follow Your Heart: John McLaughlin Song by Song is a great resource to future and current fans of McLaughlin. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the music of John McLaughlin to greater depths. Kolosky will enlighten and take the readers into a journey of McLaughlin’s music that goes beyond the actual music and digs into the man himself.
