| Studio: | 18 |
| Compilation: | 1 |
| Live: | 8 |
| Option Name: | Collaborative albums |
| Option: | 4 |
The following is a John McLaughlin discography, grouped by albums released under his name, the Miles Davis albums which he played on, albums from his group Mahavishnu Orchestra, his group Shakti, and albums where he is a session player on other artists' releases.
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] | US Jazz | US Top Jazz | AUS[6] | GER [7] | NZL [8] | SWE [9] | JPN [10] [11] | ||||||||
| Extrapolation |
| 152 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Devotion |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| My Goal's Beyond |
| 194 | — | 34 | 38 | 48 | — | — | — | ||||||
| Electric Guitarist |
| 105 | 6 | — | 73 | — | 38 | 40 | — | ||||||
| Electric Dreams |
| 147 | 14 | — | 75 | — | 27 | — | — | ||||||
| Belo Horizonte |
| 172 | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Music Spoken Here |
| — | 24 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Que Alegria |
| — | — | — | 5 | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| After the Rain |
| — | — | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| The Promise |
| — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | 92 | ||||||
| The Heart of Things |
| — | — | 4 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Thieves and Poets |
| — | — | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Industrial Zen |
| — | — | 9 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Floating Point |
| — | — | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| To the One with The 4th Dimension |
| — | 27 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Now Here This with The 4th Dimension |
| — | 25 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Black Light with The 4th Dimension |
| — | 14 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Liberation Time |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||||
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certification | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Jazz | US Top Jazz | AUS | GER | AUT [19] | FRA [20] | NOR [21] | UK [22] | ||||||||
| Where Fortune Smiles with John Surman, Dave Holland, Karl Berger, and Stu Martin |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Love Devotion Surrender with Carlos Santana |
| 14 | — | — | 10 | 26 | 12 | — | 19 | 7 |
| |||||
| Passion, Grace and Fire with Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía |
| 171 | 9 | 23 | — | 35 | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| The Guitar Trio with Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía | — | — | 1 | — | 55 | 27 | 21 | — | — | |||||||
| Paco and John Live at Montreux 1987 with Paco de Lucía |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| Is That So? with Shankar Mahadevan and Zakir Hussain |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | ||||||||||||||||
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Jazz | US Top Jazz | US Cont Jazz | GER | NLD [29] | AUT | NZL | FRA | JPN | ||||||
| Friday Night in San Francisco with Al Di Meola and Paco de Lucía |
| 97 | 6 | — | — | 22 | 66 | 5 | 48 | 154 | — | ||||
| Concerto for Guitar & Orchestra "The Mediterranean" – Duos for Guitar & Piano with London Symphony Orchestra and Katia Labeque |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Live at the Royal Festival Hall |
| — | — | — | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Tokyo Live |
| — | — | 11 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| — | — | 25 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||||
| Montreux Concerts[34] |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Official Pirate: The Best of the American Tour 2007 with The 4th Dimension |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Five Peace Band Live with Chick Corea |
| — | 4 | 3 | — | — | — | — | — | 168 | 118 | ||||
| The Boston Record with The 4th Dimension |
| — | 18 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Paco and John Live at Montreux 1987 with Paco de Lucía |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Live at Ronnie Scott's with The 4th Dimension |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| Live in San Francisco with The 4th Dimension |
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory. | |||||||||||||||
| Album | Year | Notes | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twice as Much – Own Up | 1966 | guitar | [40] | |
| Gordon Beck – Experiments with Pops | 1968 | guitar | [41] | |
| Miles Davis – In a Silent Way | 1969 | electric guitar | [42] | |
| The Tony Williams Lifetime – Emergency! | guitar | [43] | ||
| Wayne Shorter – Super Nova | "Supernova", "Swee-Pea", "Water Babies" and "Capricorn" | [44] | ||
| Sandy Brown and His Gentleman Friends – Hair at Its Hairiest | guitar | [45] | ||
| Miroslav Vitous – Infinite Search | guitar | [46] | ||
| Miles Davis – Bitches Brew | 1970 | electric guitar | [47] | |
| Jack Bruce – Things We Like | guitar | [48] | ||
| The Tony Williams Lifetime – Turn It Over | guitar | [49] | ||
| Miroslav Vitous – Purple | guitar | [50] | ||
| Joe Farrell – Follow Your Heart | guitar | [51] | ||
| Duffy Power – Innovations | guitar | [52] | ||
| Graham Bond – Solid Bond | guitar, live with the Graham Bond Quartet, 1963; "Ho Ho Country Kicking Blues", The Grass Is Greener", "Doxy" | [53] | ||
| Larry Coryell – Spaces | guitar | [54] | ||
| Miles Davis – A Tribute to Jack Johnson | 1971 | electric guitar | [55] | |
| Miles Davis – Live-Evil | electric guitar | [56] | ||
| Carla Bley and Paul Haines – Escalator Over the Hill | guitar | [57] | ||
| James Taylor – One Man Dog | 1972 | guitar | [58] | |
| Miles Davis – On the Corner | electric guitar on "On the Corner; New York Girl; Thinkin' One Thing and Doin' Another; Vote for Miles" | [59] | ||
| Santana – Welcome | 1973 | guitar on "Flame – Sky" | [60] | |
| Wayne Shorter – Moto Grosso Feio | 1974 | 12 string guitar | [61] | |
| Miles Davis – Big Fun | guitar on "Great Expectations/Orange Lady", "Recollections", "Go Ahead John", "The Little Blue Frog" and "Yaphet" | [62] | ||
| Miles Davis – Get Up with It | guitar on "Honky Tonk" | [63] | ||
| Stanley Clarke – Journey to Love | 1975 | guitar | [64] | |
| Larry Coryell – Planet End | guitar | [65] | ||
| Stanley Clarke – School Days | 1976 | acoustic guitar on "Desert Song" | [66] | |
| Miles Davis – Circle in the Round | 1979 | guitar on "Guinnevere" | [67] | |
| Miles Davis – Directions | 1980 | guitar | [68] | |
| Paco de Lucía – Castro Marín | 1981 | guitar | [69] | |
| Miles Davis – You're Under Arrest | 1985 | guitar on "Ms. Morrisine", "Katia Prelude" and "Katia" | [70] | |
| Bill Evans – The Alternative Man | guitar | [71] | ||
| Herbie Hancock – Round Midnight (Soundtrack) | 1986 | guitar on "Body and Soul" and "Bérangère's Nightmare" | [72] | |
| Dexter Gordon – The Other Side of Round Midnight | guitar | [73] | ||
| Katia and Marielle Labeque – Gladrags | producer | [74] | ||
| Zakir Hussain with Jan Garbarek and Hariprasad Chaurasia – Making Music | acoustic guitar | [75] | ||
| Miles Davis – Aura | 1989 | guitar | [76] | |
| Katia and Marielle Labeque – Love of Colours | 1990 | piano, programming, producer | [77] | |
| Carlos Santana and Bill Laswell - Divine Light: Reconstructions & Mix Translation | 2001 | guitar, piano | [78] | |
| Leni Stern – Finally the Rain Has Come | 2002 | guitar | [79] | |
| Ithamara Koorax – Someday | guitar | [80] | ||
| Miroslav Vitous – Universal Syncopations | 2003 | guitar | [81] | |
| Miles Davis – The Cellar Door Sessions | 2005 | electric guitar | [82] | |
| Santana – Hymns for Peace: Live at Montreux 2004 | 2007 | guitar | [83] | |
| Hadrien Feraud – Hadrian Feraud | composer | [84] | ||
| Gary Husband – Dirty & Beautiful (Volume 1) | 2010 | guitar on "Dreams in Blue" |