Larry Coryell
@ the PizzaExpress Jazz Club
26 March 2015
Click an image to enlarge.
Biography
As one of the pioneers of jazz-rock - perhaps the
pioneer in the ears of some - Larry Coryell deserves a special place
in the history books. He brought what amounted to a nearly alien
sensibility to jazz electric guitar playing in the 1960s, a hard-edged,
cutting tone, phrasing and note-bending that owed as much to blues,
rock and even country as it did to earlier, smoother bop influences.
Yet as a true eclectic, armed with a brilliant technique, he is
comfortable in almost every style, covering almost every base from
the most decibel-heavy, distortion-laden electric work to the most
delicate, soothing, intricate lines on acoustic guitar. Unfortunately,
a lot of his most crucial electric work from the ‘60s and
‘70s is missing on CD, tied up by the erratic reissue schemes
of Vanguard, RCA and other labels, and by jazz-rock’s myopically
low level of status in the CD era (although that mind-set is slowly
changing).
Born in Galveston, Texas on April 2, 1943 Coryell
grew up in the Seattle, Washington area where his mother introduced
him to the piano at the tender age of 4. He switched to guitar and
played rock music while in his teens. He didn't consider himself
good enough to pursue a music career and studied journalism at The
University of Washington while simultaneously taking private guitar
lessons. By 1965 he had relocated to New York City and began taking
classical guitar lessons which would figure prominently in later
stages of his career. Although citing Chet Atkins and Chuck Berry
as early influences he also took cues from jazzmen such as John
Coltrane and Wes Montgomery. He was also inspired by the popular
music of the day by the Beatles, The Byrds and Bob Dylan and worked
diligently to meld both rock and jazz stylings into his technique.
This was reflected on his debut recording performance on drummer
Chico Hamilton's album “The Dealer” where he sounded
like chuck Berry at times with his almost distorted ‘fat’
tone. Also in 1966 he formed a psychedelic band called The Free
Spirits on which he also sang vocals, played the sitar and did most
of the composing. Although conceptually the band’s music conformed
to the psychedelic formula with titles like “Bad News Cat”
and “I’m Gonna Be Free” it foreshadowed jazz rock
with more complex soloing by Coryell and Sax/flute player Jim Pepper.
However, it wasn't until three years later after apprenticing on
albums by Vibraphonist Gary Burton and flutist Herbie Mann and gigging
with the likes of Jack Bruce and others that Coryell established
his multifarious musical voice, releasing two solo albums which
mixed jazz, classical and rock ingredients. In late 1969 he recorded
“Spaces,” the album for which he is most noted. It was
a guitar blow-out which also included John McLaughlin who was also
sitting on the fence between rock and jazz at the time and the cogitative
result formed what many aficionados consider to be the embryo from
which the fusion jazz movement of the 1970s emerged. It contained
insane tempos and fiery guitar exchanges which were often beyond
category not to mention some innovating acoustic bass work by Miroslav
Vitous and power drumming by Billy Cobham both of whom were to make
contributions to Jazz rock throughout the ‘70s.
His career, however, began in era of guitar rock,
where he was able to rise for a time with legends such as Jimi Hendrix,
Carlos Santana, and Eric Clapton. As this era came to a close, his
musical expression took him on a diverse journey, and though he
did not receive the level of commercial fame the aforementioned
musicians had, he was still able to make his mark in music by way
of the jazz & fusion world. His music continues to influence
musicians and fans internationally and will continue to do so for
a very long time.
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