Search - Artist/Band: Larry Coryell

• Name: Larry Coryell
• Birthday: 04/02/1943
• Birth Place: Galveston, TX
• Decades Active: 1960,1970,1980,1990,2000
• Genre: Jazz
• Styles: Fusion, Post-Bop, Free Jazz, Jazz-Rock, Guitar Jazz, Jazz Instrument
• Moods: Cerebral, Complex, Energetic, Fiery, Freewheeling, Gritty, Passionate, Sophisticated, Aggressive, Ambitious, Bravado, Dramatic, Earnest, Elaborate, Intense, Literate, Lively, Playful, Rousing, Sprawling, Stately, Street-Smart, Uplifting, Visceral, Warm, Witty, Wry

Title	Release
Coolidge Returns	05/02/2008
Impressions: The New York Sessions W	04/22/2008
Vanguard Visionaries WA	06/12/2007
Traffic WA	09/26/2006
Larry Coryell & the Miroslav Vitous Quartet WA	07/04/2006
Guitarmaster WA	04/28/2006
Jazz Guitar for Art Lovers WA	11/15/2005
Joy Spring: The Swingin' Side of Larry Coryell WA	09/13/2005
Electric WA	08/23/2005
Larry Coryell, Victor Bailey & Lenny White WA	2005
New York Blues WA	09/30/2004
Tricycles WA	06/15/2004
Introducing	08/19/2003
Timeless WA	04/08/2003
Inner City Blues WA	11/25/2002
Birdfingers WA	11/12/2002
Cedars of Avalon WA	09/17/2002
Moonlight Whispers WA	08/20/2002
Millennium Collection	03/13/2002
Crossing Borders	08/14/2001
Count's Jam Band Reunion WA	04/10/2001
Inner Urge WA	01/23/2001
New High WA	04/11/2000
Coryells WA	01/25/2000
Improvisations: Best of the Vanguard Years WA	10/26/1999
Monk, 'Trane, Miles & Me WA	01/26/1999
Scheherazade & Bolero WA	12/16/1998
Cause and Effect WA	08/25/1998
Major Jazz Minor Blues	04/07/1998
Spaces Revisited WA	1997
Sketches of Coryell WA	1996
I'll Be Over You	12/28/1994
Fallen Angel WA	1993
Twelve Frets to One Octave WA	1991
Coryell Plays Ravel & Gershwin WA	1990
Dragon Gate WA	1990
Shining Hour	10/20/1989
American Odyssey WA	1989
Toku Do WA	09/1987
Le Sacre du Printemps WA	1986
Together WA	08/1985
Equipoise WA	01/08/1985
Comin' Home WA	02/07/1984
A Quiet Day in Spring WA	11/11/1983
Bolero WA	1983
Return WA	1979
Tributaries WA	1979
Splendid WA	1978
Standing Ovation WA	1978
Back Together Again WA	1977
Aspects WA	1976
Twin House WA	1976
Basics (1968-1969) WA	1975
Planet End WA	1975
The Essential Larry Coryell WA	1975
Restful Mind WA	11/1974
Spaces WA	1974
The Real Great Escape WA	1973
Introducing the Eleventh House with Larry Coryell WA	1972
Offering WA	1972
Barefoot Boy WA	1971
Coryell WA	1969
Lady Coryell WA	1969

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 mindset is slowly changing).

According to Coryell, his interest in jazz took hold at the age of four, and after his family moved from Galveston to the state of Washington three years later, he began to learn the guitar, studying records by Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel and Johnny Smith. As a teenager, he played in a band led by pianist Mike Mandel, and by 1965, he gave up his journalism studies at the University of Washington in order to try his luck in New York as a musician. Before the year was out, he attracted much attention jamming in Greenwich Village and replaced Gabor Szabo in Chico Hamilton's band. In 1966, he made a startling recorded debut on Hamilton's The Dealer album, where his blues and rock ideas came to the fore, and that year, he also played with a proto-jazz-rock band, the Free Spirits. Coryell's name spread even further in 1967-68 when he played with Gary Burton's combo, and he was one of the most prominent solo voices on Herbie Mann's popular Memphis Underground album (recorded in 1968). He, Mandel and Steve Marcus formed a group called Foreplay in 1969 (no relation to today's Fourplay), and by 1973, this became the core of the jazz-rock band Eleventh House, which after a promising start ran aground with a string of albums of variable quality.

In 1975, Coryell pulled the plug, concentrating on acoustic guitar and turning in a prolific series of duo and trio sessions with the likes of Philip Catherine, Emily Remler, John Scofield, Joe Beck, Steve Khan and John McLaughlin. In the mid-'80s, Coryell toured with McLaughlin and Paco DeLucia, and in 1986 participated in a five-way guitar session with his old idol Farlow, Scofield, Larry Carlton and John Abercrombie for the Jazzvisions series. Coryell has also recorded with Stephane Grappelli, Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins and Kenny Barron, and has taped Brazilian music with Dori Caymmi for CTI, mainstream jazz for Muse, solo guitar for Shanachie and Acoustic Music, and (for Nippon Phonogram in Japan) an album of classical transcriptions of music by Stravinsky and Rimsky-Korsakov. In other words, Coryell will probably remain as eclectic as ever throughout his career, which will no doubt make life difficult for musicologists with a yen for pigeonholing. Coryell's career in the 21st century has been just as active. 2004 saw the release of Tricycles, an excellent trio date with drummer Paul Wertico and bassist Mark Egan. Electric from 2005 found Coryell playing jazz standards and rock anthems with Lenny White on drums and Victor Bailey on electric bass. In 2006, he released the performance album Laid Back & Blues: Live at the Sky Church in Seattle. ~ Richard S. Ginell, All Music Guide