Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist, widely considered the "godfather of fusion". Alongside Gábor Szabó, he was a pioneer in melding jazz, country and rock music. Coryell was also a music teacher and a writer, penning a monthly column for Guitar Player magazine from 1977 to 1989. He made a number of collaborations with other high-profile musicians, including John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Miroslav Vitouš, Billy Cobham, Lenny White, Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucía, Steve Morse and others.

Early life

Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He was raised by his stepfather Gene, a chemical engineer, and his mother Cora, who encouraged him to learn piano when he was four years old. In his teens, he switched to guitar. After his family moved to Richland, Washington, he took lessons from a teacher who lent him albums by Les Paul, Johnny Smith, Barney Kessel, and Tal Farlow. When asked what jazz guitar albums influenced him, Coryell cited On View at the Five Spot Cafe by Kenny Burrell, Red Norvo with Strings, and The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery. He liked blues and pop music and tried to play jazz when he was eighteen. He said that hearing Wes Montgomery changed his life. Coryell graduated from Richland High School, where he played in local bands the Jailers, the Rumblers, the Royals, and the Flames. He also played with the Checkers from Yakima. He then moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington.

Career

1960s

In September 1965, Coryell moved to New York City, where he attended Mannes School of Music. After moving to New York, he listened to classical composers such as Bartók, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich. He replaced guitarist Gábor Szabó in Chico Hamilton's quintet. His challenge, at the time, was to combine the bluesy, psychedelic rock 'n' roll of Cream (especially Eric Clapton's guitar style) and The Jimi Hendrix Experience with his jazz training. Of the latter, he first saw them live in 1967 at the Manhattan nightclub The Scene and was "very impressed" by them. Coryell's continued attendance to The Scene exposed him to further music of a similar ilk, catching the performances of Frank Zappa, Buddy Guy, The Velvet Underground, Stevie Winwood, The Doors and others. In 1969, former Miles Davis Quintet drummer Tony Williams invited Coryell to join his new band, The Tony Williams Lifetime. While flattered by the invitation, he politely declined and suggested, in his place, his British friend and NY newcomer John McLaughlin, then known as "Johnny Mac." It was career-making move for McLaughlin. Because of his tenure with the Lifetime he got the invite to join Davis's electric band, recording In a Silent Way (1969), the Bitches Brew (1970) double-album and Jack Johnson (1971).

1970s

In the 1970s, he led the group Foreplay with Mike Mandel, a friend since childhood, although the albums of this period, Barefoot Boy, Offering, and The Real Great Escape, were credited only to Larry Coryell. In wake of the success of John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra he formed The Eleventh House in 1973, with drummer Alphonse Mouzon. Their debut album, Introducing Eleventh House with Larry Coryell (1974), peaked at #163 in Billboard 200 and stayed 11 weeks in the charts. Larry Coryell recorded with Al Di Meola on Return to Forever drummer Lenny White's solo debut, Venusian Summer (1975). Coryell and Di Meola traded solos on "Prince of the Sea", the album's last track. The pairing caused a stir on the fusion community, with fans wondering who played what solo. Coryell reveals this was the only time he and Di Meola played together with electric guitars. By then, Coryell had adopted a speed-oriented style of soloing, similar to other jazz-rock luminaries, namely McLaughlin, Di Meola, Allan Holdsworth, Jan Akkerman and John Etheridge. In retrospect, he offered the following of mid-1970s fusion: "" By the end of their brief, 4-year existence The Eleventh House had played with some of the leading artists of the period, including fellow Americans Kiss, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention and British prog rockers Renaissance, Gentle Giant and Yes keyboard player Rick Wakeman. When fusion started losing steam he turned to the acoustic guitar, recording duet albums with Steve Khan and Philip Catherine. The latter was responsible for Coryell's career turn, showing him in 1976 the Django Reinhardt song "Nuages". He also strengthened, in parallel, his role as a music educator. He gave private lessons and started writing a monthly column for Guitar Player magazine. In 1979, he formed The Guitar Trio with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia. The group toured Europe briefly, releasing a video recorded at Royal Albert Hall in London entitled Meeting of the Spirits.

1980s

In the early 1980, Coryell's alcoholism and drug abuse cost him his spot on The Guitar Trio. Of his struggles in that period, he said: "" When he overcame his self-exile and his bout with alcoholism, he took on his most challenging project yet: solo versions of three Igor Stravinksy ballets, namely Scheherazade (1982), L'Oiseau de Feu, Petrouchka (1983) and Le Sacre Du Printemps (1983). Coryell prepared for three months for recording Le Sacre Du Printemps. He got so "obsessed" by it that he got hand sores and blisters hands from over-rehearsing his parts. Three weeks before the recording sessions Coryell got cold feet, calling producer Teo Macero to say he was quitting the project. Macero convinced him otherwise, and he finally recorded the whole piece on March 21th, 1983, on the vernal equinox. In the end he was proud of it, a "milestone" in his life. "It's like, if you can tackle Stravinsky, you can tackle anything," he said on an interview to DownBeat. In 1985, he recorded Together with fellow guitarist Emily Remler, who died in 1990. Starting in 2010, Coryell toured with a trio that included pianist John Colianni. Since 2008, Coryell toured in a duo with fusion guitarist Roman Miroshnichenko.

Personal life

Coryell was first married to writer-actress Julie Nathanson (1947–2009), daughter of actress Carol Bruce. She appeared on the covers of several of his albums (including Lady Coryell, Larry Coryell at the Village Gate and The Lion and the Ram) and later wrote the book Jazz-Rock Fusion, which was based on interviews with many of Coryell's peers, including Chick Corea and John McLaughlin. She also sang intermittently with Coryell, including one track on the 1984 album Comin' Home. The couple had two sons (Murali Coryell (b. 1969) and Julian Coryell (b. 1973), both professional guitarists, before divorcing in 1985. Thereafter, he had a brief romance with fellow jazz guitarist and artistic collaborator Emily Remler. In 1988, he remarried to Connecticut native Mary Schuler; they divorced in 2005. Two years later, he married his last wife, Tracey Lynn Piergross, in Orlando, Florida, where he resided until his death in 2017. After overcoming his alcohol and heroin addictions in 1981, Coryell began practicing Nichiren Buddhism. In November 2016, Coryell condemned Donald Trump following his election to the presidency of the United States. "This is an unacceptable situation", he said to Bill Milkowski of DownBeat. "We cannot let all the work we've done as jazz musicians to help relationships between people … we can't let all that go to hell. And that's what this election is going to do. It'll take us back to the Dark Ages and people will think that it’s OK to be prejudiced again. Well, I don't accept it. We have to stand up. … [Trump is] an impostor, a huckster, and he's got to go. And because I'm a Buddhist I'm going to chant about it and try to turn poison into medicine, and just get deeper and deeper into my music." Shortly after these comments were published, Coryell wrote to Downbeat to apologize and retract: ""

Death

Coryell died of heart failure on Sunday, February 19, 2017, in a New York City hotel room at the age of 73. He had performed at the Iridium Jazz Club in Manhattan on the preceding two days. Coryell's last opera, based on Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina, was presented at the 2017 World of Guitar opening, featuring the Moscow Symphony along with Roman Miroshnichenko, Serbian classical guitarist Nenad Stephanovich, and Slovenian opera soloists. The world premiere was dedicated to Coryell, the "godfather of fusion," who died in New York in February of that year. The opera was completed by Miroshnichenko and Stephanovich after the death of Coryell.

Discography

As leader

As member

The Free Spirits Fuse One

As sideman

With Gary Burton With Paco de Lucia With Teo Macero With Leslie Mándoki With Herbie Mann With Steve Marcus With Charles Mingus With Don Sebesky With L. Subramaniam With Leon Thomas With Michal Urbaniak With Kazumi Watanabe With others

Videography