And the answer to the question "Who is the greatest living guitarist of the 20th Century?" It's Larry Coryell. Coryell began recording music in 1966 and has put out more than sixty albums as a bandleader or a co-leader. He first gained attention with Chico Hamilton's band where he had replaced the great Gabor Szabo. Coryell also played with Gary Burton's group before going solo. A jazz prodigy who was inspired by the likes of Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel Charlie Christian and Wes Montgomery, Coryell also became enamored with the innovations of rock virtuosos like Jimi Hendrix. His recorded debut was on Hamilton's album, "The Dealer."
A pioneer in the realm of seventies jazz-rock fusion, Coryell was a peer of John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana. His duet recordings with guitarists like McLaughlin, Phillip Catherine, Emily Remler, Joe Beck and Steve Kahn (to name a few) established Coryell at the forefront of the jazz-fusion movement. Coryell's own band, The Eleventh House, was a major-league fusion band that featured his childhood friend, blind keyboardist Mike Mandel, as well as power drummer Alphonse Mouzon. Coryell was a tireless musician and in the eighties participated in a trio guitar project with McLaughlin and Paco DeLucia. He has also recorded as a sideman with Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Stephane Grapelli and Herbie Mann.
An eclectic and voracious music lover, Coryell has recorded albums of classical music, acoustic solo performances, over-the-top fusion and straight-ahead jazz with equal skill. His most recent jazz album, "Monk, 'Trane, Miles & Me," (High Note Records) is an absolute gem that captures the guitarist in a spellbinding, straight-ahead format. His recent fusion album, "cause & Effect" (on Tone Center Records) with drummer Steve Smith is a fusion classic. This disc features the song "From Wes To Jimi" that reveals Coryell is still as ferocious and formidable in the rock-jazz format as he is within the laid-back jazz idiom.
Fleet, dexterous and wildly inventive, Coryell can go from performing a Beatles classic like "Blackbird" on the acoustic guitar to an amplified, Joe Pass-like interpretation of a Duke Ellington tune to a full-on Hendrix-styled performance. Blues, jazz, rock; Larry Coryell can play any type of music with amazing skill. Once the bad-boy upstart of the jazz scene in the late sixties, Coryell is now a distinguished elder statesman of the jazz guitar who is loved and respected the world over. His sons Julian and Murali both have released records this year but are nowhere near the formidable talent of their old man at this time. While not always his best in the recording studio, albums like "Private Concert" (on Acoustic Music Records); "Twelve Frets To The Octave" (on Shanachie Records) showcase his acoustic playing to great effect.
So, that's it. Larry Coryell is the greatest. If you're skeptical, listen to a few of these recordings and then tell me who plays better and in a more diverse fashion, and I'll tip my hat to them as well.
by Mitch Myers
copyright 1999 New City Communications, Inc.