Larry Coryell

Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas. 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.[2]

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 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.[3]

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.[4]

In September 1965, Coryell moved to New York City, where he attended Mannes School of Music.[5] After moving to New York, he listened to classical composers such as Bartók, Debussy, Ravel, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich.[3]

He replaced guitarist Gábor Szabó in Chico Hamilton's quintet. In 1967–68, he recorded with Gary Burton. During the mid-1960s he played with the Free Spirits,[6] his first recorded band. His music during the late-1960s and early-1970s combined rock, jazz, and eastern music.

In the Seventies, he led the group Foreplay with Mike Mandel, a friend since childhood,[7] although the albums of this period, Barefoot Boy, Offering, and The Real Great Escape, were credited only to "Larry Coryell." He formed The Eleventh House in 1973. Several of the group's albums included drummer Alphonse Mouzon.

He recorded two guitar duet albums with Philip Catherine. 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 Spirits. In early 1980, Coryell's drug addiction led to his being replaced by Al Di Meola.[8] He recorded Together with guitarist Emily Remler, who died in 1990.

He married three times during his life. First to writer-actress Julie Nathanson, daughter of actress Carol Bruce.[9] She appeared on the cover of his albums, Lady Coryell, Larry Coryell at the Village Gate, and The Lion and the Ram and wrote the book Jazz-Rock Fusion based on interviews with musicians such as Chick Corea and John McLaughlin.[10] She sang on one track on Coryell's 1984 album Comin' Home. The couple divorced in 1985. She died in 2009.[11] Larry’s second marriage was to Mary (Molly) Schuler from Connecticut in 1988. The couple divorced in 2005. Larry’s widow is Tracey Coryell. They were married in Orlando Florida in 2007. Tracey is a singer/songwriter/performer who appeared on Larry’s “Laid, Back & Blues” recording in 2006 on Rhombus Records. Larry recorded one of Tracey’s compositions, “First Day of Autumn” on his album “The Lift “ in 2013 on Wide Hive Records.

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.[4][12]

In his review of the concert at the Iridium, David Miller of All About Jazz wrote:

This was jazz at its finest—complex and virtuosic yet easily accessible, at times intense, at others fun-filled, and always with the feeling of the unknown that comes with truly spontaneous and inspired improvisation. While the music was steeped in the bop tradition, the musicians continually found new ways to utilize the idiom. Few locations other than New York could host a powerhouse gathering of musical heavyweights of this order, and one can only hope that the shows have been recorded for a future release.[13]

When NPR radio host Billy Taylor, on one of the editions of Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center, introduced Coryell, he said:

Versatile virtuoso guitarist Larry Coryell proves to be more than an outstanding musician; he's also a particularly enlightening and affable conversationalist.[14]

• L. Subramaniam Violin From the Heart (1999) – directed by Jean Henri Meunier (includes a scene of Coryell performing with L. Subramaniam)
• Meeting of the Spirits /1979 (2003) – live performance in London featuring Coryell, John McLaughlin, and Paco de Lucia
• Super Guitar Trio and Friends in Concert /1990 (2005) – live performance featuring Coryell, Al Di Meola, and Biréli Lagrène
• Super Guitar Trio: Live in Montreux /1989 (2007) – live performance featuring Coryell, Al Di Meola, and Biréli Lagrène
• Three Guitars: Paris Concert /2004 (2012) – live performance featuring Coryell, Badi Assad, and John Abercrombie

• Coryell, Larry (2007). Improvising: My Life in Music. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 978-0879308261.

• Official website
• Larry Coryell Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2008)
• Larry Coryell: Blues and Beyond