Jazz fusion pioneer Larry Coryell dead at 73

The other day I was scrolling through my Facebook feed and found out Larry Coryell had passed away. He died Sunday in Manhattan, at the age of 73. He died of heart failure in his hotel room. He had just been playing some shows at the Iridium in Midtown on Friday and Saturday. In this post I not only wanted to pay honor and respect to a great guitar player and jazz musician but also to shine light on his importance in the jazz and rock world.

He bridged the gap between jazz and rock in the sixties. He played on an album with John Mclaughlin, Chick Corea, and other leaders of the jazz rock fusion era that would go on to create great fusion with Miles Davis on the legendary Bitches Brew album. That early fusion record he did was an early staple of what would come later in jazz rock fusion, which would later develop into many forms. One of them being smooth jazz, jazz-funk, and more.

The other era of importance for Larry was when he did trio performances with Paco De Lucia and John Mclaughlin. This can easily be found on Youtube. In the video performances you can see Larry struggling a bit. It was drug addiction that unfortunately lead to him being replaced by Al Di Mieola for this legendary triple acoustic guitar team attack.

His most important band was a fusion group called 11th House. After that he focused on acoustic guitar. He switched off between fusion, straight ahead jazz, and acoustic for the rest of his career. Honestly I haven't heard anything new from him since I first found out about that trio acoustic guitar recording. But his musical importance in the jazz and jazz rock fusion world can't go unnoticed.

He was also a hell of a guitar player and a great jazz musician.

Rest in peace Larry. Jazz will keep on going strong thanks to great musicians like you.