Larry Coryell (1943-2017)

Fusion Guitarist Extraordinaire

Goodness this is hard to write, especially since it's a matter of weeks since Alphonse Mouzon passed away in late 2016. It feels like a kick to the guts, every bit as David Bowie and Carrie Fisher.

Back in the day when I was young, dumb and still buying 'Guitar Player' in magazine form, I'd come across a lot of guitar players whom I had no way of learning about if I simply went hunting up records at record stores. Larry Coryell was an interviewee that grabbed my attention - I can't even remember why - but likely because he was very open about discussing his technique and at that point in my development, what he had to say was exactly what I needed to read.

I know the big name in fusion guitar is John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola and Jeff Beck, but when I cast my mind to who's playing sits in my wheelhouse, it has to be Larry Coryell. His body of work was always intelligent, daring, as well as sounding so natural. You never get bored of his playing.




Fusion gets a bad rap. Compared to the amount of ink spilled for say, heavy metal virtuosos or the endless line of punk/grunge/emo players who don't want to talk about technique in a constructive way (they like to talk about it in deconstructive ways, shall we say) fusion players offer glimpse into the outer possibilities of electric guitar. And so Larry Coryell to me, for a very long time was an inspiration, a guitar player who led the way towards interesting ideas. Through the 1990s, I was able to acquire some of the seminal albums he worked on, and found a player who had been to places I wanted to go.



As you can see he had a fluid technique and a deep commitment to riffing chromatically with a cosmic phased tone. It's otherworldly and unique. He had a technique that was deeply human and infused with his touch. He was easy on the ear, and yet had a beautiful sense of melody that you couldn't help but be drawn to.

Here he is with John McLaughlin and Paco de Lucia:



You don't get invited to play with those guys unless your chops are astronomically prodigious.
As fusion stylists go, Coryell had a varied palette of tones and techniques, and had a wonderful way of slipping from one mode to another seamlessly. He also had a breezy freedom to his playing that allowed him to make tremendous leaps in style as well as tone.

It wasn't just his electric guitar stylings. He was also just as adept on steel string as well.
One dreams of playing like this, with so much expansiveness:



Vale Larry Coryell. A truly splendid player.