Larry Coryell, 73; master guitar player flitted among genres . By Adam
Bernstein Washington Post . WASHINGTON - Larry Coryell, a guitarist of
stunning technique who defied and redefined musical boundaries as a
leader of the movement fusing jazz and rock in the late 1960s and
1970s, died Sunday at a hotel in Manhattan. He was 73. Mr. Coryell, who
lived in Orlando, was performing at the Iridium jazz club on the
weekend of his death. The cause was complications from
arteriosclerosis, said his wife, singer-songwriter Tracey Piergross.
For a half-century, Mr. Coryell was a much-in-demand sideman and
leader. He was heralded on the cover of Downbeat magazine at 24 and had
attracted a following ever since in a career marked by jaw-dropping
range, including opera compositions. He forged his reputation on the
musical vanguard in the late 1960s with a run of albums such as
"Coryell" and "Spaces," which were regarded as milestones in jazz
fusion. They embraced the psychedelic rock experimentation popularized
by the Beatles and Jimi Hendrix and helped set the groundwork for Miles
Davis's popular jazz-fusion album "Bitches Brew" (1970) and such bands
as Weather Report and the Mahavishnu Orchestra. One of Mr. Coryell's
groups was called the Free Spirits, a testament to the energetic
abandon and tasteful distortion he brought to jazz. He helped usher in
a revolution in the musical form, which had not undergone such a jolt
since the beboppers of the 1940s made the big bands seem passe. In
1969, New Yorker magazine jazz critic Whitney Balliett proclaimed him
"without question the most inventive and original guitarist to appear
since Charlie Christian," the improvisational electric guitarist of the
1940s. Guitarist Al Di Meola, one of Mr. Coryell's admirers, dubbed him
"the godfather of fusion," a movement that helped make jazz more
commercial after the British rock invasion. As much as he helped bring
fusion into the mainstream, Mr. Coryell's prolific recording career
encompassed a far wider cut of the musical pie. He initially drew
attention for his jagged, amped-up electric guitar experiments, but he
was deeply schooled in the work of Tal Farlow, Barney Kessel, and
Johnny Smith, straight-ahead jazz guitarists of exquisite, understated
skill. Mr. Coryell also spent years following in their melodic acoustic
footsteps, a world away from his work with fusion. He toured in the
mid-1980s with fellow guitarists Farlow, John Abercrombie, Larry
Carlton, and John Scofield for the popular Jazzvisions concert series.
Over the years, he teamed with musicians including jazz violinist
Stéphane Grappelli, saxophonist Sonny Rollins, Belgian jazz guitarist
Philip Catherine, and Brazilian composer and singer Dorival Caymmi. He
also recorded demanding works by Igor Stravinsky, including "The Rite
of Spring" and "The Firebird," as well as classical Indian music.
Lorenz Albert Van Delinder III was born in Galveston, Texas, and was
deaf in his right ear. His father, whom he later described as "a
musician who chased a lot of women," abandoned the family. He grew up
in Richland, Wash., with his mother and stepfather, a chemical engineer
who adopted him and gave him the surname Coryell. He sang in the local
Presbyterian Church choir, picked up ukulele at 12, and became enamored
of rock guitar in his teens, mimicking Chuck Berry and Chet Atkins. He
told People magazine that he was the "black sheep" of his family,
running away at 16 to join a rock band and getting a girlfriend named
Georgia pregnant; she gave the baby up for adoption. He enrolled at the
University of Washington, studying journalism in case his musical
prospects cratered. He wound up playing backup to such stars as Roy
Orbison and Bobby Vee and decided to quit college in 1965. He moved
across the country to make his name in New York City nightclubs. His
confidence was rewarded. Within months, he was a playing and recording
as a member of Chico Hamilton's chamber jazz band. He was also
showcased on several albums with vibraphonist Gary Burton, notably the
early fusion LP "Duster" (1967), and on jazz flutist Herbie Mann's
album "Memphis Underground" (1968), another bold riposte to jazz purism
with its use of a Southern R&B section. Mr. Coryell, who also played
dates with Davis and fellow jazz giant Thelonious Monk, formed a
succession of jazz-rock bands, including Foreplay and Eleventh House,
that were popular attractions. But he said his "chameleonlike" tastes
for music, from electric to unplugged, from the avant-garde to the
traditional, undermined his commercial prospects in a marketplace that
valued consistency. Meanwhile, his finances plummeted because of his
decadent lifestyle, an indulgence in the drug- and sex-experimentation
counterculture that he once called his "orgy stage. He had ready access
to heroin, LSD, cocaine, and alcohol. "I was a hurtin' buckaroo," he
told the publication Canadian Christianity. He completed rehab in 1981
and became a disciple of Nichiren Buddhism, which involves chanting.
Mr. Coryell's eclectic career continued apace even in his most
desperate years, working variously with jazz-rock guitarist John
McLaughlin, flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía, bassist Charles Mingus,
and pianist Cedar Walton. His marriages to Julie Nathanson, an author
and singer who once managed his career, and Molly Schueler ended in
divorce. Besides Piergross, Mr. Coryell leaves two sons from his first
marriage, Murali of Boiceville, N.Y., and Julian of Los Angeles; a
daughter from his second marriage, Allegra of Brooklyn; a daughter from
a relationship, Annie White of Arvada, Colo.; a half brother and a half
sister; and six grandsons. He remained creatively restless over the
past three decades, reinventing himself through periods immersed in
bebop and smooth jazz. He wrote operas based on works by Leo Tolstoy
and James Joyce. His "War and Peace," he once said, bore such disparate
influences as Hendrix and Maurice Ravel. "My whole life," he once said,
"has been going and listening to great musicians and try to take
something from it without copying.
