GUITARIST LARRY CORYELL HAS RECENTLY REISSUED A THREE CD SET, AURORA CORYELLIS, WHICH REFLECTS THREE DIFFERENT ERAS AND STYLES OF HIS CAREER. DURING THE EARLY 70S, HE WAS ON THE VANGUARD OF THE JAZZ FUSION MOVEMENT WITH HIS BANDS OFFERING AND ELEVENTH HOUSE. HE THEN WENT ACOUSTIC AND ONCE AGAIN MADE SOME HIGHLY INFLUENTIAL RECORDS, BUT IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT WITH THE LIKE OF PHILLIP CATHERINE AND STEVE KHAN. THE LAST ALBUM FINDS HIM RETURNING TO HIS FIRST LOVE OF “MAINSTREAM” JAZZ WITH SOME LITHE MATERIAL IN A TRIO FORMAT.
WE RECENTLY MET UP WITH THE FAMED GUITARIST, FRESH OFF A RELEASE OF HIS INCITEFUL AUTOBIOGRAPHY WHERE HE DOES IN BOOK FORM WHAT HE DOES BEST WITH MUSIC, CLEAR THE AIR.
YOUR RECENTLY RELEASED 3 CD SET AURORA CORYELLIS, REALLY COVERS THREE PARTS OF YOUR CAREER. LET’S DISCUSS EACH ONE! DISC NUMBER ONE HAS THE FUSION BAND IN 1972 WITH JOHN MILLER/B, STEVE MARCUS/SAX, MIKE MANDEL/KEYS AND HARRY WILKINSON/DR AT A CONCERT IN BOSTON . TELL US ABOUT THE DAYS OF OFFERING, ETC. WHAT WAS THE IMPACT OF THAT BAND?
I think that the impact of that band was relatively small, but the people we impacted, we impacted strongly. We had a lot of fans in New York, in the East Coast and in the North East. Because our music was really coming out from life being lived in NYC during the late 60s and early 70s, it had a certain grittiness that was reflective of New York, because it was such a tough place. But it also had a lot of intelligence to it, for the same reason. The nature of New York.
A lot of that music was composed during a time period when we would have gigs. We would start messing around; somebody would get an idea and we’d just experiment, and all of a sudden we had a composition and an arrangement. Because we were able to play these arrangements relatively frequently, what you’re hearing on the cd is evolved arrangements.
DO YOU REMEMBER THE SPECIFIC CONCERT THAT WAS RECORDED IN BOSTON?
No, but it must have been a good night because the band was tight!
LET’S GO BACK ONE STEP BEFORE THIS BAND. BEFORE OFFERING YOU DID SPACES. HOW DID YOU GET TOGETHER WITH JOHN MCLAUGHLIN?
We got together when I hired him to play on the record Spaces. We became friends because when he got to New York to join up with Tony Williams, I was in the process of just moving out of the city into the suburbs of Rockland County, and I let him live in my apartment while he got his bearings. It was a very New York thing to do back then. (laughs)
WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE IMPACT OF OFFERING AND ELEVENTH HOUSE?
Offering was more of a street vibe. Out among the people. Eleventh House was more like a concept which at least the main components in the band wanted to develop in order to homage, respect and pay tribute to the jazz greats of our youth, but not copy them.
So we had compositions that were varied and funky and intellectual in a non pejorative sense. It was more conceptual.
ARE YOU SURPRISE THAT IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS THERE HAS BEEN A RESURGANCE OF FUSION?
Yes I am, but pleasantly. It’s just the cycles of music.
IN THE EARLY DAYS YOU ALSO PLAYED WITH JACK BRUCE, WHO RECENTLY PASSED AWAY. WHAT ARE YOUR REFLECTIONS OF HIM?
I loved him. The guy was amazing. He was just too much for this world, he was so intense. He just wanted to get out there and do his music his way and he was passionate about it. He loved people and he loved performing and he loved being different. He was always trying to be an innovator, and he was. I’m sorry that he died so early.
I remember the last time I saw him. I was on the same bill with him in either Romania or Bulgaria a few years ago. He still had that spirit; it was indomitable.
YOU TALK ABOUT HEROES. YOU PLAYED WITH A NUMBER OF THEM. WHAT DID YOU LEARN PLAYING WITH HERBIE MANN, GARY BURTON, ETC?
Before I had developed my playing and before I had moved to New York and was exposed to great music and teachers, I had seen Gary Burton in the Stan Getz Quartet and I was blown away. I didn’t ever imagine that I’d be playing with him. That was really a stroke of good fortune because he wanted to put together a bebop band that wasn’t going to play just bebop. He wanted to listen to Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. He loved Robbie Robertson and country music so he put all of these elements that were on the fringes of jazz and brought them right into the center with that band.
In that band, the bass feature was a Bob Dylan song, “I Want You”! We showed that you can reflect the music around you. I remember that we did a Blindfold Test and they played bebop. It was great bebop, but it was boring because it was what I grew up with. Then they played “Fool on the Hill” by Paul McCartney, and Gary and I were doing the Blindfold Test together and we both said “This is some good (stuff)!”
AFTER DOING FUSION, YOU WENT COMPLETELY ACOUSTIC, WHICH IS CHRONICLED ON THE SECOND DISC, A 1976 CONCERT IN WORCESTER, MA. WHAT HAPPENED THERE?
Very simple; with the fusion we were playing really loud. One day, I woke up and I said, “I can’t take that volume anymore.” I basically started playing the same music in the electric band on the acoustic guitar, and it sounded a lot better to me. The second disc has those songs on guitar; it sounded better that way. It was more interesting. Every once in awhile you got to go up there and play. Just yourself. One guy, one guitar. People love it.
AT THE SAME TIME YOU DID THOSE DUET ALBUMS WITH STEVE KHAN AND PHILLIP CATHERINE. HOW DID THEY COME ABOUT?
Same motivation. We all loved fusion. We loved different stuff, but we didn’t want to play loud electric and felt that acoustic guitar was the way to go.
There was a term at the time; it was called the “acoustic revolution.” That was termed by a member of the band Oregon, and I liked that.
I remember the concert at Worcester. It was really intimate with a fantastic audience. College students are great.
SO WE’RE NOW AT THE THIRD ALBUM; 2002 AT THE SAN JOSE JAZZ FESTIVAL WITH JEFF CHAMBERS/B AND PAUL WERTICO/DR. OF THE THREE ALBUMS, THIS ONE SOUNDS MOST LIKE YOU ARE ‘AT HOME.’
I was at home. That was my band! Especially the relationship I developed with Paul Wertico. After he left Pat Metheny after 18 years, I started playing with him. As a matter of fact I still play with him. He is the best drummer for contemporary guitar in the whole world. I don’t know how he developed such a sharp ability to be such a perfect drummer, but he is.
WHAT MAKES IT SO PERFECT?
His touch is so essentially light, but he’s got huge intensity. So, if you’re not willing to play through a bunch of Marshall Amps like Hendrix, Clapton and Beck, and I don’t mean Glenn Beck! (laughs)
The guitar really isn’t meant to be loud. If you’re careful and listen to some of the best performances by people like Jim Hall, Wes Montgomery and Tal Farlow, they’re not playing very loud.
Because I had the fusion background and the fusion impact I but always wanted the swing in my music, Paul had the light touch that was instinctively there. That rare ability to play lightly, but with an intensity that is burning. He swings like crazy.
YOUR ELECTRIC GUITAR PLAYING BRINGS UP ANOTHER QUESTION. EVERY STUDENT IS TOLD TO “DEVELOP YOUR OWN PERSONAL SOUND.” HOW DO ALL OF THE BUTTONS, KNOBS AND PEDALS CONTRIBUTE TO THAT? DOES IT HELP YOU TO CREATE A SOUND, OR DO YOU ACTUALLY LOSE YOUR DISTINCT SOUND?
This is an important point. If you’re the lone guitar player, it does make you lose your sound. If you’re someone like Pat Metheny , Vic Juris or one of my sons who has “Mission Control Center” down on the floor when they’re playing…it works for them because they’re able to augment their message with the effects. It’s really how you use it.
YOU’VE BEEN WITH SOME VERY IMPORTANT BANDS AND HAVE RELEASED SOME VERY INFLUENTIAL ALBUMS. HAVE YOU EVER REACHED A POINT WHERE YOU TOLD YOURSELF “I’VE MADE IT”?
No. I’ve always felt that that would be too egotistical and the kiss of death. I’m grateful for what I have. I’ll tell you when I thought I “arrived”:
September 3rd, 1965. Coming through the Holland Tunnel and pulling into Greenwich Village and I immediately had a minor car crash when I visited the jazz club of my dreams, the Village Vanguard. I came downstairs, and there was Max Gordon, the owner. That’s when I said to myself that I had arrived.
The fender bender was a real “welcome to New York.” (laughs) They don’t use the white stripes to delineate lanes there; it’s every man for himself.
THERE HAS BEEN A RECENT DOCUMENTARY ON GUITARIST RORY GALLAGHER AND HIS FIRST BAND, TASTE. YOU WERE INTERVIEWED FOR IT. WHAT IS YOUR CONNECTION WITH THEM?
I started playing in Europe relatively early in my career, first in the George Wein tour in 67-68, and then I went back over there on my own and I did a lot of gigs opposite people like John McLaughlin, Rod Stewart and Rory Gallagher. I always thought that he was a great player. That band he had was amazing.
YOU’VE RELEASED AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY RECENTLY. WHAT WAS THE IMPETUS TO DO IT AT THIS STAGE IN YOUR CAREER AND LIFE?
I had finally stabilized myself in terms of growing up and being a grownup. I got through the drug thing, and I started practicing Buddhism, and I felt that I could now share my experiences and maybe inspired some people going through similar behavior as I did and not get discouraged, and maybe even do some self-improvement.
YOU MUST HAVE DONE SOMETHING RIGHT TO HAVE TWO SONS FOLLOW IN YOUR MUSICAL FOOTSTEPS.
Those guys are great. They’re both very different musicians. I just had a long talk with my oldest son earlier today, and then with my youngest son a couple of days ago. They both have two sons of their own, and that’s nice. They’re both like their dad, man; they just want to get out there and play!
WHEN ARE YOU COMING TO LA?
I’d love to play at Disney Hall and bring my opera. I have one opera that has already been premiered, and I’m working on a new one which I think is going to be even better, but it’s much harder. The story is more complicated. They are both based on books by Tolstoy.
The first one is called “War and Peace”
AT LEAST YOU P ICKED AN EASY ONE.
Very funny. (laughs) I was really motivated. I thought that if maybe people could understand the simplicity of Tolstoy’s message, which is unconditional forgiveness we could get somewhere. I just saw the Pope and he was talking about it on Worldwide Television. He was talking about the need for unconditional forgiveness, and I’m thinking “I’m writing in rhythm with the Pope!”
ONE OF MY FAVORITE QUOTES IS BY CS LEWIS, “EVERYONE IS FOR FORGIVENESS UNTIL THEY HAVE SOMEONE TO FORGIVE.”
Exactly. It’s a very difficult thing to develop.
UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO BE FORGIVEN, THEN IT’S EASIER TO FORGIVE.
It takes a very high life condition to forgive. I’ll tell you someone who had a high life condition, and that was Herbie Mann. Herbie Mann was one of the best, if not THE best ( I was fortunate enough to have great band leaders)band lea ders. I loved working for him.
I never felt one bit of stress during all of the times that I worked with him. Everything was always taken care of. He was always a genuinely wonderful human being, and he put the music before everything else.
One time he had organized a whole bunch of young players to do a multiple group thing in a club up near Boston. He had been on road to do something special, and he had just came back. One of the groups had just finished a set (there were different configurations). Guys like Jack DeJohnette and Charles Tolliver. That particular group was playing a song that Herbie didn’t care for. Herbie was nothing if not hip. He said out loud “What the H… are they playing “On The Trail” for?!?”
I was never crazy about the jazz treatment of “On The Trail” either, but Herbie just let them have it.
WHAT DO YOU WANT YOUR LEGACY TO BE?
I want to make my mark, and I think I have made my mark. I’m very grateful for that, but like all of the artists that have inspired me and have mentored me, it just never stops. I’m just keeping on, and eventually I’d like to write another book. Something along the lines of James Joyce. His later stuff, Finnegans Wake, is just like jazz. The Irish are a special people, and everyone in that country can play a musical instrument.
HONEST, ALWAYS SEARCHING AND STILL ON A QUEST, LARRY CORYELL, LIKE THE BEST OF PILGRIMS LIKE THE APOSTLE PAUL, NEVER FEELS LIKE HE’S ARRIVED, BUT ALWAYS PRESSES FORWARD TO THE PRIZE. IN A SIMILAR VEIN, CORYELL USES THE PAST AS AN INSTRUCTOR AND NOT AS A TORMENTER, BASING HIS LIFE ON THE POWER OF FORGIVENESS. ALWAYS A GREAT MESSAGE IN THIS PRESENT ERA SO DESPERATE FOR A NEW LEASE ON LIFE.