Larry Coryell Level One

Larry Coryell - Level One (1975) {Wounded Bird WOU 4052 rel 2012}
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© 1975, 2012 RCA Records / Wounded Bird Records | WOU 4052
Jazz / Fusion / Guitar

This was the follow-up to the legendary Introducing the Eleventh House recording. While it never achieved the classic status of its predecessor, it is an excellent follow-up that captures the band at their creative and technical peak. From the whimsical "Diedra" to the intense "Nyctophobia," Coryell leads his group with an understated refrain. He has always been at his best when acting as an equal within a group's space rather than as the centerpiece. His one indulgence here is the pretty, acoustic guitar solo "Eyes of Love." Of particular interest on this recording is the ferocious drumming of Alponse Mouzon, who displays a style of speed and power that rivals that of Billy Cobham. This is a forgotten gem from the fusion era.

Much of Larry Coryell's work is as difficult to find as it is to categorize – the man seemed to have spent the late '70s and early '80s making albums for anyone who could come up with a microphone and a tape recorder. That said, it's surprising how high the quality level is on most of these releases. Bolero/Scheherazade is one of the most difficult, as it seems to have been released only in Germany and Japan. The album's obscurity may have something to do with the fact that it is confusingly named; Larry Coryell released an album two years before called Bolero, which has nothing to do with this CD. The "Bolero" on that album was a short, improvised piece composed by Coryell, while the one featured here is a reworking of the classic by Maurice Ravel.

The idea for reuniting this seminal '70s fusion group first came in 2015, when the lineup for a previously booked one-week engagement at New York's The Blue Note club unexpectedly fell through. Rather than cancel, Coryell suggested bringing most of the 11th House's original members back together—trumpeter Randy Brecker, drummer Alphonse Mouzon and bassist John Lee, who replaced founding bassist Danny Trifan for the group's second album, Level One (Arista, 1975)—along with, Coryell's son, guitarist Julian Coryell, replacing Mike Mandel due to the keyboardist's ill health.

As one of the pioneers of jazz-rock perhaps the pioneer in the ears of some Larry Coryell deserves a special place in the history books. He brought what amounted to a nearly alien sensibility to jazz electric guitar playing in the 1960s, a hard-edged, cutting tone, phrasing and note-bending that owed as much to blues, rock and even country as it did to earlier, smoother bop influences. Yet as a true eclectic, armed with a brilliant technique, he is comfortable in almost every style, covering almost every base from the most decibel-heavy, distortion-laden electric work to the most delicate, soothing, intricate lines on acoustic guitar.

Larry Coryell & The Eleventh House - January 1975 (2014) {Promising Music 441202CD}
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© 1975, 2014 Radio Bremen / Promising Music | 441202CD
Jazz / Fusion / Modern Jazz / Jazz Rock / Guitar

In Memoriam. Larry Coryell, a guitarist who played rock 'n' roll as a teen but wound up pioneering jazz-rock fusion starting in the mid-1960s and then psychedelic fusion in the early '70s, died on Feb. 19. He was 73. RIP Mr. Coryell. In the 1970s, Germany's Radio Bremen simulcast a series of modern jazz concerts from all across the spectrum, and wisely archived them. Record producer Consul Bodo Jacoby was looking for a new project after losing the rights to reissue the MPS catalog and recalled them. His Promising Music label is issuing a number of these vintage performances in what he calls the Livelove series, of which January 1975 is the first volume.