Coryell

[RogerF]

Larry Coryell's second eponymously titled album has just been reissued for the first time on CD by Real Gone. Also features Ron Carter, Bernard Purdie, Albert Stinson, Chuck Rainey, Mike Mandel and Jim Pepper. Judging by Coryell's innate and unbridled vitality at that time, it's a very good record indeed. 

 

Edited February 12, 2017 by RogerF
further thoughts

[felser]

His playing (but not his singing!) was a marvel for about a decade in the 60's/70-'s.  Not sure what happened after that.  He was really pushing and expanding the boundaries until suddenly he wasn't.  Also can't help but ponder the period artifact that album cover is.  I still get a rush from those early Vanguard albums, as well as some of his sideman playing, especially this:

 

[RogerF]

On ‎12‎/‎02‎/‎2017 at 0:48 PM, felser said:

His playing (but not his singing!) was a marvel for about a decade in the 60's/70-'s.  Not sure what happened after that.  He was really pushing and expanding the boundaries until suddenly he wasn't.  Also can't help but ponder the period artifact that album cover is.  I still get a rush from those early Vanguard albums, as well as some of his sideman playing, especially this:

 

Yes absolutely! That Arnie Lawrence is brilliant and talk about a hidden gem. Had to source that one on vinyl. I think he tried as a vocalist but that definitely wasn't his strong suit, but the guitar playing was at times incredible. I'm not sure what inspired that cover but it's certainly dubious.

Edited February 14, 2017 by RogerF

[BFrank]

Has that Arnie Lawrence ever been reissued on CD or otherwise?

[RogerF]

7 hours ago, BFrank said:

Has that Arnie Lawrence ever been reissued on CD or otherwise?

Not to my knowledge, sadly.

[BFrank]

11 hours ago, RogerF said:

Not to my knowledge, sadly.

Bummer

[JSngry]

I bought that Arnie Lawrence Project 3 (an Enoch Light label, if anybody's wondering) out of a cutout bin in 1971 or so, dug it for a few listens, then started getting annoyed by Coryell's total lack of focus. Kept getting worse, too. Traded it away ca. 1981 and didn't miss it until somebody sent me a CDr of it, like, three years ago. Then got to feeling all warm fuzzy nostalgic for the object, so found another copy of the LP, and...still bugged by it. I don't think it's that good of a record overall, although the Richard Davis/Roy Haynes hookup is endlessly fascinating. But there's more. soooooo much more.

However...I think that The Dealer is a much more focused presentation of "that type of thing", although to be honest, Arnie Lawrence has never really done anything for me in general, his unanimously recognized beautiful humanity not withstanding.

[kh1958]

I also purchased that Arnie Lawrence LP from a cutout bin in the 1970s, but it was probably circa  1974  or 1975. I still have it.

[RogerF]

The Dealer has been difficult to source on CD but I eventually found a copy 

[JSngry]

 

I tend to buy Chico Hamilton records just because. Really, just because. I can justify it by talking about thesound he gets out of his kit, or how his bands were always multi-layered, but really, just because. Sometimes they really suck, but this one does not.

 

Richard Davis, FTW!

[jazzbo]

I'm with you. . . most of them do not suck.

[rostasi]

I like The Dealer too. I didn't really discover it until the 70's, I think,
because I heard the track Jim-Jeannie off that Impulse compilation, 
The Drums and wanted to know what it was from.

Do you folks remember those 3-LP Impulse sets:
The Drums, The Saxophone, The Bass ... God, I loved those.

[felser]

5 hours ago, rostasi said:

I like The Dealer too. I didn't really discover it until the 70's, I think,
because I heard the track Jim-Jeannie off that Impulse compilation, 
The Drums and wanted to know what it was from.

Do you folks remember those 3-LP Impulse sets:
The Drums, The Saxophone, The Bass ... God, I loved those.

I do remember those.  Also, "Impulse Energy Essentials", which was my introduction to everyone from Pharoah Sanders to Charles Mingus to Oliver Nelson.

[Hot Ptah]

 

The Vanguard album "Offering" has some fine Coryell soloing, and has never been issued on CD, to my knowledge.

Edited February 14, 2017 by Hot Ptah

[StarThrower]

47 minutes ago, Hot Ptah said:

 

The Vanguard album "Offering" has some fine Coryell soloing, and has never been issued on CD, to my knowledge.

I have it on CD along with The Restful Mind, and a couple others re-issued by Comet Records. But they got deleted rather quickly.

[felser]

1 hour ago, StarThrower said:

I have it on CD along with The Restful Mind, and a couple others re-issued by Comet Records. But they got deleted rather quickly.

I also have the Comet issue of "Offering".  One of his very best.  I also like "Barefoot Boy" a lot. 

[StarThrower]

Don't ever pay a lot of money for The Real Great Escape. The whole album is marred by Larry's horrible singing.

[BFrank]

Agreed! Offering and Barefoot Boy are two of Coryell's best from that period. Would like to find a copy CD or digital of Offering someday, too.

I saw a Vanguard compilation a while back called "The Essential Larry Coryell" that was pretty good, but not sure if it's still available.

[felser]

37 minutes ago, BFrank said:

Agreed! Offering and Barefoot Boy are two of Coryell's best from that period. Would like to find a copy CD or digital of Offering someday, too.

I saw a Vanguard compilation a while back called "The Essential Larry Coryell" that was pretty good, but not sure if it's still available.

It is still available.  This one is also, and it offers twice as much music for $3 more.

 

[BFrank]

8 hours ago, felser said:

It is still available.  This one is also, and it offers twice as much music for $3 more.

 

I saw that album before, but thought it was all Eleventh House tracks ... but now that I look at the tracks, it's not.

[felser]

9 hours ago, BFrank said:

I saw that album before, but thought it was all Eleventh House tracks ... but now that I look at the tracks, it's not.

It is partly, but mostly pre-eleventh house.

[HutchFan]

If you were to pick ONE personal-favorite (non-compilation) Coryell record, what would it be?

 

 

I'd likely go with Barefoot Boy.

 

[BFrank]

7 hours ago, felser said:

It is partly, but mostly pre-eleventh house.

Which is good. Not THAT big of an Eleventh House fan.

[Bill Nelson]

Since 1970, my favorite has been 'Spaces' -- the LP of shared artistry among gifted, soon-to-be-famous peers of Coryell's.  A couple years later, the jazz fusion groups of McLaughlin (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Vitous (Weather Report), Cobham (Spectrum), and Corea (Return To Forever) would be filling large concert halls.  I suspect that some of Coryell's moodiness and inconsistent recordings resulted from bitterness and envy at their success and heavy promotion from major record labels.  All while Coryell was still playing clubs and releasing LPs on Vanguard, an independent folkie label trying to be hip.

I can hear Coryell saying, "C'mon people, give me some creds. I was the first jazz-rock guitarist on the scene in '66 with The Free Spirits and was in on Gary Burton's jazz fusion 'Duster' album in '67."   And he'd be right.    

[RogerF]

6 hours ago, Bill Nelson said:

I can hear Coryell saying, "C'mon people, give me some creds. I was the first jazz-rock guitarist on the scene in '66 with The Free Spirits and was in on Gary Burton's jazz fusion 'Duster' album in '67."   And he'd be right.    

Not forgetting the Bley/Burton epic A Genuine Tong Funeral. So many others that Coryell added that certain je ne c'est quoi to. Anyone ever hear Appletree Theatre's Playback? With just a few high energy bursts of guitar, Coryell elevated that album to a different level for me. But if I was to have to choose one I'd go with HutchFan and Barefoot Boy. Generally speaking, IMO Coryell is criminally underrated as a guitarist.