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©MARK SHELDON
Larry Coryell is acclaimed for his work
on both electric and acoustic guitar.
in his own right, on second guitar. The results, which won’t be released
until spring, are electrifying. Fueled by Mouzon’s big-as-a-house backbeats
and power-precision fills, Daddy Coryell cuts loose with sheer
abandon on several cuts, like his “Mr. Miyake” and Mouzon’s kinetic 7/4
title track. Coryell deals in audacious string-bending on the blues-rocker
“The Dip” and the earthy “Mudhen Blues,” and delivers some Wes
Montgomery-style octaves on the mellow “Having Second Thoughts.”
But the real killer on Seven Secrets is Lee’s “Dragon’s Way,” a 6/8 romp
that will whet the appetites of true fusion fans. Sparked by Mouzon’s
slamming groove and Lee’s slippery, singing tones on his resounding
Rob Allen fretless bass (with ebony fingerboard and nylon strings), this
catchy number also showcases the young Julian’s mondo chops, which
are coming directly out of the Steve Vai–Joe Satriani school. Papa Coryell
follows those mind-blowing fusillades with something simple, lyrical,
tasty and blue—a typically Zen response from the guitar master.
In May, Coryell went into the studio again, this time in Orlando, and
with another crew of musicians. John Lee returned on fretless electric
bass, making a formidable rhythm tandem with drummer Lee Pearson
(from Chris Botti’s band). Joining them on this session—a decidedly
“jazzier” affair than the thunderous Seven Secrets session—were pianist
Lynne Arriale and reedman extraordinaire Dan Jordan. Together they
created Barefoot Man: Sanpaku (Purple Pyramid Records), Coryell’s
answer to his 1971 opus Barefoot Boy, which he recorded with drummer
Roy Haynes, bassist Mervin Bronson, pianist Mike Mandel and saxophonist
Steve Marcus at Electric Ladyland Studios in New York City. “I
made that [1971] record in the spirit of my seeking mind when I got to
New York,” the guitarist recalled. “I wanted to do some shit that was different.
My attitude was, ‘I’m gonna play like this may be the last time I
will ever play, so I gotta make it good.’”
At age 73, Coryell still carries that same attitude to the bandstand. It’s
evident in his aggressive playing on both Barefoot Man: Sanpaku (which
has him wielding a Gibson Super 400 jazz box, in the spirit of Wes
Montgomery, a personal hero) and on Seven Secrets (which has him stinging
on a custom C.J. Fearn model with distortion set on stun and wahwah
pedal fully engaged, in the spirit of the immortal Jimi Hendrix).
“Larry is the ultimate guitar hero,” said bassist and longtime colleague
Lee, who joined The Eleventh House back in the mid-’70s. “I don’t
know if anybody else around has mastered as many styles as him. There
are few guys who can really get into a straightahead situation and go that
route, then pick up acoustic guitar and play a great Brazilian feel or some
classical. And the rock ’n’ roll and fusion, well, we know about that.”
Indeed, Coryell was one of the first jazz-trained guitarists to embrace
rock and incorporate those hard-edged sounds into his own music, leading
to the birth of jazz-rock, as it was initially called, or “fusion,” as it got
tagged later. You can hear some early examples of that rock-tinged energy
on the frantic track “Jim-Jeannie” from Chico Hamilton’s 1966 Impulse!
36 DOWNBEAT FEBRUARY 2017