Lorenz Albert Van Delinder III was born on April 2, 1943 in Galveston, Texas.  Born deaf in his right ear, young Lorenz would take the last name of his step-father in 1948, acquiring his new name, Larry Van Delinder Coryell.

Moving to Richland, Washington (200 miles southeast of Seattle) in 1950 at the age of seven, it would be here where Coryell would officially begin his musical journey.

Finger-Style Guitar (1956) by Chet Atkins would be his first purchase as a young teen, before rock ‘n roll starting making its big push on the radio: Shirley & Lee singing “Let the Good Times Roll”, Fats Domino, Elvis Presley, & Bill Doggett’s timeless instrumental “Honky Tonk”.

At about 14 years old, Coryell would purchase his first guitar and amp, a solid-body black Silvertone, and began studying jazz guitar with local teacher John LaChappelle.

Playing in a number of rock ‘n roll bands in the area through his teens, Coryell still found himself drawn to the likes of jazz guitarists such as Johnny Smith, Barney Kessel, and Tal Farlow.

“I was trying to cover all the musical bases in hopes I might be able to work as a studio musician someday,” Coryell shared in his autobiography Improvising: My Life In Music.

Moving to Yakima in 1961 after graduating high school and being accepted into the University of Washington, Coryell would join jazz lounge outfit Chuck Mahaffay & the Individuals, recording on his first LP release The Girl from Ipanema, released in 1964.

Dropping out of college and moving to New York in 1965 in an effort to expand his musical mind, Coryell would purchase his signature Super Gibson 400, driving across the country and arriving in The Big Apple on September 3, 1965.

It would be here in New York where Coryell would begin making a name for himself on an international scale.  Immersed in the New York City jazz scene and growing counterculture, Coryell’s style of play would grab the attention of Chico Hamilton and producer Bob Thiele, unleashing Coryell on Chico Hamilton’s The Dealer introducing Larry Coryell in 1966.

In an effort to combine his jazz roots and the rock ‘n roll scene, The Free Spirits were formed, recording Out of Sight and Sound (1967), with a concerted and focused effort to meld genres.

Coryell would say, “it was probably quite wrong-headed, but we were trying to see what would happen if you put John Coltrane and The Beatles in the same room together.”

The fusion sound would take form even further when Coryell was recruited to join The Gary Burton Quartet, further exposing Coryell’s style of play not only in the jazz scene, but the rock and pop scene as well.

Featured spots were offered on numerous albums by other bands and artists through 1968, including a guest spot on Jimi Hendrix’s “Voodoo Chile” for Electric Ladyland that Coryell turned down, later jokingly stating, “I didn’t turn him down because I was scared, I turned him down because I was really scared.”  In reality, Coryell states that there was nothing he could really add to the track as Hendrix was covering it all.

Leaving the Gary Burton Quartet, and turning down Tony Williams to join The Tony Williams Lifetime, he decided to begin his solo career.

The formation of his fusion group The Eleventh House in late 1973 through 1976 is what most fans remember fondly, a funky space excursion of electricity and fire at the height of the fusion craze, showcasing virtuosity and dexterity.  Dubbed the “Godfather of Fusion” decades later, Larry Coryell into the 70’s would record and release albums every year into the 21st century, covering rock, jazz, blues, acoustic, and classical, collaborating with just about every contemporary icon along the way.

Concerning his place in history and semi-obscurity, Coryell had this story to share about it.“There are two states of mind that we as artists can adopt when operating on a conscious level.  One is what I call the “Salieri consciousness,” and the other is the “Mozart consciousness.”  If you recall the playAmadeus(later made into a movie), there was this composer, a contemporary of Mozart’s, named Salieri.  Salieri was a pretty successful musician in his time, got some good gigs, and had his music played extensively.  Because of all this, he had a good reputation.  But Mozart was always getting better gigs, was more successful, and when the man on the street would hum the beginning of one of Mozart’s melodies, the second man on the street would finish the phrase!  Mozart was, in short, a better musician-a genius.  Salieri found this hard to take and was always comparing himself to Mozart. He fretted about whether or not he measured up to Mozart, not only in creativity, but in all aspects of the music game.  Well, we can all be like Salieri: full of ego and constantly worrying about how we’re doing.  Or we can be like Mozart and live in the moment- what am I composing now, what will I compose next?  What was done last week or last year is of no immediate consequence; let’s go straight ahead and dive headlong into the music-making process. 

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"The music comes first.  Peace.”

Larry Coryell passed away in 2017 at the age of 73, leaving behind a legacy of music and inspiration.