T H E C R I T I C S "Probably the most adventurous, daring and exciting guitarist playing rock or jazz is Larry Coryell." -- East Village Other (1969) "...without question the most inventive and original guitarist to appear since Charlie Christian." -- New Yorker / Whitney Balliet (1969) "It is super rock, and may be one of the most important things to happen to rock this year." -- New York Times / Mike Kahn (1969) "He is now a guitar player’s guitar player" -- Bob Palmer (1971) "Coryell is perhaps the most original guitarist around... Lord, the wonderfully fresh things he plays!" -- Down Beat (1978) "the stormmaker" -- Gary Giddins (1978) "...high volume and fast fingerwork..." -- The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (1983) "Though Larry Coryell is one of the most creative and accomplished modern electric guitarists, he has never been as popular as many less capable but better promoted musicians." -- The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (1985) "...high velocity runs with heavy-metal chord patterns." -- The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (1985) "...beautiful, intelligent music with guts and urgency." -- The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide (1985) "Coryell has marvelous skills; he can play entrancing melodies, lightning fast phrases, spectacular solos or soothing statements. He's equally masterful on electric or acoustic, and has creatively used wah-wah pedals, attachments, distortion, dissonance and feedback." -- All-Music Guide / Ron Wynn "A major player on the scene for the past 30 years, he has earned critical accolades and the respect of his contemporaries while influencing a generation of guitar players with his combination of blazing speed, unerring sense of swing, taste, finesse and a brilliant, blues-inspired style." -- Shanachi Records (1996)
Dubbed "the godfather of fusion" by one of his most celebrated disciples, Al Di Meola, guitarist Larry Coryell continues to flaunt his fabled chops in a more straight-ahead context. His latest for Shanachie, Spaces Revisited, is a welcome return to guitar hero form after a few years of courting NAC audiences with decidedly less challenging material. A kind of sequel to his landmark 1970 recording Spaces (with Billy Cobham, John McLaughlin, Miroslav Vitous and Chick Corea), Spaces Revisited features Coryell going toe-to-toe with gypsy guitar phenomenon Bireli Lagrene against a percolating, swinging backdrop provided by Cobham and Cameroonian bass sensation Richard Bona.” -- |
