S. Victor Aren of Something Else! reviews Larry Coryell’s “The Lift”: “Though he’s since built up equally impressive credentials as a post-bop guitarist, Coryell’s been in a fusion state of mind lately. He’s going to turn 70 next month but shows not even a trace of slowing down. If anything, he’s been revitalized on his [...]
Daniel Erickson of Muzikreviews.com reviews Throttle Elevator Music and likes what he hears: “Throttle Elevator Music is one thing you should take notice of. They’ve managed to combine rock, punk, and jazz together to make a unique but tasty concoction… And, it feels good to say this; this band isn’t really anything I’ve heard before. [...]
Coryell has made several returns to his fusion beginnings over the years, but it took this little house band from Berkeley to bring him back with the full-on fire, fury and spirit or those pioneering times. You don’t even have to be a fan of his or a guitar afficionado to dig this disc; anyone [...]
The last thing you hear on Larry Coryell’s latest is a voice, presumably Coryell’s, saying, “It sounded so great, man, I got spaced out and forgot to look at the music.” This provides a summation of the record that bursts with positive energy. With the Wide Hive Players, which recalls Coryell’s frist Eleventh house record, [...]
After 45 years of making records, Larry Coryell may have just cut his best one ever. Larry Coryell with the Wide Hive Players is a collaboration with this Bay Area-based rhythm and horn section, and the results are astonishing. Throughout the 13 tracks, Coryell raises his freak-flag high and ably resurrects the sound of pre-Mahavishnu fusion with style and precision. The correct elements are here – slightly grungy guitar tones, funky brass arrangements, sexy Fender Rhodes piano licks, and grooves to die for.
Master of trombone, Phil Ranelin, forms a solid gold union with stellar percussionist Big Black and phenomenal bassist Henry Franklin to create the makings for the fire-filled jazz sucker punch that is Perseverance. The album takes you straight to a low-lit New York City jazz lounge. You can practically taste the smoke hanging in the air. This is Ranelin’s [...]
“Master of trombone, Phil Ranelin, forms a solid gold union with stellar percussionist Big Black and phenomenal bassist Henry Franklin to create the makings for the fire-filled jazz sucker punch that is Perseverance. The album takes you straight to a low-lit New York City jazz lounge. You can practically taste the smoke hanging in the [...]
“In Search of the One,” the first song on trombonist Phil Ranelin’s new album, “Perseverance,” could easily have been called “Echoes of Miles.” It’s not that Ranelin apes Miles Davis’ music. Not even close. But he plays with a restrained elegance, just as Miles did. And on the Latin-flavored “In Search of the One,” which [...]
“The players are tightly focused on a modal groove with Ranelin and Washington engaged in gorgeous interplay with killer work from Black and Franklin, especially on the latter tune, which also features a stellar bass clarinet solo by Louis Van Taylor. The Afro-Latin “Song for Velader” contains beautiful front line work. The Spanish-tinged “Moorish” is [...]
Coryell has made several returns to his fusion beginnings over the years, but it took this little house band from Berkeley to bring him back with the full in fire, fury and spirit or those pioneering times. — All About Jazz
While we’ve talked about a lot of fusion guitarists over the last five years, this is about a new album by the first one. That’s right, though John McLaughlin is widely regarded as the guy who shaped and defined jazz-rock guitar, no one was successfully reconciling the two elements into a coherent, identifiable playing style [...]
