Legendary jazz -funk guitarist Larry Coryell has died aged 73

The “godfather of fusion”.

Legendary jazz and fusion guitarist Larry Coryell has died aged 73, Billboard reports.

One of the pioneers of jazz-rock, Coryell released over 60 albums as a leader, recording alongside the likes of Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Chico Hamilton and Herbie Mann, with whom he recorded the genre-defining Memphis Underground in 1969.

Playing with fusion powerhouse The Eleventh House throughout the ’70s – contemporaries of Mahavishnu Orchestra and Chick Corea’s Return To Forever – Coryell may not have been as well known as the era’s great pioneers, but his influence on the development of jazz and funk is undisputed.

As James Brown and Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins’ tweeted in a tribute to Coryell, “We lost another fusion that connected electricity with life.”

Listen to his virtuoso performance on ‘Chris’ from 1969 album Spaces below:

Photo: Larry Coryell Bandcamp