Larry Coryell | Memorable Quotes

This article is dedicated to Larry Coryell who left us on February 19th 2017 at age 73. Thank you for the inspiration and the music, Sir.

On composing and improvisation: "We felt that we had to build the structure and then do the freedom within the structure, and if the structure was strong enough, the freedom within the structure would give us enough freedom to do what we wanted."

"I tried to change my philosophy and to make music first. But I know that very often I will fall back into 'guitaristics' and techniques, and I accept that."

"It's really hard to do an imitation of a Charlie Parker solo, but by the same token, it's not that easy to do an imitation of Eric Clapton when he was on the Bluesbreakers trip."

Larry Coryell (pic source: Wikipedia)

On studying Wes Montgomery's solos: "I would listen to Wes Montgomery and not have any idea how he did it. Not the technique but just the mind. Not because I wanted to play like Wes, because that would be like asking a Ford to be a Rolls Royce."

"I would go out with the boys in the old days and laugh at Paul Desmond, just because I wanted to go along with my peer group, and now I really listen to him, and he can make me cry."

"Jazz goes beyond music -- it's enlightenment. Enlightened to those things which cannot be seen or felt. Rather than, 'Oh man, I boogied all night, and I threw up and had a great time getting loaded."

"There's a big difference between performing and creating, and I feel the really great jazz performers, even though as a sidelight they may be entertaining, feel it their duty to create."

"That was what made Cream so great, they were considered a pop rock group but they were creators. When Cream came on, Eric Clapton never repeated himself, Jack Bruce never repeated himself, and Ginger Baker had to get some repetition going. But they were all creators."

"You can get down there and play four-four, but if you're not cooking, you're not creating."

"I think people are looking for enlightenment, not escape. And I think that enlightenment is just one degree beyond that musical escape that really gripped our musical fabric."

"That was Elvin Jones' philosophy, "You go up there and play like it's the last time you're ever going to play."  If there's one person in the club, he'll be up there playing up a storm."

"I've just been lucky enough to be around musicians who have given me the knowledge that I've gleaned from them. It lets me know who I am, and who I'm not."

On great musicians: "I think what they are projecting is the music which comes out of the cosmos and out of the earth, and they just allow themselves to be an antennae. All this music is in the earth, in the sky, and it comes through some people, their bodies, their hands, and their instruments, and what comes out is pure music."

On the ego: "Needless to say you've got to have some ego just to check into a motel, but ego is a double-edged sword. You can either fill a house with it or cut yourself."

"When I'm improvising I'm not conscious of anything I do, but when I'm practicing it's all mind. When I practice I'm all mind and when I'm improvising I'm all heart. I try to turn the mind off."

"You have to practice to use your mind in the woodshed in order to free your mind when you're up there onstage."

"Music is everybody's property."

"My calling on this planet is to be a searcher, in search of something new. But I won't be disappointed if on the day I die I don't find it -- at least I'll be searching."

Robben Ford Guitar Clinic 14th March 2010 | Review

Jet-lagged and appearing a little surprised at the unusually vociferous welcome at his sold-out guitar clinic, Robben Ford strapped on his black Sakashta and plugged straight into a Fender Super Reverb amp.  And for the next hour and a half, he proved once and for all that tone comes from the head, heart and hands.  The man exudes soul.

Describing his style as 'freeform but with a method', Robben began by talking about his early years studying the saxophone.  Growing up in the small town of Ukiah, CA, he listened to the local radio station, KUKI, "or kooky", as he says with a laugh. 

His parents also joined a record club.  "And in there was Ravel's Bolero and Brubeck's Take 5.  Take 5 was a big hit and that was what made me want to play the alto -- listening to Paul Desmond.  I played sax for 10 or 11 years but I'm a self-taught guitar player.  I learned to read music on the sax but somehow that never really transferred over to the guitar.  I taught myself by just beating on the guitar!"

Listening to the first Paul Butterfield Blues Band album featuring Mike Bloomfield proved to be turning point.  "For a while I sounded a lot like Bloomfield."

"I play this combination of folk-blues and jazz -- kind of a mushed-up style.  I had the pleasure of touring with Joni Mitchell and the pianist on the gig was Roger Kellaway.  I was playing on a piano backstage, doing my thing on a 12-bar blues, throwing in 13b9 chords.  Roger came in and stood there with his arms folded.  Roger started laughing and said, "Make up your mind, man!"  I never changed.  I doubt I learned a thing from that."

Elaborating further, Robben described his guitar style as 'fingerpainting'.  "You've got a white piece of paper and you kinda mush the paint around and see what comes of that.  And you must be expressive and make mistakes.  If you don't it comes from a place of technique and not from a place of feeling.  There are some great players out there, but I don't feel it."

When asked about his practice schedule, Robben replied, "There was a time I used to practice.  It was a very short time -- I did it for 6 months!  On the cover of the first Paul Butterfield Blues Band album was a picture of Bloomfield playing a 9th chord.  When I learned it, I just played the shit out of that chord!  I didn't know many chords at the time so I got hold of a chord book -- Mel Bay's Jazz Chords Vol. 1.  When I was playing with Charlie Musselwhite I started using all these chords in that band."   Robben then launched into an elaborate jazz-blues progression throwing in a multitude of chord substitutions into mix, before pausing at the end and exclaiming, "Shit, I've changed keys!"

"I learned some scales and some standard bebop licks.  You can pretty much boil everything down to  ii-V progressions.  It's actually not complicated -- the language of music is very simple, you can understand those things in a couple of weeks.  It's not like learning French that can take years."

Emphasizing the need for simplicity and the importance of finding one's own voice, Robben proferred, "People learn Herbie Hancock and Coltrane licks and they can blow your mind.  But will it ever evolve into their own voice?"

"Doing my own thing has kept me unique.  I had a good sense of time, rhythm and feel -- the fundamentals.  I always played loud and proud.  And sometimes strong and wrong!  I did a lot of screwing up real loud!"

Asked about his current amplification setup for tours, Robben expressed his preference for Fender Super Reverbs, explaining that his setup when he was with Jimmy Witherspoon's group consisted of a Gibson L5 archtop into a Super Reverb amp.  "With good speakers and matched tubes, the Super Reverb is my favorite.  The Gibson L5 was a big-bodied guitar.  Then I got a Gibson Super 400 which had an even bigger body.  I played on the treble pickup most of the time because I wanted it to sound like Miles Davis' trumpet."

Robben also offered his opinion on pedals.  "To find your sound, get rid of your pedals.  Take 'em away.  For a while at least.   With pedals, you're going to think that your sound is in your gear.  I didn't have pedals when I started out, so I didn't have that problem.  Pedals are the icing, not the cake so watch it with the effects."

Delving into his use of the diminished scale, Robben explained, "Larry Coryell told me about the half-tone/whole-tone scale.  I was about 18 or 19 and I asked him how he played all that out stuff.  I didn't know it was a diminished scale, but I started practicing it and made up a few of my own licks.  The b9 on the dominant 7th chord reminded me of Miles' playing." 

After a tasty demonstration of some lines that outlined the changes to a blues progression perfectly, Robben explained, "The diminished scale takes you very nicely to the IV chord in a blues. Eventually you'll find the common tones moving to the next chord.  You don't want to use it on the I chord, but you can use it on the IV and V chords.  The half-whole scale (based on the root of the chord) has served me well."

Concluding his clinic, Robben Ford had this to offer, "Ultimately music comes from inside you, not from outside yourself.  It's translated through you -- it's intangible.  I'd like to help people bridge that gap."

Electro Harmonix' Effectology Series Featuring Bill Ruppert

I'm really digging this series of vids put out by Electro-Harmonix called Effectology. Generating impossible sounds using only a guitar and EHX pedals, guitarist Bill Ruppert really puts the pedals through their paces with equally high doses of musicality and experimentation.

And this clip, 'Telstar' is one of my personal favorites.

Bill Ruppert is one of those great guitarists you've never heard of.

Born into a musical family -- his grandfather played drums for Benny Goodman no less -- Ruppert got his start on the clarinet before switching to guitar at age 12. Lessons with jazz guitar legend Larry Coryell soon followed.

In the early to mid 80's Ruppert was a first-call session guitarist in the Chicago area, at that time the 'Jingle Capital of the World'. He also possessed a knack for creating sound effects on the guitar which sometimes came in handy on these jingle sessions.

Said Ruppert in a 1996 interview, "I'd be called to do things like 'wrench falling out of a toolbox' or 'spaghetti falling off the end of a fork'."

An excellent rock/fusion guitarist with a fluid, legato style, Ruppert was almost signed to Mark Varney's Legato Records in the mid 90's. But because of Ruppert's extremely busy session schedule, Varney signed Frank Gambale instead.

Here's a guy I wish we could hear more of.

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