Larry Coryell, a guitarist known in the world of jazz as the “Godfather of Fusion,” has died at 73, according to Billboard. Jim Eigo, a jazz publicist, gave a statement of the guitarist’s death to the news outlet.
Coryell died of natural causes while he was sleeping in a hotel room in New York City. His survivors include his wife and his four children, as well as six grandchildren.
Coryell had been performing in the NYC Iridium Jazz Club over the weekend and had played two shows there before his death. Although 73, the guitarist had a tour in the plans for 2017, which he’d meant to take along with a revival of his old band, The Eleventh House.
The musician, who was from Galveston, Texas, was born April 2, 1943. When he was four, Coryell took up piano, moving on to guitar when he was a teenager. He reportedly thought that he was not talented enough to keep going with music, so he went to The University of Washington for journalism. However, he continued to learn guitar through private lessons.
Later, Coryell was to move to New York. He first appeared in a recording on The Dealer, an album by Chico Hamilton, after a while studying classical guitar.
From there, the guitarist started his own band, The Free Spirits, where he played sitar. A few years afterward Coryell was blending jazz with rock on solo pieces. John McLaughlin appeared in one of his albums, Spaces, which launched fusion jazz.
On Oct. 14 last year, Coryell had released an album, and another with Eleventh House is pending release in June.
Coryell was a prolific artist and had over 60 albums to his name. He was recognized for solo music and was among those who made early ventures into jazz-rock.
The musician was not, however, afraid to collaborate on his work. In the 1970s Coryell worked with The Eleventh House, and Billboard reports that he played jazz alongside names like Miles Davis and Chet Baker, Ron Carter and Gary Burton, and Alphonse Mouzon.
