Jazz legend Larry Coryell dies

Legendary guitarist Larry Coryell died Sunday (February 19) at the age of 73 in his New York City hotel room. Coryell, who passed away in his sleep from natural causes, had performed his last two shows this past weekend at the city's Iridium Jazz Club.

Known as the “Godfather of Fusion”, Coryell was a pioneer of jazz-rock. He made his mark in the music world with his highly acclaimed solo work, releasing more than 60 solo albums in his lifetime. 

Coryell performed with mid-'70s powerhouse fusion band The Eleventh House and collaborated with jazz greats including Miles Davis, Gary Burton, Alphonse Mouzon, Ron Carter and Chet Baker.

Though his commercial fame didn't match some of his '60s-'70s guitar contemporaries, Coryell continued to tour the world and had planned an extensive 2017 summer tour with a reformed The Eleventh House.

His final original works included operas based on Leo Tolstoy's “War and Peace” and “Anna Karenina” and James Joyce's “Ulysses”.

Source: Billboard