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| Larry Coryell at Catalina's with Lenny White and Victor Bailey A guitarist's guitarist, Larry Coryell visits Los Angeles with two other fusion heavyweights, drummer Lenny White and bassist Victor Bailey. White is best-known for his years with Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke and Al DiMeola in Return To Forever, plus his stellar contribution to Miles Davis's epochal "Bitches Brew". Victor Bailey took over the bassist spot from Jaco Pastorius in Weather Report and toured extensively with Madonna. Dubbed "the godfather of fusion" by one of his most celebrated disciples, Al Di Meola, guitarist Larry Coryell has been recently asserting his guitar authority in a more straight-ahead context, but with this trio, who knows what to expect. You can hear this fusion trio at Catalina Bar & Grill, 6725 West Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles on the 1st through 4th of September. Dr. Billy Taylor says of Coryell "[Larry] plays all the styles, Latin, jazz-rock, straight ahead jazz, European classical music, you name it, he's a master of it." Billy further emphasizes that Coryell "takes all of the elements that are a part of the great guitar literature and kind of puts them into a special style" Victor Bailey was born in Philadelphia, on March 27, 1960. Starting off on drums as a school kid, Bailey switched to bass, joining a local band. Bailey recognised his affinity for the bass. He enrolled successfully into the Berklee College of Music. Throughout the mid 90's, Bailey toured with pop astar Madonna. In 1997 Victor joined his mentor, Joe Zawinul, in his group, The Zawinul Syndicate. Bailey stayed with that group for three and a half years Lenny White is still best-known for being part of Chick Corea's Return To Forever in the 1970's although he had already been playing regularly with Jackie McLean (1968) and recording "Bitches Brew" with Miles Davis in 1969. White has worked with jazz greats including Freddie Hubbard, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Gato Barbieri, Gil Evans, Stanley Clarke and Stan Getz among others. As a member of Return To Forever during 1973-76, White gained a strong reputation as one of the top fusion drummers, but he was always versatile enough to play in many settings. From a review of Larry's 2004 release , Tricycles - "Coryell is virtually singing through his instrument. His focus on sonority and lush harmonic extrapolations is given weight by his rhythm section, who dance and weave around one another as a unit. The balance of Tricycles is its most startling aspect. These cats sound like they've been playing together for decades. Nuance, impression, and subtle suggestion are all incorporated in the mix for a wonderful melodic approach to modern creative jazz. " Thom Jurek, All Music Guide write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |