Larry Willis
Lawrence Elliott "Larry" Willis (born December 20, 1942 in New York City , † September 29, 2019 in Baltimore ) was an American jazz musician ( piano and keyboard ), composer and arranger .
Live and act
Willis, who was from Harlem , attended New York High School of Music and Art and then the Manhattan School of Music . He began his musical career as a singer and at the age of seventeen he appeared as a chorister in an opera by Aaron Copland under Leonard Bernstein . At the age of eighteen he discovered his interest in jazz music and began to learn to play the piano by himself. He became a student of John Mehegan , worked with René McLean and appeared regularly the following year with Jackie McLean , who made it possible for him to make his first record with Blue Note Records in 1965 .
Since then Willis has made more than three hundred recordings and has worked with jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie , Lee Morgan , Woody Shaw , Hugh Masekela , Julian Cannonball Adderley , Nat Adderley , Stan Getz , Art Blakey , Art Taylor , Clifford Jordan , Pharoah Sanders , Carmen McRae , Shirley Horn , Richard Holmes , Earl May , David Newman , Branford Marsalis , Alphonse Mouzon , Joe Henderson , Eddie Henderson , Paul Murphy and Carla Bley . He also directed his own jazz trio and quintet.
Willis also worked as a rock and pop pianist, played e-piano a . a. From 1970 to 1978 he was pianist for the band Blood, Sweat & Tears -, arranger a. a. active for Roy Hargrove , Vanessa Rubin and Joe Ford and as a composer. He composed a four-part orchestral suite for the Florida Southern College Symphony Orchestra. Stylistically, he covered the spectrum from creative jazz to fusion to rock and combined this with soul , gospel and funk elements.
Larry Willis died in Baltimore in September 2019 at the age of 76 of complications from diabetes .
Discography
- A New Kind of Soul , 1970
- Inner Crisis , 1973
- My Funny Valentine , 1988
- Just in Time , 1989
- Solo Spirit , 1992
- Tribute to Someone , 1993, et al. a. with Tom Williams
- Heavy Blue , 1994
- How Do You Keep the Music Playing , 1994
- Let's Play , 1994
- Unforgettable , 1995
- Serenade , 1995
- If Trees Could Talk with Hamiet Bluiett , 1999
- Every Rung Goes Higher , 2001
- Sunshower with Kash Killion , Steve Novosel , Paul Murphy , Steve Berrios , 2001
- Sanctuary with Joe Ford , Ray Codrington , Steve Novosel, Steve Berrios, Artie Sherman and the Rick Schmidt Strings, 2003
- The Powers of Two 1 + 2 with Paul Murphy, 2004 and 2006
- The Big Push , 2006
- Blue Fable , 2007
Individual evidence
- ↑ See also article ( Memento of January 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) from All About Jazz.
- ↑ Michael J. West: Larry Willis 1942-2019. JazzTimes, September 30, 2019, accessed October 1, 2019 .
Web links
- Works by and about Larry Willis in the catalog of the German National Library
- Larry Willis at Allmusic (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Willis, Larry |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Willis, Lawrence Elliott |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz pianist and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 20, 1942 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New York City |
| DATE OF DEATH | 29th September 2019 |
| Place of death | Baltimore |