"Larry Coryell, fusion pioneer and seasoned musical traveller between the worlds of rock, jazz, classical and Brazilian rhythms provided the innovative driving lines that reach rierce but lyrical climaxes . . . . Coryell offered up fat clear tones mindful of Wes Montgomery and Barney Kessel, as well as dazzling technique, crafty use of space and complex chord structures. The effect is almost orchestral in weight . . . Coryell generates a great deal of heat in his playing, an intensity matched by his obvious physical involvement with his music. . . . He's really at the top of the league in this crowded musical arena." - Toronto Star

Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, to parents who both played the piano. Consequently and fortunately, this began his interest as a musician, playing piano at the age of four and switching to ukelele at twelve. The inspiration of Barney Kessel and Wes Montgomery naturally led him to the electric guitar. By fifteen, he was playing rock and roll. In his twenties, Larry moved to New York and entered the jazz-rock fusion movement. He formed his first group called Foreplay with Steve Marcus and Mike Mandel, and then The Eleventh House.

Over the years, Larry has collaborated with Chico Hamilton, Gary Burton, John McLaughlin, Miroslav Vitous, Chick Corea, Billy Cobham, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins and Charles Mingus -- to name a few. Larry's musical expression ranges from avant-garde jazz to the adaptation of Stravinsky compositions for ballet. His concerts and workshops have taken him around the world. He is the consummate performer, teacher and musician. Larry Coryell exemplifies the declaration and odyssey of music at its best.

This three-part DVD series presents an intense and challenging study of jazz guitar ideas.

Volume Two:

• Creating the improvised line
• Substitute chords
• Importance of the minor/major 7th sound
• The jazz (ascending melodic) minor scale and related chords
• How to apply the jazz minor scale to standards
• Repositioning chords to fit single-note fingering options within the jazz minor spectrum
• Vocabulary of the improvised line
• Blues phrasing to a more sophisticated bebop type of line
• Guitaristic devices that advance the music, eg. string-bending, octaves and fingering
• How to play/improvise on Autumn Leaves as a solo guitar performance, or within a small group context
• More involved chords and improvisation with John Coltrane's "Moment of Notice"

70 minutes - Level 3/4 - Detailed tab/music PDF file on the DVD

Review: This isn't a beginners course and you'll need to know what was in Volume One before doing this course. As a player and teacher, I can tell you there's hundreds of guitar DVD out there (I've given up watching them now as there are so many bad ones it's a joke trying to review them all for students). This is one of the best. Larry is a great communicator and these DVDs are a very good source of materials if you want to get into fusion and jazz. Players wanting to do the Satriani / Vai thing would do well to pay attention and see the sources of much of that style of playing here in fusion. You don't have to finger tap all the time - you'll see some seriously fast conventional playing on this DVD.

Summary - an excellent DVD for studying the basics of jazz and fusion. Try "Non Nonsense Jazz Guitar" by Jimmy Bruno as well. Larry Coryell's book, "Jazz Guitar" from Guitar Player Publishing would go well with this DVD, although the DVD does come with a booklet and a full size 20 page one to download from the DVD's PDF file. There's a lot of good work to be done here. – C.R. Downing/Amazon Customer Review