Larry Willis

Larry Willis (fully Lawrence Elliott Willis, born December 20, 1940 in New York City ) is an American jazz pianist and composer.

Willis attended the New York 's High School of Music and Art and then the Manhattan School of Music. He began his musical career as a singer and performed at the age of seventeen years as a chorister in an opera by Aaron Copland with Leonard Bernstein on.

Eighteen- year-old he discovered his interest in jazz music and began self-taught to learn to play the piano. He became a pupil of John Mehegan, worked with René McLean and joined in it regularly with Jackie McLean on the 1965 the first recording enabled him on Blue Note Records. Since then he has played a more than three hundred recordings and 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 worked as a rock and pop pianist, playing electric piano, - among others 1970-1978 he was a pianist of the band Blood, Sweat & Tears -, arranger, inter alia, Roy Hargrove, Vanessa Rubin and Joe Ford and composer. For the Florida Southern College Symphony Orchestra, he composed a four-part orchestral suite. He leads his own jazz trio and quintet.

Stylistically, it covers the range from Creative Jazz fusion to rock, and combines this with soul, gospel and funk elements.

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
  • 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 Rick Schmidt Strings, 2003
  • The Powers of Two 1 2 with Paul Murphy, 2004 and 2006
  • The Big Push 2006
Eddie Henderson (musician) Paul Murphy (musician) Joe Ford (musician) Integrated Authority File
499413
de