Song:Low-Lee-Tah
Album:Introducing The Eleventh House with Larry Coryell
Guitarist Larry Coryell was already well known when the jazz fusion band The Eleventh House was built around him. This was in 1973 around the time Weather Report and The Mahavishnu Orchestra were very successful. Though the success of The Eleventh House was curtailed by personnel changes and they were ultimately unsuccessful, the 1974 album Introducing is a must for fusion fans. Coryell started out in the mid-60s with Chico Hamilton and then Gary Burton. Then he signed with Vanguard Records and began recording as a leader. His best known album from this period was the 1970 album Spaces featuring fusion heavyweights John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, Miroslav Vitous and Billy Cobham. Coryell and pianist Mike Mandel grew up together in Yakima, WA and Mandel had played on a couple of Coryell's albums. Fusion music was hot so they decided to form The Eleventh House. They brought in trumpeter Randy Brecker who was a fusion pioneer himself, bassist Danny Trifan and drummer Alphonse Mouzon from Weather Report. Introducing was released in 1974 and today it is considered to be a classic of fusion music. It's available as a budget CD so it's worth getting. Then things began to fall apart. Brecker left first to tour with Billy Cobham and then to form The Brecker Brothers with his sax player brother Mike Brecker. Brecker did agree to produce the next Eleventh House album. He was replaced by Michael Lawrence. Trifan was replaced by John Lee. The 1975 album Level One wasn't as successful as the first album. Then Mouzon left and he was replaced by Lee's buddy Gerry Brown. The Eleventh House split up after the 1976 album Aspects didn't sell. Of course Coryell went back to his solo career. He formed a new band with Alphonse Mouzon called Coryell/Mouzon. They released the 1977 album Back Together Again on Atlantic. John Lee was in that band along with guitarist Philip Catherine who would be a frequent Coryell collaborator. The Eleventh House with Coryell, Mouzon, Brecker and Lee reunited for a 1999 tour but they didn't record. So The Eleventh House had a spotty history but Introducing is a must for fusion fans. Here's The Eleventh House performing Low-Lee-Tah in France 1974.
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