Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
Group Members: Larry Coryell, Larry Coryell, Billy Cobham, Bireli Lagrene & Richard Bona, Larry Coryell Quartet, Larry Coryell / Miroslav Vitous Quartet, Larry Coryell, Billy Cognah, Bireli Lagrene & Rich, Jim Pepper, Bob Moses, Rakalam Bob Moses, Bob Moses/Tsziji Munoz, Bob Moses/Billy Martin, Larry Coryell/Alphonse Mouzon
All Music Guide:
The beginning of jazz-rock is commonly dated in the late '60s with the emergence of Blood, Sweat, & Tears, the Electric Flag, and Miles Davis' Bitches Brew, but in fact a few sporadic efforts were made at reconciling the two forms before that. The Free Spirits, a New York group featuring the guitar, songwriting, and singing of Larry Coryell, may have been the first. Augmenting the usual guitar-bass-drums rock lineup with the tenor saxophone of Jim Pepper, the quintet's backgrounds were decidedly jazz. But their sound was considerably closer to rock, investing the early psychedelic sounds of the day with relatively adventurous, jazz-derived improvisation, horns (or one, anyway), and elastic song structures. They weren't avant-garde by any means; on their LP, their innovations were tailored to fit songs with vocals lasting between two and three-and-a-half minutes. Their moderate use of jazz idioms within pop and rock frameworks was innovative for its day and has always been unfairly overlooked.
Wikipedia:
The Free Spirits were an American band who have been credited for being the first ever jazz-rock group. The band also incorporated elements of psychedelic rock, pop, and garage rock.
History
Formation
The band formed in New York as a jazz outfit and each member of the band (excluding rhythm guitar player Columbus "Chip" Baker) had a background in the music. According to the band's drummer, Bob Moses, it was the band's lead guitar player, Larry Coryell, who helped turn the group on to more rock-oriented music.
The band played several times in a New York club called the Scene, but made very little money from the shows, getting paid only ten dollars as a group per night. The band also got to perform shows with such acts as Mitch Ryder and The Rascals.
Disbandment
By 1967, Coryell left the band to play with Gary Burton. Moses also left the band after he felt he "knew that it wasn't going to be the same without Coryell". Members Peter and Baker formed a new group called Everything Is Everything and released a self-titled album. Moses later recorded with jazz artists such as Jack DeJohnette, Steve Swallow, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, and Coryell.
