RICHLAND, Wash. – When asked about his memories of life as an adolescent in eastern Washington, Larry Coryell’s eyes lit up.

Even after being away for 40 years he recalled, “It’s not at all like it was but I still remember it being beautiful with brown covered mountains.”

Coryell was in town for two jazz performances sponsored by the Tri-City Jazz Society Sept. 19 and 20 at the Battelle Auditorium. The society, founded in 1980, exists to support jazz in the Tri-Cities via festivals, concerts, dances and parties.

Coryell went on to tell of going to the Spud Nut Shop Thursday morning and was amazed at how they had expanded it since his childhood.

“I went there, and for a nickel played Elvis’ “Don’t Be Cruel” for the first time – it changed my life,” he said. “When I discovered that I could hear music my life changed.”

Then he tore into the intro to the song on his acoustic guitar.

“I also remember delivering papers to Sharon Tate – yes that Sharon Tate,” he said about one of his first jobs. Tate, a former Miss Richland, was murdered by members of the Manson family.

As with most people from the area, Coryell has many memories of the Columbia River – from jogging along its banks, to messing around with friends at the river during high school.

He said the river still has tremendous mystical appeal to him. He recalled an old Richland saying, “Rough as a dog,” and how it applied to the Columbia River.

Coryell then began talking about his craft.

“Music has been fantastic to me. It has given me a great life,” he said. “I really enjoy teaching now – passing on principles that are true.”

His former guitar instructor, John LaChappelle, who was present at both shows, undoubtedly planted some of those principles in him years ago. LaChappelle seemed to be almost as popular as Coryell, with numerous audience members waiting in line to great the famed teacher.

During Wednesday’s show the audience was treated to over two hours of guitar mastery, including several original dispersed with interpretations of jazz standards from heavyweights such as Duke Ellington and George Gershwin as well as blues and even a classical piece.

The jazz guitar legend brought out his wife, Tracey Piergross, to provide vocal accompaniment in both of the evenings sets. The first set saw her impress the audience with a stirring version of the theme song from the 1959 film “Black Orpheus.” 

In the second set, they performed a duet where she sang Tracy Chapman’s, “Give Me One Reason,” while Coryell sang the chorus of B.B. King’s, “Rock Me.”

For the finale, Coryell introduced Ravel’s Bolero by saying “it sounds like I take it through a Pakistani deli”. The familiar classic was given a fresh, defiantly Eastern twist and was nothing short of amazing.

Coryell reprised many of the same tunes Thursday evening, but with a rhythm section comprised of double bassist, Chuck Deardorf, and drummer, Milo Petersen, added a more urgent appeal to the songs.

Deardorf has performed with many of the jazz greats and is also a professor and director of jazz studies at Cornish College of the Arts.

Petersen, who has known Coryell for more than 40 years, has performed with Mose Allison and Elvin Jones and is the leader of Milo Petersen and the Jazz Disciples.

The trio also added several songs by the man Coryell referred to as the messiah of the jazz guitar, Wes Montgomery, as well as a couple by Thelonious Monk.

In a move that proves he is truly at peace with his status as a musician and wants to teach and inspire the next generation, Coryell invited a young man to the stage to perform with his rhythm section.

Gregg Belisle, 17, a music major at Columbia Basin College, proceeded to astound the audience. He tore through two songs, trading solos back and forth with Deardorf and Petersen.

After the show, Belisle claimed that he forgot everything the moment he took the stage, but it certainly appeared that he knew what he was doing. The fact that he has only studied the instrument for five years made it all that more impressive.

Coryell returned to the trio and ended the evening with a magical take on his original, “Space Revisited.”

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John Malgesini is a teacher at Umatilla High School, and a film and music critic for the EO.