Over het album

The wheel has come full circle with the album “Last Call”, featuring the duo of Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine. This live recording from the Philharmonie in Berlin captures the culmination of an evening in January 2017 under the banner “Art of Duo” in Siggi Loch’s “Jazz at Berlin Philharmonic” series. It also marks the two guitarists’ return after four decades to the scene of one of their very first major triumphs. The moment when they stepped forward and performed as a duo at the Berlin Jazztage in 1976 was hailed by “Die Zeit” as possibly the high point of the whole festival. It was a decisive step in what would become a highly successful collaboration.
 
Coryell and Catherine were born less than six months apart during the Second World War. Texas-born Coryell and London-born Catherine have different musical heritages, but their affinity and above all their complementarity shone through every time they played together, and particularly as a duo. They toured extensively in both Europe and the Americas in the late 1970s, and made two superb studio albums which have definitely stood the test of time: “Twin House” (Atlantic, 1977) and the very fittingly named “Splendid” (Elektra, 1978). Both had the same producer, credited on the sleeves of the LP’s as “Siegfried E. Loch”.
 
The evening of 24 January 2017 found both guitarists on ebullient form, as can be heard right from the opening track. With Larry Coryell on acoustic guitar and Philip Catherine on electric, they launch themselves once more into the arpeggiated work-outs of “Miss Julie”- the opening track of “Twin House” - with a verve and energy which belies their years. They play four numbers as a duo, followed by first-time appearances of duos consisting of Philip Catherine and pianist Jan Lundgren and then of Larry Coryell with bassist Lars Danielsson, plus a valedictory jam on “Green Dolphin Street” with all four of these musicians plus trumpeter Paolo Fresu.
 
The palpable exuberance of this concert is now tinged with sadness: this was to be Larry Coryell’s very last appearance in a concert hall. Four weeks later in New York, Coryell passed away at the age of just 73. So “Last Call” presents the listener with the last example of something very special indeed: what Siggi Loch once described as the “creative compatibility, the enthusiasm and mutual understanding” of two very great guitarists, Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine.