The Players
News and happenings from the world of your favourite guitarists
Guitarist was deeply saddened to hear that Larry Coryell had passed away on 19 February from natural causes in New York City, aged 73. Coryell was widely regarded as the godfather of fusion guitar, pioneering jazz-rock and releasing more than 60 solo albums during his career, in addition to his work with The Free Spirits and The Eleventh House.
Lili Fini Zanuck, the producer of Oscar-winning Driving Miss Daisy, will direct the Eric Clapton: A Life in 12 Bars documentary with Searching For Sugar Man producer John Battsek also involved. The film will look at the ups and downs of Clapton’s personal life over the years with the guitarist’s commitment to the blues forming a foundation. “It is indeed a melancholic victory lap, full of nostalgic myth, but always musically potent, always looking to the future,” Zanuck said. “Despite the fact that his path is strewn with tragedies, addiction and loss, he never fails to regain his bearings and continue to serve what he holds dearest: his music.” The makers also had unique access to Clapton’s personal archive of footage and artefacts from his 50-year career. Its release date is still TBA.
John Fogerty has been reunited with his 1969 Rickenbacker 325 after 44 years apart. It was his main instrument during the peak of his time leading Creedence Clearwater Revival, used at Woodstock and for writing and recording Creedence classics. After he gave it away in ’73/’74 following CCR’s dissolution, Fogerty’s wife secretly tracked down the guitar to surprise him with at Christmas. He’s now planning on using it live this month in his Las Vegas residency. “It’s crying out for me to make some new music on it,” he told Rolling Stone. “This guitar has had a journey with me and that will close the circle.” Dokken guitarist George Lynch has cautiously raised hopes that the band’s reunion for a six-date Japanese tour and just one US date last year might continue. “There’s a decent possibility that we could do something,” he told our sister magazine Total Guitar. “It would be limited, I believe. Anything beyond that right now is pure speculation.” Guitarist was lucky enough to see legends Duane Eddy and Jeff Beck share the stage at a special Gretsch gig during this year’s NAMM Show. The Observatory in Santa Ana hosted just 350 people to see Eddy and his band before Beck and Brit rockabilly man Darrel Higham played a blazing set of Gene Vincent classics with Jeff putting the new Gretsch Cliff Gallup Duo Jet (above) through its paces. The tantalising story of Cliff’s original was also recounted. Gretsch apparently tracked down the man Cliff sold the guitar to many years ago – only to discover his son, who had no clue of the instrument’s past, had sold the historic guitar just a few weeks beforehand in order to buy himself a drum kit!