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Larry Koonse

Biography

Born into a musical family, Larry has been playing the guitar since he was seven years old. In his early years he studied with legendary guitar master Jimmy Wyble, and at the age of fifteen he recorded an album with his father, guitarist Dave Koonse, entitled Dave and Larry Koonse; father and son jazz guitars. In 1984, Larry was the first recipient of a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at the University of Southern California.

Immediately after graduating from USC Larry toured extensively for six years as a member of the John Dankworth quartet, traveling all across the globe and backing up Cleo Laine. He is currently a member of Billy Child’s landmark chamber sextet which recently released its second CD titled Autumn: In Moving Pictures. He has received multiple grammy nominations for the aforementioned CD (jazz album of the year and instrumental performance); for the sextet’s first release Lyric (ensemble performance); and for two Luciana Souza releases (best vocal album for Tide and Book of Chet).

Larry has recently joined a trio formed by jazz vocalist Tierney Sutton which includes the great flautist Hubert Laws. The group plans to record their debut recording in the Fall. He has also toured with Mel Torme, Bob Brookmeyer, Billy Childs, John Patitucci, David Friesen, Karrin Allyson, Luciana Souza, Natalie Cole, Bob Mintzer, Tierney Sutton, Peter Erskine, Hubert Laws, Warne Marsh and was a featured performer with the Percy Faith Orchestra on a tour of Japan.

At the invitation of Nelson Mandela and UNICEF, Larry traveled to South Africa to perform for the first annual SAMIX festival with the Steve Houghton quintet. He also performed with Gary Willis in Sao Paulo for a government sponsored concert at SESC Ipiranga. In his travels, he has performed at Carnegie Hall, the Academy of Music, Disney Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and has been a featured soloist with the L.A. Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and many other orchestras throughout the world.

Having been featured on over 300 albums, Larry has recorded with Cleo Laine, Al Hirt, Jimmy Rowles, Bob Brookmeyer, Luciana Souza, Lee Konitz, Larry Goldings, Mel Torme, Alan Broadbent, Ray Brown, Bill Perkins, Toots Thielemanns, Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt, David Friesen, Bob Sheppard, Warne Marsh, Charlie Haden, Natalie Cole and many other jazz artists. His solo guitar work was featured throughout “Crazy”, a feature film chronicling the life of the great guitarist Hank Garland.

The founder of the Player’s School, the renown bassist Jeff Berlin, contacted Larry in 1995 to write a guitar curriculum which is currently used for their program.

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Album Review

Lauren White: Making It Up As We Go Along

Read "Making It Up As We Go Along" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


With this, her fifth album, Los Angeles-based Renaissance lady, Lauren White offers eleven intriguing selections across a range of styles and sources, backed up by some of the city's best. While shrewdly avoiding the tried, true and over-recorded, White uses her subtle skills with taste and maturity. Interestingly, the album plays sequentially as if it were a performance. That is one of its attractions. Launching things, Steely Dan's “I'm Not the Same Without You" is a coy ...

6
Liner Notes

Josh Nelson: LA Stories: Live at Sam First

Read "Josh Nelson: LA Stories: Live at Sam First" reviewed by Robert Petersen


Josh Nelson's LA Stories: Live at Sam First was recorded in February 2022 at Sam First, which has quickly become the heartbeat of L.A.'s jazz community. With this album, Nelson continues a love letter to Los Angeles he began with his 2017 release, The Sky Remains, which was part of his Discovery Project multimedia series. In a city where history is too often forgotten, Nelson puts it center stage. In “Tiburcio," Nelson conjures the life of the 19th ...

3
Album Review

Judy Whitmore: Isn't It Romantic

Read "Isn't It Romantic" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


"Take a page out of Judy Whitmore's playbook for life, and be inspired by a true modern-day Renaissance woman--cabaret and recording artist, best-selling author, and licensed jet pilot--whose passion for adventure has audiences and readers across America abandoning their fears and reawakening to long-forgotten dreams and new desires." Thus Judy Whitmore, her web page. Ms. Whitmore, you may gather, is not a professional jazz singer Of course, it would be hard to know what exactly qualifies someone as ...

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Album Review

Judy Whitmore: Isn't It Romantic

Read "Isn't It Romantic" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Sometimes it is a pleasure to listen to an album simply because the quality of the music is so consistently gratifying. And if the music is sung as well as Judy Whitmore sings it on Isn't It Romantic, well, that is icing on the cake, as are the superb performances by her supporting cast, especially pianist Tamir Hendelman and saxophonist Rickey Woodard. The music is taken for the most part from the Great American Songbook, and much ...

3
Album Review

Judy Whitmore: Isn't It Romantic

Read "Isn't It Romantic" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


It seems that for most singers at some point in their career, delving into the Great American Songbook is “de rigueur." And why is that? Perhaps it's because the melodies are captivating, the lyrics are meaningful, and the quality of the compositions has proven to be timeless. In any event singer Judy Whitmore has added her name to that long list of vocalists who have taken the up the challenge with her third release. There are ...

3
Album Review

Gary Brumburgh: Full Circle

Read "Full Circle" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


A recording dedicated to New York theater and a high school music teacher. Ho, boy, one thinks. “What could go wrong?" Actually, not much. Vocalist Gary Brumburgh is, all snobbery aside, a very pleasant surprise. He swings. He is plenty hip. He has an attractive style and a pleasant, companionable voice. So, what good can come of Nazareth (or anywhere else, for that matter), On Circle, plenty. This is a Friday- afternoon kind of recording, good for unwinding and the ...

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Album Review

Gary Brumburgh: Full Circle

Read "Full Circle" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Gary Brumburgh is living proof that a talented singer can sustain a respectable career in music without becoming a “star." Even though he's not a household name—or anywhere near it—Brumburgh performed in musical productions from dinner theatres to summer stock, concert stages to casinos for more than two decades before changing direction in 2003 to focus on jazz. Full Circle, Brumburgh's third album as a jazz vocalist, consists of eleven tunes he has sung in various musical productions, bedecked in ...

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Performance / Tour

Tessa Souter Quartet Featuring Guitarist Larry Koonse at the Jazz Bakery Friday & Saturday, September 21 & 22 Sets at 8PM & 9.30PM

Tessa Souter Quartet Featuring Guitarist Larry Koonse at the Jazz Bakery Friday & Saturday, September 21 & 22 Sets at 8PM & 9.30PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Following her recent SOLD OUT performances at the Blue Note, New York,Rochester International Jazz Festival and Pizza on the Park, London, and successful debuts at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage and Philadelphia Art Museum Tessa Souter debuts at the Jazz Bakery, Los Angeles on Friday & Saturday, September 21 & 22 Cover $25 (half price deals for students under 21, check web site) Jazz Bakery 3233 Helms Ave. Culver City Los Angeles, CA 90034 ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Freedom Jazz Dance

Laurelwood Records
2025

buy

Making It Up As We Go...

Cafe Pacific Records
2024

buy

Isn't It Romantic

Arden House Music
2023

buy

My Story In Song

Herron Song Records
2023

buy

LA Stories: Live at...

Sam First Records
2023

buy

Full Circle

Cafe Pacific Records
2022

buy

Gong's Market

From: The Pyramid Factor
By Larry Koonse

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