Larry Willis was a jazz composer and pianist who worked in a range of styles crossing jazz fusion, bebop, Afro-Cuban jazz and avant-garde.

Born in New York in 1940, Willis studied at the Manhattan School of Music in the early 1960s and went on to play with Jackie McLean and Hugh Masekela. After a foray into opera singing he made his first jazz recording in 1965, appearing on McLean's 'Right Now!' with two of his own compositions. Over the course of the '60s he also performed with Stan Getz and Kai Winding, recording with Robin Kenyatta in '69.

The 1970s saw Willis turn to the keyboard and incorporate elements of fusion into his playing. For several years he played for Blood, Sweat & Tears as well as playing in sessions with Cannonball Adderley, Richard 'Groove' Holmes, Earl May, Joe Henderson, and Masekela.

By the '80s Willis was playing bebop and he recorded with Carla Bley, Nat Adderley and David 'Fathead' Newman and in 1986 joined Woody Shaw's quintet. In 2011 Willis received the Don Redman Award and in 2012 he was given the Benny Golson Jazz Master Award at Howard University.

Willis died on September 29th 2019, aged 76.

Larry Willis

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