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Larry Ellis Jr/jazzplaya / Blog

my musical history

I suppose, it might seem to some that making music, being a musician, is some complicated thing. I believe when you see the music, feel the music, hear the music, its not really that difficult. I’m not saying that there aren’t hard things about "the music business" , there are always things to go through. But the pure act of making music is beautiful in its simplicity. Larry Ellis jr is simple, I believe music is a spiritual gift, we are created to" enjoy it" play it” ‘write it “compose it”. My grandfather and all his brothers were all musicians, they could all play all instruments, my grand pop played the piano mostly, ever since I was three I would sit and BANG on the piano. Then at six I took lessons. Eventually I began to learn chords and theory and from there it was all jazz. My first album, Herbie Hancock "Headhunters" second album Billy Cobham "'The Pleasant Pheasant”. Bob James, Joe Sample, Chick Corea, Bobby Lyle, George Duke, Ronnie Foster, You get the picture! In 1996 Larry wrote, arranged, produced his first cd , "My Rhythm" a collection of all original music, even though the cd only had limited success, it enabled larry and the band ,now known as "Southwind", to begin opening for major acts, which included, Gerald Albright,Boney James,Spyro Gyra, Pete Escavedo,Joshua Redman & The Braxton Brothers to name a few. Two years later, Larry was back again with another cd entitled "Impressions", 12 more original tracks, this cd received national airplay, and established Larry as a new and up and coming artist. In 2009, larry began work, on a new approach, since previous cds were all original music, Larry decided to cover some old rock and pop songs, the urban smooth jazz way, This effort resulted in a cd entitled "Your Favorites My Way" 10 songs done "my way". Because of the web, Larry is currently receiving international airplay, and is currently looking foward to a nationwide tour, where the fans will get to see firsthand the music they have only heard so far," on the radio". Larry