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Revision as of 01:47, 13 December 2007 by Photosman53 (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)For the football player of the same name see Larry Lee (football player).
Larry Lee is an American guitarist best known for his work with Al Green and Jimi Hendrix.
Lee was a long time friend of Hendrix's and in 1969 joined Hendrix's new band Gypsy Sun and Rainbows as rhythm guitar player. The newly formed band played the Woodstock Music Festival. Larry Lee joined Gypsy Sun and Rainbows a week before Woodstock occurred. Hendrix had called on a person who was close to him to join him as a second guitarist. Lee had only been back from the Vietnam war for two weeks before Hendrix called upon him. In concert, he seemed to have culture shock, as he performed with a head scarf around his face. Lee preferred to play a Gibson Les Paul guitar. Shortly after Woodstock Larry left the band.
During the seventies, Lee acted as the band director and lead guitarist for Al Green's traveling band. He appeared on the Johnny Carson Show and television specials around the world with Green. Lee also was a songwriter and wrote for Stax Records early recording artists, the Astors. "Judy", a song he wrote during his days playing with Hendrix in Nashville was covered by Al Green and the Spidells. Lee briefly traveled with blues great Albert King. He said King fired him because his playing overshadowed King's.
In the eighties through the nineties, he teamed with his friend, Timothy Lee Matthews, and they collaborated on Matthews' CD Songs for the Greats. Matthews, co-writer of the classic blues song, "Breaking Up Somebody's Home," called Lee the consummate "sideman", Lee's distinctive complimentary rhythm and lead style can be heard on nine of the eleven songs on Matthews' CD.
Larry lived in Memphis, TN and for the last several years played in a local rock/blues outfit named "Elmo & the Shades". See the photos:
He died in Memphis, Tennessee on October 29 2007 after a year battling stomach cancer, and was buried at 11 a.m. on November 6 in West Tennessee Veterans Cemetery. He left wife Carrie Lee, daughter April D. Lee and three sons - Lawrence H. Lee III, Robert A. Lee, and Thomas Lee. He was also survived by his mother, Lula Lee, and five grandchildren.
Selective discography
- Jimi Hendrix Live at Woodstock (recorded 1969, released 1994)
- Jimi Hendrix South Saturn Delta (released 1997)
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience (Box Set) (released 2000)
- Al Green I'll Rise Again (1983)
