Murali Coryell - Mr. Senator (2016)

Son of jazz-rock fusion guitar legend Larry Coryell and author/actress Julie Coryell, contemporary soul blues artist Murali Coryell grew up surrounded by great music - by the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Miles Davis and Carlos Santana. Murali began playing drums at age 8 and continued through junior high school. He started playing guitar after discovering the blues in his early teens. "I was into the music of Led Zeppelin, particularly a minor blues tune called 'Since I've Been Loving You'. My dad told me if I wanted to hearsome REAL blues to get B.B. King's 'Live At The Regal' which to this day, I consider one of the greatest recordings ever made. The emotion and sadness in B.B. King's voice and guitar really spoke to me. That's When I first picked up a guitar." He took lessons for a while but picked up most of what he learned from listening to the music of other blues guitar greats...besides B.B., from early Clapton, Albert Collins, Jimi Hendrix and Albert King.

The big turning point in Murali's musical career came at age 15 when he attended the National Guitar Summer Workshop in Connecticut. "For the first time in my life I got serious about my music. I started playing all the time. I got into jazz." He joined a jazz ensemble at college, studied classical guitar and graduated with a degree in music theory and composition. He founded a soul/blues band, The Ambassadors, in upstate New York in the late 80s. The band quickly became a regional favorite in New York's Hudson Valley area. In the summer of '94, while a faculty member at the Guitar Workshop, Murali met Duke Robillard who was teaching a master class. Robillard heard me sing at a concert and asked to sit in with my band. He called me a month later and hired me as second guitarist for his upcoming world tour. He featured me on a couple of vocal tunes, Ray Charles' 'I Got A Woman' and Albert King's 'The Hunter'". Soon after, Murali was signed by the fledgling Big Mo Records label as a solo artist resulting in his Stax/Volt influenced debut CD, “Eyes Wide Open” In 1999 Murali recorded “2120” for Marshall Chess' CZYZ label. Rolling Stone magazine named Murali “One promising new hound”. Since that time he's released several albums including 2003's "Strong As I Need To Be", 2005's "The Future Of Blues", the solo
acoustic album "Don't Blame It On Me" in 2007, 2008's "The Same Damn Thing" and 2009's "Sugar Lips" as well as a collaboration with his father Larry and brother Julian "The Coryells" (2000/Chesky Records).

In additon to performing with his own group, Murali has toured as a featured artist with award winning blues artist Joe Louis Walker, Saxophonist Bill Evans and his father, jazz guitar legend Larry Coryell.