Larry Willis: The ‘Beggars and Stealers’ Story
Larry Willis was the one of many excellent unsung heroes in the history of jazz. He passed away Sunday, September 29, at the age of 76. During his time, he played piano and composed great music, recorded 22 albums under his name, and was part of three dozen other recordings, including four with Jerry Gonzalez and the Ft. Apache Band, two with Nat Adderley, and albums with Roy Hargrove, Carla Bley, Jackie McLean, Blood, Sweat and Tears, Carmen McRae, Lee Morgan, Woody Shaw, and David “Fathead” Newman, among others.
Willis first surfaced for most of us with Hugh Masekela in 1966 and recorded six albums with him through 2012.
In 1983, Nat Adderley brought his quintet to Tampa for taping of an edition of Orange Blossom Bebop, a series curated by Cam Dilley at WEDU-TV (others in the series included, Flip Phillips, Ira Sullivan, and Idrees Sulieman). The band for the Adderley set was: Nat Adderley, cornet; Sonny Fortune, alto saxophone; Larry Willis, piano; Walter Booker, bass; and Jimmy Cobb, drums — heavy company.
An autograph junkie, I hauled half a dozen albums with me to get them autographed after the show. Willis signed Inner Crisis (1973) for me, his second solo album. Then I handed him a copy of Robin Kenyatta’s Beggars and Stealers, a Muse album recorded live in 1969 but not released until 1975. (Willis had recorded previously with Kenyatta on Gypsy Man from 1973.) Immediately Willis hollered, “HEY, BOOK, LOOK AT THIS!” Neither Willis or Booker had any idea this album existed, and obviously they’d never received a cent for it. They laughed and signed it anyway.
Apparently, the title was a self-fulfilling prophesy.
