The Free Spirits

Updated on Nov 03, 2023

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Genres Jazz-rock Genre Jazz fusion		Years active 1965–1968

Labels Sunbeam Records, ABC Music Past members Larry Coryell Jim Pepper Bob Moses Chris Hills Columbus "Chip" Baker Origin New York City, New York, United States (1965) Albums Tokyo Live, Out of Sight and Sound, Live At The Scene: February 22nd 1967 Members John McLaughlin, Joey DeFrancesco, Dennis Chambers

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The Free Spirits were an American band who have been credited for being the first ever jazz-rock group. The band also incorporated elements of pop and garage rock.

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Formation

The band formed in New York as a jazz outfit and each member of the band (excluding rhythm guitar player Columbus "Chip" Baker) had a background in the music. According to the band's drummer, Bob Moses, it was the band's lead guitar player, Larry Coryell, who helped turn the group on to more rock-oriented music.

The band played several times in a New York club called 'The Scene', but made very little money from the shows, getting paid only ten dollars as a group per night. The band also got to perform shows with such acts as Mitch Ryder and The Rascals.

Disbandment

By 1967, Coryell left the band to play with Gary Burton. Moses also left the band to join Burton since he "knew that it wasn't going to be the same without Coryell". Original members Pepper, Hills and Baker, along with Lee Reinoehl on Hammand C-3, and both John Waller and Jim Zitro on drums, formed a new group called Everything Is Everything and released a self-titled album on Vanguard which included Pepper's composition, "Witchi Tai To". Moses later recorded with jazz artists such as Jack DeJohnette, Steve Swallow, Pat Metheny, Jaco Pastorius, and Coryell.