Neil Larsen (born August 7, 1948) is an American jazz/jazz fusion keyboardist, musical arranger and composer. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Sarasota, Florida before relocating to New York and then, in 1977, Los Angeles.[2]
Larsen was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Sarasota, Florida.[2] He learned piano, drawing inspiration from jazz artists John Coltrane, Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Quartet, and from contemporary rock acts.[3]
In 1969, he was drafted to serve in the Vietnam War. During his time in Vietnam, he worked as a band director, co-ordinating musical entertainment for US armed forces personnel. After his discharge, he moved to New York to work as a musician.[3]
While in New York in the early 1970s, Larsen wrote television jingles and played on sessions for various recording artists.[4] He formed the band Full Moon with jazz guitarist Buzz Feiten, and their self-titled debut album was released in 1972. Larsen was briefly a member of the Soul Survivors. He contributed as keyboardist, writer and arranger on their 1974 self-titled album on the TSOP label. He began touring as a member of Gregg Allman's band in 1975.[3]
In 1977, Larsen relocated to Los Angeles,[2] where he played on sessions by producers such as Tommy LiPuma, Russ Titelman and Herb Alpert.[4] These projects led to Larsen signing with Alpert's record company, A&M Records,[2] for which he recorded on the Horizon label.[5] Larsen's debut studio album, Jungle Fever, was released in September 1978.[6] Larsen toured the US in support of the release with a band that included Feiten.[3]
The title track from his second studio album, High Gear, was nominated for the 1980 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.[7] The album peaked at number 153 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart in the US[8] and included musical contributions from Feiten, Michael Brecker, Steve Gadd and Paulinho da Costa.[2]
Larsen collaborated further with Feiten in the jazz–rock fusion group the Larsen-Feiten Band. A self-titled album The Larsen-Feiten Band was released in 1980 on Warner Bros. Records. He has also recorded and toured with guitarist Robben Ford,[2] who contributed to Larsen's 2007 album Orbit.[9]
From 1982 to 1985, he was a member of Kenny Loggins' touring band, playing keyboards and synthesizers.
His compositions have also been recorded by George Benson and Gregg Allman, among others.[2] Larsen took part in Miles Davis's Rubberband sessions in 1985–86, which were later released in 2019. His song "Carnival" was later adapted by Davis into the piece "Carnival Time".[10]
Larsen has worked as a session musician for many rock artists, including Rickie Lee Jones, George Harrison, Kenny Loggins and Don McLean.[2][11] He was the pianist and musical arranger for the 20th Century Fox Television show Boston Legal,[2] and musical director for jazz singer Al Jarreau.[3]
From 2008, he toured and recorded as a member of Leonard Cohen's band.[12] Larsen performed on Cohen's Old Ideas (2012) album and on the singer's final world tour, in 2012–13. Cohen regularly introduced him on stage as "today's foremost exponent of the Hammond B-3 organ".[13]
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