The Mellow and Bluesy Groove: Larry Carlton


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Guitar Tricks Admin
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Joined: 09/28/05
Posts: 3,476
07/20/2011 9:36 pm


By sähkö (Own work) [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons


The mellow and bluesy groove of Larry Carlton
By Hunter60

“The expression of honesty and emotion best describes what I try to do when I pick up the guitar …”
-Larry Carlton on his playing style.

With a career that spans over forty years, Larry Carlton seems to be most at peace with guitar in his lap, crouching over the top, peering almost serenely at the strings, a sly smile creasing his lips. His eyes reveal a quiet calm and an almost transcendental sense of well being as he coaxes weaving streams of musical genius from the instrument. He woos the music easily, beckoning the listener into another place. And then, with the deftness of a slight of hand artist, you’re drawn into the groove; that Larry Carlton jazz groove. A groove that is incredibly easy to hear and almost impossible to comprehend. It is the Larry Carlton groove, one that you have probably admired many, many times before even if you had no idea whose hand was manifesting it.

Carlton was born in Torrence, California in May, 1948 and was quickly drawn to music. His first foray into the guitar was at the age of 6. By junior high school, Larry discovered jazz after spinning the album Moment Of Truth by The Gerald Wilson Big Band featuring jazz guitar legend Joe Pass. Through high school, he continued to explore jazz and discovered such celebrated musicians like Barney Kessel, Wes Montgomery and blues giant B.B.King. But Carlton found his most significant influence in saxophonist John Coltrane, especially his timeless 1962 release Ballads.

Throughout the early 60’s Larry took his musical journeyman-ship to the clubs in and around Los Angeles as well as spending time doing occasional studio gigs. He released his debut album, With A Little Help From My Friends, in 1968 and caught the ear of critics and fellow musicians. Shortly after the album hit, Carlton was given a spot with a group in L.A. known as the Going Thing , which recorded television and radio commercials. That same year, he toured with The Fifth Dimension. The following year, Carlton was appointed the musical director of the Emmy nominated children’s show Mrs. Alphabet. It became a great showcase for Larry as the character ‘Larry Guitar’.

At the turn of the decade, Carlton had become a well-regarded and solid session player on the West Coast and had provided solid guitar work for such pop stars like Vicki Carr, Andy Williams, Barbara Streisand and The Partridge Family. In 1971 he joined up with the jazz group The Crusaders and stayed with them until 1976. He kept himself busy touring and recording with The Crusaders, providing guitar work for several pop recordings of the day and recording his second solo album, Singing/Playing.

Perhaps his most memorable work from the 70’s were on Steely Dan’s The Royal Scam (Carlton provided the remarkable guitar solo on Kid Charlemagne –voted the third best guitar solo by the editors of Rolling Stone magazine) and Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark. Both of these works displayed his trademark jazz / bluesy sound and his work with a volume pedal.

After leaving The Crusaders, Carlton signed with Warner Brothers and released 6 discs throughout 1984. In 1985 he jumped labels to MCA where in 1986, he released 3 discs in one year including Discovery, an all-acoustic album. The disc included a remake of the Michael McDonald hit Minute By Minute that brought Carlton his first Grammy for Best Instrumental Pop Performance.

His live release, 1987’s Last Nite secured him a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance.

In 1988 while at work on the album On Solid Ground, Carlton became the victim of random violence when he was shot in the throat outside of his private studio in Los Angeles. The bullet pierced and shattered his vocal chords, leaving him with significant nerve damage. But Carlton engaged the intensive therapy with resolve and by 1989 had returned to music and completed his album. In the same year he formed HIP (Helping Innocent People) a non-profit group to assist victims of random gun violence.

“It was a very humbling experience. I was fortunate that nine months after the shooting, I was back to playing, if not better than ever, and had full use of my arm.”

In 1990, MCA released a collection of Carlton’s greatest hits entitled Collection Vol. 1. He released a collection of new tunes in the pop-centric, jazz tinged 1992 release Kid Gloves. However after Gloves, Carlton returned to a more blues based disc, one that he had begun in 1991. The result was 1993’s Renegade Gentleman.

After a tour supporting Gentleman, Carlton teamed up with another guitar great, Lee Ritenour, for 1995’s Larry and Lee, which garnered a Grammy Nomination. He continued to record solo work (and MCA released Vol.2 of The Collection in 1997) while joining up with Fourplay to replace Ritenour (after Ritenour departed the group to form his own label).

In 2001, Carlton and Steve Lukather joined forces for a tour in Japan, which resulted in the disc Live In Osaka. Carlton proved to be a very popular draw in Japan so he returned with Robben Ford in 2007 and recorded the disc Live In Tokyo.

In the mid-90’s, tiring of the L.A. music scene and longing for a more rural existence, Carlton sold his home in L.A. and relocated to a small town on the outskirts of Nashville. In an interview with the L.A. Times, Carlton explained “I was born and raised in Torrance, but my parents were Okies. As a kid, I’d go on vacations to farms in southeastern Oklahoma. We’d fish and hunt, and I’d ride horses and play along the rivers and creeks. I always loved that, and I wanted to have that kind of life as an adult.”

Aside from fulfilling his life long dream of living a country life, he has found the Nashville music scene much more satisfying. “It’s not clique-y like it can be in Los Angeles. They welcome you …”
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