Larry Carlton

This was the first time I'd seen virtuoso guitarist Larry Carlton live although I've been a fan since his days with the Jazz Crusaders in the early 70's and loved his work on `The Royal Scam' album which I have on vinyl. When I saw him play I realised what I'd been missing all these years. I've heard plenty of his recordings but to hear him play live was just music heaven! I have seen many great guitarists from jazz, rock and blues play live including Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Freddie King, Derek Trucks, George Benson, John Mclaughlin, Jeff Beck, Duke Robillard, Frank Zappa, Bob Brozman and many more but this was seriously the most outstanding performance out of all of them! To Larry and the trio it was just another regular gig but to me it was amazing music! Carlton is a 3 time Grammy award winner and has musical collaborations with jazz, rock and blues artists as well as writing film scores and TV themes but is probably best known for his jazz fusion style which is what an audience at the Blues Note expected to hear.


Carlton began with a couple of solo tunes which set the scene. One was called `Song for Katie' and was dedicated to his daughter. Next he brought his son Travis to the stage. Travis has been playing bass guitar with him for 5 years and at only 27 is already a monster in total command of his instrument! He played two outstanding solos during the set demonstrating his incredible technique but he could lay low when Larry was soloing laying down some solid grooves especially on the slow blues in C. Next he brought up the drummer, Gene Coye, also a young gun with formidable chops. On the last number he let it rip with a fantastic solo! The intensity of the music increased but then Carlton could bring it right back down again. He didn't announce many of the tunes and as he's recorded so many it was hard to remember what they all were. One was a haunting melody called `Sunrise' and then there was the groovy `Smiles and smiles to go'. there was also a great instrumental version of `Aja' originally recorded back in `76. Another tune sounded like `Cold duck time' but not quite. He uses a Gibson 335 for all numbers and gets a full clean sound and without having to play loud He was able to play powerful chord and leads in combination. There are many clones but only one Larry Carlton!