Larry Carlton - Singing-Playing (1973)

 (U.S 1962 - Present)

Welcome to one of the rarest albums by a guitarist whose session work appears on more records than probably even he can remember! Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, The Crusaders, Al Jarreau, Minnie Fliperton, Ftandy Crawford, Christopher Cross, Bill Withers, Gap Mangione, Paul Anka, Michael McDonald, Mike Post, Barbra Streisand and many others have utilised his talents.

Larry Carlton was born on 2nd March 1948 in Torrance, California. Musically gifted from an early age, he was a great admirer of the great jazz guitarists like Wes Montgomery, Howard Roberts, Barney Kessel and Joe Pass - in fact Larry almost left college in his teens to replace Joe Pass in George Shearing's quintet.

Early musical employment included a spell in Disneyland's house band, a spell at NBC TV as a staff music writer in 1969, and numerous sessions - to quote one source: "three sessions a day, five days a week, and commanding triple-scale rates".

Larry Carlton (Centre) with the 
Crusaders

This, his first album recorded for Blue Thumb Records in 1973 (and later re-issued by MCA in 1980), introduced his own individual style of playing the Gibson 335 guitar, as well as featuring his singing on six of the eight tracks (on his later albums the vocals would become less of a feature). Relatively unknown writers provided the six songs (although "I Cry Mercy" was written and recorded by Smith Perkins Smith, an Island Records group whose guitarist Wayne Perkins was briefly touted to replace Mick Taylor in The Rolling Stones).

The trademark 'Carlton' guitar sound is evident throughout, as is his toneless singing. The tracks here have a more earthy feel, as opposed to the over-produced stylings he would later employ; however, the overall results are disappointing. The guitar playing is certainly impressive (especially the distortion-filled "Free Way"), but sadly there is not enough of it. Regardless, this is an interesting part of Carlton's beginnings and there are enough moments here that foreshadow his evolvement into one of the most distinctive voices in the history of electric guitar.

He was backed by some of the best session players of the day, with The Crusaders accompanying him on the two instrumental cuts. Inspired no doubt by these recordings, the long-established Jazz group recruited Carlton to their ranks and he featured on several of their mid-seventies albums, most notably "Those Southern Knights" in 1976. At the same time, along with The Crusaders and several others of the session alumni on this album he played on Joni Mitchell's commercial breakthrough albums "Court And Spark" and "The Hissing Of Summer Lawns", though arguably Larry's best playing for Mitchell is to be found on "Hejira".

Around this time he also played on Steely Dan albums, being responsible for the staggering boundary-defying solo on "Kid Charlemagne" on the "Royal Scam" album. The fluidity of his playing and the tastefulness with which he explores previously uncharted guitar territory is only rivalled by that of Lee Ritenour.

Larry left The Crusaders in 1977 to resume his solo recording career, and thus missed out on playing on their top 10 album and top 5 single "Street Life" in 1979. His debut album for Warner Brothers "Larry Carlton" was released in August 1978 and featured the instant classic "Point It Up", an instrumental which also featured on "Mr 335 Live - ln Japan". More excellent albums followed for Warner Brothers and MCA, winning him a brace of Grammies on the way, and Larry is currently with Dave Grusin's GRP Records.

ln 1988, he disturbed an intruder at his studio, who shot him in the neck. Emergency operations ensued, but thankfully after physiotherapy he eventually made a complete recovery, and returned to recording and touring. His most recent project has been the long-anticipated collaboration with Lee Ritenour, "Larry And Lee", having been released in spring 1995 on GRP Records.

This album is a snapshot of a young developing guitarist before he released those brilliant trilogy of jazz fusion albums for Warner Brothers (see the first of these on my blog HERE). 

This post consists of FLACS ripped from CD (quality is far superior to my vinyl copy, even though it is a Japanese release), and includes full album artwork for both media.  

Tracklist

01 Easy Evil  4:57

02 I Cry Mercy  3:15

03 One More Chance  3:13

04 With Respect to Coltrane  5:53

05 American Family  4:03

06 Wavin' and Smilin'  3:01

07 Captain, Captain  3:28

08 Free Way  6:15

Line-up/Musicians:
Backing Vocals – Chris Nelson, Julia Tillman Waters, Maxine Willard Waters, Oma Drake
Bass – Joe Osborne, Max Bennett, Reinie Press, Wilton Felder

Drums – "Stix" Hooper, Jim Gordon, John Guerin, Ron Tutt
Electric Piano – Joe Sample
Guitar, Vocals, Bass, Vibraphone, Percussion, Producer – Larry Carlton
Keyboards – Michael Omartian
Percussion – Alan Estes, Michael Mills

Larry Carlton Link (177Mb) New Link 05/09/2023