Photo courtesy WBA Entertainment Inc.
Think you haven’t heard Larry Carlton play guitar? You might be wrong about that. Carlton’s licks can be heard in television themes (“Hill Street Blues,” “Who’s the Boss?”), movies (“Against All Odds,” “Man on Fire,”) and on albums by heavyweights such as Michael Jackson, Steely Dan, Dolly Parton and Herb Alpert, as well as his own solo catalog, which includes more than 20 albums. There’s also his work as a member of the smooth jazz quartet Fourplay and the ’70s jazz fusion outfit The Crusaders. So yeah, you probably have heard Larry, but you didn’t realize it was him, and that’s OK. There’s still plenty of time to get to know what has made the 69-year-old former session guitarist a part of the soundtrack to our lives, whether we were aware of it or not.
“It’s [a] style that also developed by being around great musicians,” Carlton says when asked how extensive work as a session musician shaped his playing. “The more you do it around great musicians, you learn more about your craft, better techniques, better time … the expression, that was taught to me, that as a sideman in the studio, one of the great benefits to me was that I learned how to think like an arranger, rather than just like a guitar player.”
They Called Carlton ... Larry Carlton plays on recordings by: Glen Campbell | The Four Tops | The Partridge Family | Bill Withers | Billy Joel | Leo Sayer | Clint Black | Etta James | Neil Diamond | Lou Rawls | Barbra Streisand | Al Jarreau | Joan Baez | Sammy Davis Jr.
Carlton, known for being able to adapt his style for the occasion, credits his own sound to jazz and blues influences.
“I loved Joe Pass’ playing and Wes Montgomery, of course, in my teenage years,” he says. “I know that Joe Pass had a great influence on my approach to jazz. In the blues arena, Albert Collins, B.B. King and Albert King. All of that kind of melted together to define my style, jazz and blues.”
Carlton made some important contributions to the jazz-rock band Steely Dan early in their career. His work on the song “Kid Charlemagne” is considered among the best solo guitar performances on record. As Carlton remembers it, the notoriously particular duo confessed they weren’t convinced he was the right choice after he finished his first session for them on their album “Katy Lied.”
“Donald [Fagen, of Steely Dan] told me that they tried many after me, after I played the part,” Carlton says. “He said, ‘You know, we tried a bunch of guys, but there it is, that’s the rhythm part we were looking for.’ ” That was the start of a long musical relationship that has endured. When band member Walter Becker, who died in September, was unable to perform at recent Steely Dan concerts due to illness, Carlton sat in for him.
“So, there was a natural musical connection … between the way I play and the way they wanted to hear the music,” he says. “It was a great, in my opinion, musical marriage that went on to make some wonderful records. I’m very proud of those records I was involved in.”
In addition to his voluminous history as a sideman, Carlton has always released his own records. His first, “With a Little Help From My Friends,” was released in 1969. Since then, he’s put out more than 30 albums, with his latest, 2016’s “At Blue Note Tokyo,” recorded with Toto guitarist Steve Lukather. When asked which three of his recordings he would save while escaping an inferno, he laughs off the attempt to get him to name his favorites.
“Well, the first thing that comes to mind is that I wouldn’t grab any of my albums,” he says, laughing. “I know what I sound like.”
Carlton survived a real-life tragedy in the 1980s, when he was shot in the throat by an unknown teenage assailant at close range outside of his studio in Hollywood Hills. After years of painful recovery, Carlton overcame a temporary paralysis and the loss of a vocal cord to return to form. He coughs and clears his throat when asked about the incident.
“Well, it’ll be, I think, 30 years next April since that happened, so it’s pretty much history,” he says. “Lucky to be here.”
When Carlton gets here for his rescheduled performance on Nov. 9 at The Tin Pan (he missed an August date with the flu), he’ll be joined by his son, an accomplished bassist who has played with Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express and leads his own band called Groove Legacy.
“I’m very proud of Travis,” Carlton says. “Turned out to be a world-class bass player. So I take him with me — when I can get him.”
Larry Carlton performs in a sold-out show at The Tin Pan on Thursday, Nov. 9. 8 p.m. 804-447-8189 or tinpanrva.com
