Where he wants it

Thanks to music, Larry Carlton
has the life he wants

---

By Gary C. W. Chun
gchun@starbulletin.com

Back in 1971, guitarist Larry Carlton joined up with a band that called itself the Jazz Crusaders. In branching out to a more soul/funk direction, the group dropped the "jazz" and put out the "Crusaders 1" album.

One of the memorable instrumental voices on the album's lead cut, "Put It Where You Want It," was Carlton's snaky and insinuating guitar line, played in what would be his signature volume pedal sound. That song has since become a classic and Carlton revisits that composition on his latest "smooth jazz" album, "Deep Into It."

Carlton said by phone from his Nashville, Tenn., home Monday that he's planning to play it when he, his wife and his band travel to the North Shore to headline Wednesday's Turtle Bay Jazz Festival (the Honolulu Jazz Quartet with special guest singer Anita Hall will be the openers).

Having finished a short tour as a member of the longtime all-star band Fourplay (with Bob James, Nathan East and Harvey Mason), Carlton was back playing the role of the gentleman farmer, tending his 107 acres and fishing, before flying out to Hawaii.

"I really enjoy having this career as a recording artist, where I tour for a total of about 100 days a year, and then come back here to fish and farm," the affable Carlton said. "I'm a light-tackle fisherman, and I was out earlier on my tractor, helping with the cutting of the fields. I don't help with the bailing, though because, you know, I got to protect my hands! My wife and I also have a beautiful garden, and we should have some fresh tomatoes ready to pick when we get back from Hawaii.

"Even though I was born in Southern California -- Torrance, to be exact -- my family's from southeastern Oklahoma. I remember as a kid going back there, and I would fish, farm and ride horses. I always promised myself that I would return to this way of life one day, and when my kids moved out here six-and-a-half years ago, that was as good an excuse as any to follow them here."

While daughter Katie is not a musician, she did make Carlton "a proud grandpa with 9-month-old McKenzie." Carlton's son Travis is back west at the Musicians' Institute in Hollywood, working on his chops on the electric bass.

Turtle Bay Jazz Festival Featuring Larry Carlton and his band with guest singer Michele Pillar Carlton Where: Turtle Bay Resort When: 5:30 to 10 p.m. Wednesday (fireworks start at 9:30, backrests and blankets permitted, no coolers please) Tickets: $20 advance, $25 at the door Call: 293-8811

"We talk on the phone for about an hour every other night," Carlton said. "He hung out with me on both the last Fourplay and 'Deep Into It' sessions."

Carlton's reputation precedes him; as both a session player and a solo artist, he's appeared on more than a hundred gold-selling albums, and had some 3,000 studio sessions under his belt by the early '80s. Not only was he a member of the Crusaders through 1976, playing on 13 of their albums, he also played on Joni Mitchell's pivotal "Court and Spark" album. He's won two Grammys, one for his 1981 collaboration with Mike Post on the memorable "Hill Street Blues" theme and another just recently for Best Instrumental Pop Album for "No Substitutions," a project with former Toto guitarist Steve Lukather.

In the '80s, he established himself as a dependable-selling solo artist and through the '90s, Carlton has played with other monster talents like Stanley Clarke, Billy Cobham and Lee Ritenour. "I haven't done session work since 1977. Playing on the 'The Nightfly' album for Donald Fagen was the last session I did."

But Carlton also distinguished himself as a session player for Fagen and Walter Becker's own band, Steely Dan. He contributed guitar for the Dan, starting from "Katy Lied" through the duo's final "Gaucho" album. But it's his solo on "The Royal Scam's" "Kid Charlemagne" that Carlton solidified his reputation, as it was chosen by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the greatest guitar solos in rock history.

Reportedly done in two parts on two different takes, Carlton admits he "didn't know I was making history at the time. I mean, I know I played good, but I didn't judge it beyond that, and just went on with my life. But once I started hearing about it being judged as a great solo, I decided to try and hear it for myself one day. So I just stood in front of the stereo as the song played, and at the end, I turned to my wife and said 'well, it just sounds like me!'

"While I'm flattered and touched by the stature the solo has taken over the years, I admit that, to me, it was just another day at the office."

Carlton has kept that same attitude throughout his long career; when a deadline for a recording project comes up, he responds in kind. "When I got the call from my label that they wanted to release 'Deep Into It' by a certain time, and the studio musicians were scheduled and ready, I wrote three of my tunes in eight days."

On the disc, Carlton also lends his signature sound to covers of the Eagles' "I Can't Tell You Why" and the Stevie Winwood hit "Roll With It." (Carlton performed a Nashville Christmas benefit two years ago with Winwood, former Doobie Brother Michael McDonald and country star Vince Gill.)

When asked what some of the more memorable sessions he's played on during his decade-spanning career, Carlton mentions the Crusaders, plus "the Joni Mitchell sessions in the '70s -- that was a fresh and important statement for her music back then -- and Steely Dan. That's music that'll live way beyond you and me.

"I also enjoyed playing for Quincy Jones. Even though I wasn't doing session work at the time, he specifically asked for me to add some guitar to Michael Jackson's one ballad on his 'Off the Wall' album, 'She's Out of My Life.'

"Overall, I feel I'm the luckiest guy around. I play guitar, I make a pretty good living from it and people love to hear me play."

Click for online
calendars and events.