¡Con ustedes.....Larry Carlton!

Larry Carlton's show review. 2009

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Friday April 3, 21:00 Larry Carlton’s turn.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University concert hall

After the complete deception with Al Dimeola, I had huge expectations with Mr. 335’s concert  as Larry Carlton is known.

The University concert hall is not the Alfredo Kraus Auditory and just because it’s smaller size, it gave the concert an intimate atmosphere that I’ve always thought is a must in a jazz concert. The most popular local guitarists were there too. A sold out concert

The show started off on time. Larry Carlton stepped on the stage –alone- with his 335 and adressed the audience: “My birthday was last March, so the first tune I’m gonna play is…Happy Birthday, folks…..never ever in my life I had listened to a so precious version of that track. Played with a very slow tempo, with melody beautifully hidden among arpeggios, chords and harmonics, arranged with tons of an elegant good taste. When this track was over, I thought to myself “que le den por culo a Al Dimeola” (“Fuck Al Dimeola” in a free translation)” Carlton captured and transmited me more feeling in this 3/4 minutes happy birthday song, than Dimeola in his whole concert.

The tone coming from his 335 was simply oustanding, creamy, fat, thick, the sound that you would expect from a Gibson, even more when Carlton closed his tone pot

We listened smooth jazz loaded with a colourful sensibility and we listened blues full of soulful feeling, from a Larry Carlton that showed us that a superb technique can be melted down with lyricism and inspiration to  obtain an amazing piece of beauty that in the end is what music means, something trascendent that somehow comes through and is communicated to the listener to conquer him by emotions.

I liked very much the way Larry Carlton executed the show. It seem to me not only brave, facing it just with bass guitar, guitar and drums, but because was it was planned with common sense, IMHO.

The Californian born guitarist played three or four tracks alone, no bass, no drums on stage, leaving the audience knocked out in their seats with his personal, clean, pure guitar playing, with no tricks  to freely amaze the people in the hall, displaying only a superb and beatiful playing technique. Then his son, Travis Carlton, on bass guitar, stepped on the stage to perform several more track, to finally let drummer Gene Coye enter to take his seat behind the drums. The concert was “in crescendo” track after track

Carlton had his guitar plugged into two Fender Twin Reverb, using very few fx’s, delightning us most of the time with a clean tone. I guess he only used saturation a the very end of the show, with a bit of wah-wah and a volumen pedal, but that was all.

With a powerful and colourful guitar prhasing, Carlton filled up the room with very fast scales and riff  but also with other slow, passionate rythm  variations , with soulful bendings that conquered the audience achieving a fully jazz atmosphere. Carlton gave me all I missed with Dimeola. Passion, precious, intimate arragements, feeling, argumental tension, I mean, the way they executed breaks, was amazing. Carlton used a pick but also played without it, getting from his guitar a different tone than Dimeola , You know what tone I mean folks, that tone that expert fingers can get from a guitar.

Gene Coye caught me since he put his feet on stage. What a sensibility! He played as he’s been doing it long before he was born, he touched lighty the drums and offered an original technique, rich in expression, and details.

Travis Carlton played a 5 strings bass guitar, plugged into two Ampeg cabinets -I believe two 4x12- and reamained in front of both cabinets the whole concert as if that was the only way to listen himself. I was told that Larry Calrton had been a very, very  tough bass teacher with his son and……..he did a superb job: Travis Carlton is an amazing bass player, I mean , he is not the son of……

Since the beggining of the concert Larry Carlton’s guitars –it seems he only owns those two- were on the stage. His 68’ 335 and his 84’ Acoustic Valley Art. One of my friends told me “Hey mate, where is the acoustic guitar? Folks someone had stepped on the stage, took the guitar in front of us –probaly to tune it- and we didn’t see him!!! Carlton’ show had hipnotized us. When I had a look at my watch an hour a twenty minutes had gone.

Outside the hall people were talking about this and that, but from the very good guitar players that attended the show two sentences still remain in my mind. One, “after what I’ve seen and I’ve listened from this man, all my guitars will go to the basement, what a depresión!. Second, “yes, yes Larry Carlton superb, ….OK…..but those two guys on bass and drums……..I got no words!

Then we went for dinner and while talking in the restaurant we all agreed that it would take time to enjoy a show as the one we had with Mr. 335, but folks, we were absolutely wrong. What Dianne Schuur gave us the next night, deserves a review.