For those unaware, Larry Carlton’s own musical story began in Southern California. He picked up his first guitar when he was only six years old. He was introduced to jazz in junior high school after hearing The Gerald Wilson Big Band album, Moment of Truth, with guitarist Joe Pass.

Larry then became interested in Barney Kessel, Wes Montgornery and the legendary blues guitarist B.B. King. Saxophonist John Coltrane was also a major influence on Carlton, beginning with Coltrane’s 1962 classic Ballads.

As time progressed, Larry also recorded with legendary jazz groups The Crusaders and Fourplay; three Fourplay tracks are featured on this compilation including ‘Snowbound’, a cover of the Donald Fagan track from his ‘Kamakiriad’ album, and ‘Nite Crawler’ which he wrote for The Crusaders and featured on their ‘Free As The Wind’ album.

Indeed, Larry also played guitar on a few Steely Dan albums, as well as recording sessions for Joni Mitchell and The Four Tops to name but a few.

The Warner Bros. Anthology is a wondrous (3CD) compilation of the works of the legendary guitarist Larry Carlton and features the best cuts from Larry Carlton’s six albums recorded for Warner Bros.

Also featured as a bonus track on the package is Mike Post’s TV Theme for Hill Street Blues that features Larry on guitar. The track won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental performance, it was also a Top 30 hit in the U.K.

The package includes fabulous sleeve notes by A. Scott Galloway.

DISC ONE:
From ‘Larry Carlton’ Album
1. Room 335 2. Where Did You Come From 3. Point It Up 4. Nite Crawler 5. Rio Samba 6. (It Was) Only Yesterday

From ‘Strikes Twice’ Album
7. Strikes Twice 8. The Magician 9. In My Blood 10. Springville 11. For Love Alone

12. Fourplay – Charmed I’m Sure (From 4 LP) [Bonus Track] 13. Fourplay – Snowbound (From Snowbound LP) [Bonus Track] 14. Fourplay – Blues Force [Bonus Track]
(All from Yes Please LP featuring Larry Carlton)

For his self-titled album, Larry enlisted a small, yet highly accomplished band with bassist Abe Laboriel, drummer Jeff Porcaro, and Greg Mathieson on keyboards. Room 335, an ode to the studio in L.A. where this was recorded, all but sets the stage for the style of his early solo work. Nite Crawler, a track Carlton originally did with the Crusaders for Free As the Wind, also rightly shows up here amongst the best of tracks too.

To my mind, the album’s best track, the exhilarating Rio Samba, is a more muscular take on the work Lee Ritenour did at the time as Carlton hits amazing notes, aided by Mathieson’s keyboard work. The last track, (It Was) Only Yesterday has Carlton’s inimitable style of doing a disconsolate song with the emotion of his guitar providing a catharsis.

Strikes Twice found Carlton building upon his trademark electric guitar sound, mixing jazz, rock, and pop sound with songs that moved between bright instrumental jazz rock and melodic AM pop (The Magician), but most all of the aforementioned genre do not make it onto this small best of set sadly.

Regardless, Larry is backed here by a handful of stellar Los Angeles session musicians including his fellow Crusaders’ bandmate bassist Robert Pops Popwell, keyboardist Terry Trotter, drummer John Ferraro, Brazilian percussionist Paulinho Da Costa, and others.

In truth, the recording epitomizes a very slick and cultured jazz and rock fusion, based on great guitar solos, keyboards and vocals, especially on cuts such as both the masterful title track, “Strikes Twice” and its opening guitar arpeggio, and the hard-rocking break up and distortion on “In My Blood.”

As for the bonus Fourplay tracks, well, with respect to the basic Fourplay program, Yes, Please! does not disappoint overall. Yet, the album is a touch softer than previous releases and significantly more seductive, thus living up to the fourplay/foreplay double entendre. Best of the trio for me is always going to be “Blues Force,” which is such a deliciously smoky temptress.

DISC TWO:
From ‘Sleepwalk’ Album
1. Last Night 2. Blues Bird 3. Song For Katie 4. Frenchman’s Flat 5. Sleepwalk 6. Upper Kern 7. 10:00 P.M.

From ‘Friends’ Album
8. Breaking Ground 9. South Town 10. Tequila 11. Blues For T.J. 12. Song In The 5th Grade 13. L.A., N.Y. 14. Friends 15. Mike Post - Hill Street Blues (Featuring Larry Carlton) [Bonus Track]

For me, Sleepwalk is slightly better than Strikes Twice thanks in part to more melodic guitar playing and the brilliant “Last Night” and “10:00 P.M.” have since become staples in Carlton’s live set. The legendary Carlton feel is evident throughout this session, but “Blues Bird” stands as the high-water mark.

That said, “Sleepwalk” is played oh-so beautifully, almost preventing the listener from noticing the sap-heavy strings in the background, and thus despite now sounding a bit dated, these tracks (along with the full-length album) are still very much worth exploring; especially for guitarists.

On Friends, Larry’s blend of happy pop-jazz was the perfect background music for dentist offices! But for those who care to listen closer, there is also some excellent guitar work being performed. A good example of this would be his creative improvisation on the introduction to “South Town.” His duet with B.B. King on “Blues for TJ" is also rather wonderful.

Indeed, it is refreshing to hear two players who are more interested in sharing ideas than showing off. The scat version of “Tequila,” courtesy of Al Jarreau, is also still very interesting to hear, which means as with most all of Larry’s albums, there is something here for just about everyone.

Also included as a bonus track on the package is Mike Post’s TV Theme for Hill Street Blues that features the distinctive guitar work of Larry on guitar. The track won the Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental performance, it was also a Top 30 hit in the U.K.

DISC THREE:
From ‘Fingerprints’ Album
1. Fingerprints 2. The Storyteller 3. ‘Til I Hurt You 4. Slave Song 5. Lazy Susan 6. Chicks With Kickstands 7. Gracias 8. Crying Hands

From ‘Deep Into It’ Album
9. Put It Where You Want It 10. Deep Into It 11. It’s A Groove Thang 12. Closer To Home 13. I Can’t Tell You Why 14. Like Butta’ 15. Roll With It

Larry’s Fingerprints album was tantalizing in that you get flashes and streaks of what this extremely gifted and eloquent guitarist can do when the material is good enough to inspire him. The title cut is a fine example of the smooth jazz genre at its most ingratiating, with a nice groove and tasty guitar work.

“Slave Song” is even better, spangled with intriguing instrumental touches (including the multitracked saxes of Kirk Whalum); some great, funky octave work right in the pocket; and most unusually in the smooth jazz arena, a passionate instrumental chorus on the way to the fade. However, “Gracias,” a Latin-flavored acoustic-guitar duet between Carlton and country music’s Vince Gill, may be the album’s masterpiece.

Carlton wrote six new songs for his ‘Deep Into It’ offering, and covers such songs as “Put It Where You Want It,” written by Joe Sample, and the Stevie Winwood hit “Roll With It.” Accompanying musicians are Chris Potter on saxophone and Billy Kilson on drums, both known primarily for their work with the Dave Holland Quintet; Harvey Mason, who holds down the rhythm logic on one of my favorite tracks from the album, but which is not included here, “I Still Believe”; and smooth jazz phenom Kirk Whalum, who turns in a great solo on the title track, on tenor saxophone.

R&B hitmaker Shai lends his soulful vocals to “I Can’t Tell You Why,” and truly gives the Eagles’ mega-hit a fresh interpretation with his one-of-a-kind artistry. Larry’s updated interpretations are a nice mixture of smooth, pop, and jazz guitar stylings, making for very creative listening on the beautiful “Closer to Home.”

Official Purchase Link

www.larrycarlton335.com