A Vintage Larry Carlton Kind of Sunday

I usually reserve Sunday mornings for church, but on weekends like we had a week ago, following our Florida vacation, or this one, where we powered through projects and multiple family activities followed by a late evening decompressing, we simply stay in. This morning, I puttered about while Belle slept-in and, after 9:30, we reconvened, drank coffee, and ate scrambled eggs and sourdough toast while we watched several episodes of the Amazon Prime series, Taken. Then, while Belle showered and decided whether to attend another grandchild’s soccer game, I retrieved an older Larry Carlton LP, Sleepwalk, removed it from its outer and inner sleeves, plattered and brushed it before lowering the needle of the Dynavector XX-2A phono cartridge that I’m currently reviewing.

Larry Carlton is a highly successful studio session player renowned for his guitar work in the band, The Crusaders, work with Steely Dan (including the Katy Lied, The Royal Scam, Aja, and Gaucho albums), TV theme songs (Hill Street Blues, amongst others), breakout smooth jazz career (in addition to his own albums, he was a member of the band Fourplay), and illustrious career that made him a four-time Grammy Award winner, and playtime on hundreds of albums that include over 100 gold and platinum records over various genres.

Several years ago, I spotted a young Larry Carlton in a band backing B.B. King on footage from the 1974 Zaire Music Festival featured in the movie, When We Were Kings (a documentary on Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s “Rumble in the Jungle” boxing match). Although you won’t find it documented in a Google search, he’s easy to spot if you’re looking!

Back in 1990, I spent hundreds of hours listening to Carlton and others on a boombox’s CD player with headphones while painting oils in an art studio at Cal State San Bernardino. I was an art major trying to figure out my future after spending several years in the business world. Although I enjoyed certain aspects of finance and marketing, they left me feeling emotionally disconnected and dry, so I returned to something that stimulated me. And with Carlton’s music, there was something emotionally involving about his masterful, deft, and delicate touch that resonated with the sensitivity and nuance involved in harvesting an artist’s eye and skillset. It moved me.

During that time, I discovered my teaching career. A friend suggested substitute teaching as an easy way to make money while attending college, and once I began, I found that I enjoyed connecting with kids and empowering them with academic knowledge and life skills. Looking around at struggling artists, I decided to pursue that avenue. It was fulfilling, and fast forward to today, I’ve been teaching for some 35 years. But now as I contemplate retirement, I am transported back to that time while listening to the sweet tones of Larry Carlton’s Stratocaster covering the melancholic Santo and Johny Farina classic, “Sleepwalk” (the Farina brothers wrote, recorded and released it in 1959, hitting number one on the Billboard charts).

There’s an emotive, contemplative quality to Carlton’s work that connects with peoples’ hearts. Back in the 90s, a dentist friend suffered heartbreak, and upon hearing LC’s Alone But Never Alone CD on my stereo, he asked to borrow it. He found it soothing, drew great comfort and encouragement as he mourned the loss of a relationship, and thanked me when he returned it several months later. And now, like a favorite hoodie or comforter on a cold day, I feel a warmth rise within as I listen to this album on vinyl. It motivates me to press on as I mull over current challenges in my avocation as a review writer. Moreover, it also entices me to get back to painting. I like that!

I have to create. Whether it’s writing a blog post, a review, or an article, or if I’m drawing or painting, it’s part of who I am, and I need to feed that fire.

And I also need to listen. I need to listen to music; whether it’s digital or vinyl, I don’t care. Which reminds me: The record’s stopped, and I need to put something else on. Cheers!