CALIFORNIA GUITAR TRIO

— First review of this album —

An EP filled with crisp and crystalline, purely instrumental music

On the opening track, called Andromeda, we get a two-folded impression, in a fashion really suitable to the inclusion of the name King Crimson along with the CGT moniker: we are simultaneously brushed by the electric fuzziness combined with cerebral precission of the King and also by the sheer melodic phrasing elegance of the Trio.

Then comes four less impressive and shorter pieces (still very good ones, though) being Punta Patri my personal favorite among these. And last, but in no way least, the CGT treat us with their own cover rendition of the classic Pink Floyd suite Echoes. Even when this is never going to replace the original in the heart of any prog- or Floyd fan, is a really enjoyable (if brief) summary shortened to a half of the side-long duration that this composition reaches in Pink Floyd's Meddle. It begins with a nice exposition of the unforgettable Gilmour sliding guitar lines, evolving to the middle jamming section, and then to the randomly noisy atonal improvisation prior to the final recapitulation.

A nice instrumental affair presented by three talented musicians.

The California Guitar Trio consists of (like the name suggests) three former members of Robert Fripp's group of Crafty Guitarists, but (not like the name suggests) none of them are from California. There style of playing uses Fripp's New Standard Tuning which is an alternative tuning for guitars that changes the strings to perfect fifth intervals and thirds. This actually allows guitarists to have a wider range and makes it possible to play works which were previously impossible because of the extreme high or low notes, mostly classical pieces written for piano or other keyboard instruments.

This trio uses Fripp's methods, but do it in more of an accessible fashion than Fripp or the Crafty Guitarists did, thus attempting to reach a wider audience. The fact that the tracks on the album are quite varied in style, the album's purpose was to reach as many listeners as possible. But, I enjoy every track here and the fact that there is a variation of style keeps the album from getting stale or boring. The original pieces in my opinion are the best ones, but the covers are quite interesting and impressive also.

This album is great in that it offers quite a wide variety of songs, some original and some covers, and it shows the versatility of these players, but also shows the capacity of the tuning practice that Fripp used quite extensively, even in King Crimson. The first track, "Train to Lemy Pts. 1 - 3, starts out using electric guitar and it throws one off kilter a bit until the melody gets going and your ears adjust. As it flows into the 2nd part, you get more of a feel of what most of the album will be like, more of an acoustic endeavor, but not completely. All 3 parts are quite different and immediately you see the versatility of these amazing musicians. The next track is another original and combines the tuning technique with a sound scape background quite similar to Frippertronics, but more drone sounding. It is quite an amazing piece and very progressive. The next track is the famous Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor which is traditionally played by an organ. It's pretty amazing that the composition can be played on guitars with the tuning method, but the impact of the work is not as impressive or emotional as the organ. It's still quite amazing though. Continuing on, the next track is a composition from avant garde minimalist composer Part and the track remains minimalistic, but holds a special beauty and creates quite a nice rendition.

The rest of the album follows in this formula mixing more classics, a popular soundtrack song (The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), a surf rock piece (Apache), more original numbers and so on. Some times the songs work beautifully and other times they are still good, but somewhat standard. Again, my favorites are the originals, but it's fun to hear the covers also to keep things varied and interesting.

This album runs the gamut of many styles and showcases the talents of the instrumentalists and also the genius of Fripp. The orginal compositions get 5 stars, and the covers get 4 to 4.5, but I'll give the album 4 stars because, except for a few tracks, it is mostly not progressive music. Still, it is highly enjoyable and should be heard by guitarists and enthusiasts everywhere.

Not surprising, given the title of the CD, this is a compilation album culled from the first five studio albums of CGT. Also not surprising is that there are three of them, all playing acoustic guitar: the fact that only one of them is even American (and he doesn't come from California) doesn't seem to matter too much. Bert Lams, Hiedyo Moriya and Paul Richards met in 1987 when attending one of Robert Fripp's guitar seminars, and toured as part of his League Of Crafty Guitarists before forming their own band in 1990. Although they are sometimes joined by other musicians (most notably Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto), it is as a pure trio that their music is best heard.

Having seen them recently I was astonished, as were the rest of the audience, at just how well these guys can play. This album goes some way to showing that as it is incredible what three guitars can sound like in the hands of masters. The music varies between folky through to classical and music that is extremely technical. It is an album best dipped in and out of as it isn't hard for attention to wonder, just because there is only so much music of this type that one can take in at once. It does take a lot of concentration to get the most of, and it doesn't work as background music either so the listener has to be prepared to spend some time on this, but there is no doubt that these guys can play.

Originally appeared in Feedback #78, Feb 04

Needless to say, these guys aren't actually from California at all, and in fact only one of them is American! They first met at one of Robert Fripp's guitar seminars in 1987 and then toured as part of Fripp's League Of Crafty Guitarists until in 1990 they decided to form their own group. 1991 saw them all living in Los Angeles and they had taken the above name. They soon signed with Fripp's Discipline Global Mobile label and toured extensively, often with King Crimson. This album finds them now signed to Inside Out, and was recorded with Tony Levin on stick/bass and King Crimson drummer Pat Mastelotto.

This album is a long way removed from any guitar histrionics album that I have come across and in many ways is closer to The Guitar Orchestra, who I reviewed some years ago. It displays a mastery of many differing styles of music from staccato and quick, to pieces such as "Swampy Space" which sounds just as the name implies. One interesting number is their cover version of Yes' "Heart Of The Sunrise" which manages to sound respectfully close to the original yet at the same time quite different.

This is an album that will only appeal to a small number as it does require concentrated listening to get the most out of it, but by moving onto Inside Out CGT should find themselves reaching a wider audience. For those who want to hear music played by extremely accomplished musicians.

Originally appeared in Feedback #70, Oct 02

My biggest issue with this band is that we get three guys all playing acoustic guitars for the most part.Thankfully this one is different as we get Tony Levin guesting on bass and Pat Mastelotto on drums. And this is more electric sounding too making it the best thing that i've heard from this band.

"Melrose Avenue" features those intricate guitar melodies and an Eastern flavour to boot as the drums help out. "Skyline" reminds me of THE TEA PARTY at times. Strummed guitar comes and goes as does those intricate guitar lines. "Dancing Anne" is catchy with acoustic guitars. Synths too after 2 minutes. "Heart Of The Sunrise" is by far the best track because it is a YES cover of course. I miss Anderson's vocals though. "Hanagasa" is again led by a beat as we get intricate guitars. "Zandoko-Bushi" opens with another YES tribute before it changes to a sixties vibe. Interesting.It turns heavy late. "Blockhead" has this tribal-like drumming then it settles with guitars leading. Drums are back as guitars continue.

"Dance Of Maya" is a top three because it's more electric and dynamic. Although I don't like that it changes 3 minutes in regardless of the impressive drum work. "Swampy Place" is bluesy and acoustic. "Swampy Return" has a beat with intricate guitars. "Train To Lamy" has a heavy guitar intro. Nice. It then settles but it's still heavy. Unfortunately it changes 2 minutes in to a country flavour.Yikes. "Eve" is a beautiful song. "What I Am" has these spoken woords as intricate guitars and drums join in. Synths after 5 minutes. "The Chase" opens with atmosphere and a beat. It's heavier after a minute. It then turns lighter after 3 minutes.Some cool guitar expressions 6 1/2 minutes in then it turns haunting. Finally they change things up. I would love to hear them play more music like this but hey it's not their style.

3.5 stars.

Well I get the "Guitar Trio" part of the band name but where did California come from ? Three guitarists who are from different parts of the world including Japan, Belgium and USA (Utah).

This is actually better than I thought it would be. I mean we've got three guys playing these intricate guitar melodies and strumming away but no bass, drums or keyboards. It works though but let's face it it does seem a little one dimensional. Beautiful stuff though for the most part. In the liner notes there's a menue called "Whitewater Menue" and each dish is a song title and a description of what that meal is. Kind of weird considereing it has nothing to do with the music but it's fun I suppose. This album comes 10 years after the debut so they are seasoned pros here and everything is very well done.Tony Levin produced it.

A good album but nothing more in my opinion.

Invitation continues the style that was initially set on the band's debut album Yamanishi Blues but this time with even more enthusiasm and added improvements to the band's general direction.

Even though the first section of the album opening track Train To Lamy Suite (Parts 1-3) features some electric guitar arrangements, the band soon returns to their more familiar setting of contemporary and classic acoustic guitar music. Just like it's predecessor, the music on Invitation is very soothing and some listeners might surely question the collective's progressive rock merits. There is a definite spirit of prog in this music but you'll have to look beyond the initial sounds of soft acoustic music in order to uncover it. Observe how these compositions unfold themselves, like the very subtle intro section of Fratres which brings a totally new aura to the minimalistic style of Arvo Pärt's original work. Or how about the unique new take on the main theme from The Good The Bad And The Ugly by Ennio Morricone?

It's clear that California Guitar Trio have found a way to keep my interest with their music for longer time spans than what they achieved on their debut album, but just like with any collection of unrelated compositions this release is still far from perfect. Some compositions work nicely in their new arrangements while others, like the well known instrumental Apache, written by Jerry Lordan, just sounds very generic to my ears and I hesitate to see anything special in this performance. I'm also not that fond of the short Train To Lamy interludes since they don't really add anything worth a while to my overall experience of this album.

There's really no denying that when this album works, it works almost on every level. Unfortunately I still find this album laking in some of the most basic fields like the ability to unite the different compositions, that are offered on this album, into a complete experience that would make me feel like I've just experienced something extraordinary Invitation is a good record but I'll leave it at that.

***** star songs: Fratres (6:28)

**** star songs: Train To Lamy Suite (Parts 1-3) (4:23) Punta Patri (4:19) Toccata And Fugue In D Minor (7:51) Above The Clouds (5:30) Prelude Circulation (2:44) The Good The Bad And The Ugly (2:36)

*** star songs: Train To Lamy Part 4 (0:27) Apache (3:00) Train To Lamy Part 5 (2:04) Train To Lamy Part 3 (Reprise) (1:24)

I've had the first two California Guitar Trio records in my collection for quite some time but they haven't been played for a few years. I guess that I can dust them off and give them another go...

Yamanishi Blues is a completely acoustic recording featuring the three band members playing their guitars off each other while trying to play their renditions of everything from contemporary to classical music. The music has a very high comfort level to it which means that this acoustic guitar music can pretty much be enjoyed by everyone upon the initial encounter. Unfortunately this is ultimately one of the main problems with this music since it's not really the type of material that rewards its listeners upon revisits. The material lacks any sort of coherence between the different pieces and the album ultimately becomes less than the sum of the individual highlights.

The most memorable compositions for me here are the more contemporary pieces like Walk, Don't Run and Pipeline. They are short, quirky and give me an impression that the trio was having a great deal of fun while recording them. Another notable track is the album-closing Kan-Non Power. This composition has been an important part of Robert Fripp's String Quintet repertoire and this particular take manages to uphold the spirit and energy of the performances with Robert Fripp.

The record flows pretty smoothly until the final forth of it where it stumbles a bit with a 12 minute take on Johann Sebastian Bach's Ciaccona. This is where the band's main weakness is revealed, namely the inability to maintain the intensity in their work for more than a couple of minutes at the time. This performance lacks the energy and passion that the trio had depicted to this point and singe-handedly drops the quality of this album a notch.

Yamanishi Blues is an easy-going release that should appeal to most acoustic guitar enthusiasts even though there isn't that much that distinguishes California Guitar Trio from any of the other artists performing in this field. They definitely have the instrumental skill to keep me interested but the lack of coherence ultimately makes this album merely a good, but non-essential release.

***** star songs: Walk, Don't Run (1:57) Pipeline (1:53) Kan-Non Power (3:21)

**** star songs: Yamanishi Blues (2:21) Melrose Avenue (2:06) Corrente (1:27) Rice Car (5:00) Beeline (1:15) Chromatic Fugue In D Minor (4:34) Tenor Madness (1:26) Sleepwalk (2:17) Carnival (1:42) Prelude In C Minor (1:44) Blockhead (2:12)

*** star songs: Ciaccona (11:37)

The California Guitar Trio (CGT) is comprised by Bert Lams, Hideyo Moriya and Paul Richards, all former members of Robert Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists and therefore students of this highly respected guitar player on prog, rock and general music circles. So what we can expect from this effort is highly skilled guitar playing and with the addition of one of the most acclaimed bass/stick players in prog, Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel, Liquid Tension Experiment, etc.), the expectations are higher. I can tell you wont be disappointed.

The set-list of this live recording includes a wide ranges of styles including classical, prog, classic rock, Venezuelan waltz and even surf. I have to say that every single piece played here is highly enjoyable even if you are not a prog fan (excluding the King Crimson covers).

To present my favorite tracks of this long track list I'll divide them into three categories: originals, covers and classical interpretations. The original CGT pieces that I enjoyed the most are Pathways, Waters Of Eden and Belle all very interesting and amusing, showing the impressive skills of the trio (+ Levin), the quality of music that can be produced by such a basic instrumentation (3 acoustic guitars and a bass) and the exceptional compositional abilities of Fripp's students (the teacher deserves some credit, don't you think?). Another thing that deserves mention are the improvisational pieces, which are simply outstanding.

The performance was dominated by acoustic re-workings and renditions of other artists' pieces. The main band being covered here is King Crimson (although, I don't know if considering these renditions covers since Tony Levin is involved...) with classics from Discipline such as the title track and Elephant Talk (which featured the only vocals in the album, provided very aptly by Tony Levin) , both given justice with innovative and very different acoustic versions, highly recommended to Crimson fans. Still in the King Crimson vein, the band masterfully performed Blockhead originally written for the Robert Fripp String Quintet which isn't really a cover since the trio where part of the original project. One of the most interesting covers of the evening was Mahavishnu Orchestra's Dance Of Maya in which this electric fusion classic was turned acoustic, producing a highly enjoyable new sound. The final re-working of the show is Queen's classic Bohemian Rhapsody performed in an acoustic fashion in such a way that there were no vocals needed (although the crowd started to sing...) and this seems to be one of the pieces the audience enjoyed the most.

The classical interpretations covered a small fraction of the performance, nonetheless they represent one of the most pleasant parts of this album. I am a Venezuelan and listening to this masters of the guitar playing a Venezuelan waltz was really amazing, since Venezuelan guitar waltzes are beautiful, grand and very enjoyable but highly underrated. The other classical performance is a breath-taking interpretation of the last movement of Beethoven's Symphony No 9, what can I say about this one? simply beautiful! One last track that deserves being mentioned is CGT's rendition of jazz standard Caravan which is as great and well performed as the best performance of this classic.

Added to the music, we have fun narrations by the band and a very enthusiastic audience, which makes this a very pleasant listening experience. The concert was, probably, a 5 star experience. On the other hand, this live recording because of the low quality of the performance, the intervention of the audience in some musical sections (particularly during Bohemian Rhapsody) and, to a lesser extent, some filler tracks (such as Misrilou, which are fun but add nothing to the music), is a 3 star album.

Total: 3.46

This album is worth getting because of the excellent musical performance, although some external elements reduce its quality.... I would've loved to be at this CGT concert.

Very comfortable and pleasant acoustic guitars trio's album. They all learned guitar playing from Robert Fripp, so you can easily hear there his playing techniques school. But common sound there is not so radical or experimental, more contemporary music.

Musicians play excellent, compositions are different enough to save you from being bored. Sound is successfully balanced between innovative and comfortable. You can imagine them as modernized and more polished version of DiMeola/McLaughlin/De Lucia great acoustic guitar trio. Without sharpness and expression.

Really good acoustic guitar music (sometimes sounding as electric one). Could be recommended for fans of safe, more comfortable side of Fripp/Trey Gunn sound as well for acoustic guitar music lovers.