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String kings
The California Guitar Trio pushes the limits of the instrument and the boundaries of music
By Dean Bonzani
Published on 02/04/2010
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From left: Hideyo Moriya, Paul Richards and Bert Lams. Photo by Joe Del Tufo.
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When I first saw California Guitar Trio perform live, it was Oct. 23, 1995. They were the opening act for King Crimson, who was touring their album, Thrak. Crimson’s sound men, who would later deliver a cruelly arena-sized mix on a pained audience of rabid fans, managed to summon an impeccable sound for the three acoustic guitarists of a group we’d never heard of before. While Crimson were not at their best, this amazing ensemble stole the night with their intricate arrangements of classical compositions and reworkings of familiar pop, rock, jazz and surf tunes.
CGT are Paul Richards of Salt Lake City, Utah, Bert Lams of Brussels, Belgium, and Hideyo Moriya of Tokyo. They first met in England at one of Robert Fripp’s Guitar Craft Courses in 1987. After taking a number of the exacting Mr. Fripp’s courses, the three toured worldwide with Fripp’s League of Crafty Guitarists. When they’d finished their run with the League, Paul, Bert and Hideyo decided to stay together, meeting in Los Angeles in 1991 to begin their career as California Guitar Trio. Since then, they’ve toured with the aforementioned King Crimson, and a roster of greats including Jon Anderson, John McLaughlin, John Scofield, Tito Puente, Taj Mahal, Peter Rowan and Tony Rice, Dark Star Orchestra, Leftover Salmon, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Steve Lukather, Simon Phillips, David Sylvian, Adrian Legg, Kaki King and others.
They’ve issued 12 albums in their 19 years as a band—six of them featuring original compositions. Their latest offering, 2008’s Echoes, features arrangements of well-known songs like Mike Oldfield’s “Tubular Bells” (a.k.a. the theme from “The Exorcist”), Pink Floyd’s “Echoes,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Freebird,” and a spot-on rendition of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Breaking from their normal trio format, they’re joined by guest musicians including Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Tom Griesgraber, Jamie Masefield, Pamelia Kursten and Tyler Trotter.
While they hail from different regions of the globe, the three guitarists grew up with similar influences and loves. According to their publicist, Paul Richards grew up in Utah where “his early interest in rock and blues quickly broadened to include jazz, classical, progressive, acoustic, world music and more.” He later traveled to England to enroll in Fripp’s guitar course.
Bert Lams was born and raised near Brussels, Belgium, and graduated from the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels. He started out as a rock guitarist, and later studied and taught classical guitar.
Hideyo Moriya began playing guitar at age 12 in the style of the Ventures’ 1960s-vintage surf music and English rock bands. He came to America in 1982, studying at Boston’s Berklee College of Music.
Their extensive training and discipline, combined with their eclectic tastes in musical styles, make their live performances a stream of surprises. They can segue effortlessly from a classical rendition of Beethoven’s “Pastorale,” where the three guitars sound eerily like a harpsichord, to Bach’s “Toccata and Fugue in D minor,” before busting into their mutant hybrid “Ghost Riders On The Storm.” Their version of “Freebird” features a skanking reggae rhythm, and Beethoven’s “Fifth, First Movement” is served up with surf-rock jangle.
Lately, they’ve been performing both as a trio and as an “enhanced” trio with King Crimson alumni Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto, and they’ve been joined on stage by guests like guitar monster Monte Montgomery, Japanese rock keyboardist Ryo Okumoto, and ukulele wizard Jake Shimabukuro.
Hunting through endless YouTube videos will yield a treasure trove of CGT live footage. In some, you can actually catch sight of the sea of effects pedals and rat’s nest of patch cables that spread at the feet of the three guitarists. It’s that carefully laid out array of electrical goodies that allow these acoustic guitarists to take their sound far beyond the constraints of say, a dude sitting on his porch with an old Martin. Delays, distortion, looping samplers and the occasional Frippish guitar synthesizer are all employed to expand the sonic palette. Pink Floyd’s “Echoes,” for instance, makes the hairs raise up on the back of your neck, with its spooky echo and hallucinogenic depth.
If you’d like a real treat, surf until you find a video of CGT jamming with Jake Shimabukuro. In it, CGT sets up a generous, orchestral backdrop that a thoroughly bemused Shimabukuro, armed only with his prodigious chops and tiny koa wood instrument eventually wades into full force, ripping out Hendrix-style blues runs and dog fighting with Bert Lams. The fun really starts when a delay mysteriously appears on Jake’s uke, startling him. Lams and Hideyo Moriya then sandwich Jake between washes of guitar synth and volume swells, prompting him to perform a hilarious impression of a guitarist tap-dancing on a dozen effects pedals, much to the delight of the audience.
Speaking of audiences, there are guitarists like Martin Sexton whose first two rows of the audience are comprised of screaming women throwing their undergarments and hotel keys, and you have guitarists like California Guitar Trio, where the first two rows will be guitar players carefully studying every move. And for very, very good reasons.
The California Guitar Trio will perform at the Orpheum Theater, 15 W. Aspen, Fri, Feb. 5 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $14 in advance and $17 day of. For more info, call 556-1580 or visit www.cgtrio.com.
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