California Guitar Trio is a band

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

 of three
guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 players founded in 1991. Paul Richards of Salt Lake City, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, Bert Lams of Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

,
Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, and Hideyo Moriya of Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

, Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 first met in England at one of Robert Fripp

Robert Fripp

Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...

's Guitar Craft Courses in 1987. After completing several of these intensive courses, the three toured worldwide with Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists. They continued working together in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, founding The California Guitar Trio in 1991, to create original compositions, surf covers

Surf music

Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...

, and classical re-workings

Classical guitar

The classical guitar is a 6-stringed plucked string instrument from the family of instruments called chordophones...

. The band was originally planned as a quartet until one member decided the commitment required wasn't feasible.

Making use of a wide range of instrumental styles fusing European classical music, rock

Rock music

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...

, blues, jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

, world music

World music

World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...

, bluegrass

Bluegrass music

Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...

, and surf music

Surf music

Surf music is a genre of popular music associated with surf culture, particularly as found in Orange County and other areas of Southern California. It was particularly popular between 1961 and 1965, has subsequently been revived and was highly influential on subsequent rock music...

, the California Guitar Trio's emphasizes technical virtuosity and humor.

The Trio's music was featured during the television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 coverage of the 1998

1998 Winter Olympics

The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...

 and 2000

2000 Summer Olympics

The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...

 Olympic Games, and on CBS

CBS

CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

, NBC

NBC

The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

, CNN WorldBeat, and ESPN

ESPN

Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....

 TV programs. They performed on the 2003 Grammy Awards-nominated track Apollo on Tony Levin

Tony Levin

Tony Levin is an American progressive rock musician, specializing in bass guitar, Chapman stick and upright bass ....

's CD Pieces of the Sun

Pieces of the Sun

Pieces of the Sun is Tony Levin's third solo record. It is an often jazzy, progressive rock, instrumental record. It features the Tony Levin Band, which includes Levin on bass guitars, stick and cello, Jerry Marotta on drums, Larry Fast playing synthesisers and Jesse Gress on guitars...

; and CGT music was sent into outer space as wake-up music for the crew aboard NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...

’s Space Shuttle Endeavour

Space Shuttle Endeavour

Space Shuttle Endeavour is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States. Endeavour was the fifth and final spaceworthy NASA space shuttle to be built, constructed as a replacement for Challenger...

.

Through frequent touring, the California Guitar Trio has shared the stage with many performers such as King Crimson

King Crimson

King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...

, John McLaughlin

John McLaughlin (musician)

John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...

, David Sylvian

David Sylvian

David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...

, Tito Puente

Tito Puente

Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...

, Leftover Salmon

Leftover Salmon

Leftover Salmon is a jam band from Boulder, Colorado, formed in 1989. Their unique blend of bluegrass, rock, country, and Cajun/Zydeco, which the band calls "Polyethnic Cajun Slamgrass", has found favor with the jam band scene...

, Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal (musician)

Henry Saint Clair Fredericks , who uses the stage name Taj Mahal, is an American Grammy Award winning blues musician. He incorporates elements of world music into his music...

, Steve Lukather

Steve Lukather

Steve "Luke" Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Lukather has played with many artists, released several solo albums, and worked as a composer, arranger, and session guitarist on more than 1,500 albums...

, Simon Phillips

Simon Phillips

Simon Phillips is an English jazz, pop and rock drummer.-Career:Phillips began to play professionally at the age of twelve in his father's Dixieland band for four years. He was then offered the chance to play in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar...

, Adrian Legg

Adrian Legg

Adrian Legg is an English guitar player who has been called "impossible to categorize". He plays custom guitars that are a hybrid of electric and acoustic, and his fingerstyle picking technique has been acknowledged by the readers of Guitar Player who voted Legg the "best acoustic fingerstyle"...

, Adrian Belew

Adrian Belew

Adrian Belew is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer...

, Enchant

Enchant (band)

Enchant is an American neo-progressive rock band, formed in 1989. Their music is characterized by ambitious lyrics and melodies along with harmonic experimentation.-History:...

, Jon Anderson

Jon Anderson

Jon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...

, and many more. When schedules permit, King Crimson members Tony Levin

Tony Levin

Tony Levin is an American progressive rock musician, specializing in bass guitar, Chapman stick and upright bass ....

 and Pat Mastelotto

Pat Mastelotto

Pat Mastelotto is a rock drummer who has worked with Mr. Mister and King Crimson, amongst others. For King Crimson he initially formed part of the "double trio" lineup, joining Bill Bruford on drums...

 regularly join them for live shows.

The Trio has released twelve albums: seven studio CDs featuring original CGT songs and a variety of other works spanning numerous genres, four live releases, and a Christmas CD with familiar and not-so familiar Christmas music. Lams has also made a solo album of Bach preludes titled Nascent.

In August 2004 they released Whitewater, produced by Levin. It features mainly original works of the CGT, offset by a puzzle-work arrangement of a Bach lute suite and a mashup of "(Ghost) Riders in the Sky" with The Doors

The Doors

The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...

' "Riders on the Storm

Riders on the Storm

"Riders on the Storm" is a song by The Doors from their 1971 album, L.A. Woman. It reached number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, number 22 on the UK singles charts and number 7 in the Netherlands.-Overview:...

." This was followed in 2008 by Echoes, an album composed entirely of covers, and 2010's Andromeda, the band's first release to consist entirely of original material.

Discography

• The California Guitar Trio (1991, not listed in CGT's own discography)
• Yamanashi Blues (1993)
• Invitation (1995)
• Pathways (1998)
• An Opening Act: Live on Tour with King Crimson (1999)
• Rocks the West (2000)
• 10 Christmas Songs (2001)
• CG3+2 (2002)
• The First Decade (compilation) (2003)
• Whitewater (2004)
• Highlights (compilation) (2007)
• Echoes (2008)
• Andromeda (2010)

External links

• California Guitar Trio home page
• Official Tony Levin Site