Larry Carlton

Larry Carlton studied at Narbonne High School. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are rock music, blues, jazz fusion and post-bop. Residence is recorded at Torrance. Distinctions recorded are Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album and Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Carlton was born in Torrance, California in the South Bay Area of L.A., and, at the age of six, began guitar lessons. In the early 1960s, while he was still in high school, he debuted his talent playing surf guitar with Eddie and the Showmen, who became the house band at the Retail Clerks Union Hall in Buena Park, California. His interest in jazz came from hearing guitarist Joe Pass on the radio, after which he started to listen to jazz guitarists Barney Kessel and Wes Montgomery, as well as blues guitarist B.B. King. He went to junior college and Long Beach State College while playing professionally at clubs in Los Angeles. During the 1970s, he found steady work as a studio musician on electric and acoustic guitar in a variety of genres: pop, jazz pop, rock, rhythm and blues, soul, and country. Carlton appeared in hundreds of recording sessions with Steely Dan, Joni Mitchell, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Bobby Bland, Sammy Davis Jr., Paulinho Da Costa, Charly García, the Fifth Dimension, Herb Alpert, Christopher Cross, Dolly Parton, Barbra Streisand, Andy Williams, and the Partridge Family. Carlton performed on Mike Post's 1981 "Theme from Hill Street Blues", which won Grammys for 'Best Instrumental Composition' and for 'Best Pop Instrumental Performance'. In 1982, he appeared on The Nightfly by Donald Fagen, lead singer/keyboardist for Steely Dan. His guitar work on Steely Dan's "Kid Charlemagne" from their 1976 LP The Royal Scam was ranked No. 80 on a list of the best guitar songs by Rolling Stone.

Carlton recorded his debut solo album, With a Little Help from My Friends, in 1968. In the mid-1970s he built a home studio and called it Room 335 after the Gibson ES-335, an electric guitar he is known for playing. He has recorded most of his albums at Room 335. In 1988, with his solo career burgeoning, he was shot in the throat by a teenager outside Room 335 and suffered nerve and vocal cord damage, which delayed completion of the album he was recording at the time, On Solid Ground. His left arm was paralyzed and for six months he was unable to play more than a few notes. Carlton produced six albums from 1978 to 1984. His version of "Sleepwalk" by Santo Farina climbed the pop and adult contemporary charts. From 1985 to 1990, he did various solo projects, including the live album Last Nite. He was commissioned to compose music for the king of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, in honor of the king's birthday. He recorded The Jazz King (Sony BMG, 2008) with a jazz orchestra including Tom Scott, Nathan East, and Earl Klugh.

Carlton is best known for his 1969 Gibson ES-335, being often referred to as “Mr. 335”. Other guitars he owns and plays include a 1951 Fender Telecaster, a 1964 Fender Stratocaster, and a 1955 Gibson Les Paul Special. He has used a 1958 Fender Deluxe amplifier and his standard setup included a Dumble. Now he plays Bludotone amplifiers. In 2020, Carlton began endorsing Sire Guitars, with whom he has a signature line of electric guitars.

In 1988, Carlton was shot in the neck at the entrance of his home in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, Carlton identified the shooter as one of two young men whom he remembered jogging right after a dog ran by his carport. According to The Hamilton Spectator, the assailant was passing by on a bicycle. The attacker was never identified and the attack was speculated to have been an attempted robbery or an initiation rite for a gang. It took Carlton "seven or eight months" before he was able to play the guitar again due to an axonal injury on the left side of his neck. He required extensive rehabilitation to build muscles in his left arm and it was about two years before he could perform again.

Carlton married contemporary Christian music artist Michele Pillar in 1987; they divorced in 2013. He is the father of Katie Carlton and Travis Carlton. Travis is a professional bassist.

1987: Larry Carlton Live 1988: Scrooged 1989: Star Licks Larry Carlton 1992: Star Licks Larry Carlton Vol. 2 1997: Larry Carlton Live at Montreal International Jazz Festival 2002: Ohne Filter (inakustik) 2002: Live at Montreal Jazz Festival (Eagle) 2004: Larry Carlton Recorded Live in Paris 2005: Carlton/Lukather Band – The Paris Concert (inakustik) 2007: Larry Carlton with Robben Ford Live in Osaka (335) - bonus DVD with CD Larry Carlton with Robben Ford Live in Tokyo 2008: Carlton, Ford + Autour Du Blues – The Paris Concert (inakustik) 2008: Carlton and the Sapphire Blues Band – The Paris Concert (inakustik) 2009: Carlton Trio – The Paris Concert (inakustik) 2004: Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival