Track Listing

1. Friday Night Shuffle
2. A Pair of Kings
3. Night Sweats
4. Sapphire Blue
5. 7 for You
6. Slightly Dirty
7. Just an Excuse
8. Take Me Down

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41011 in Music
• Released on: 2004-01-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.com
It is said that the sins of the father are visited on the sons, but sometimes Junior's sins are visited on poor dad. Players like Larry Carlton, David Sanborn, Jaco Pastorius, and Eddie Van Halen developed new, personal sounds and techniques on their instruments that have since been bastardized by dozens of less-talented offspring, often leading to an unfair denigration of the progenitors. Carlton's smooth, singing guitar tone has been adopted by a legion of hacks who would never be able to create the inventive solos the LA session ace supplied to Steely Dan (see: "Kid Charlemagne"), nor the revolutionary textures he bestowed upon Joni Mitchell (see: all of Court and Spark). Granted the requirements of radio have occasionally softened his own edge; but offered the chance to record anything he wants results in Sapphire Blue--a horn-section driven, blues-based outing that reminds us why he is, well, Larry Carlton. From the opening romp of "Friday Night Shuffle," to the closing down-home acoustic/harmonica duet of "Take Me Down," this disc offers undiluted guitar soul with no concessions to the "smooth jazz" canon. Any doubts will be quickly dispelled with one listen to the title tune, where drummer Billy Kilson (Dave Holland) is allowed to go brilliantly berserk under the climax of Carlton's final solo. Throughout, Carlton's greasy playing rivals some of his best work with the Crusaders, providing a textbook for a new generation of guitarists. Let's hope that this time they learn the right lessons. --Michael Ross

Customer Reviews

A fusion between jazz and blues?
This album shows me that Larry Carlton does the project of his life, it was dedicated to his grandaughter, great music that I consider a fusion between blues and jazz.

It's a great album.
I've recently just started listening to Jazz and am building a collection, slowly. Sapphire Blue was recommended to me by a fellow guitar player, knowing I really like the blues as well. Regardless of anyone's whining that this is steeped in blues, I personally love it. The blues runs, and jazzy backings are a great mix. Larry Carlton is fast becoming a favorite.

Larry Carlton & Steve Lukather No Substitutions Live in Osaka was my first time hearing LC, and that blew me away. Sapphire Blue did NOT let me down.

Definitely a 5 star album. I highly recommend it

Five stars for Larry and the band, three for the production
Let me start out by saying that Larry Carlton plays his ass off on this disc, as does the rest of his band. He's always been able to play the blues like this, and it's about time he did it on record.

Something about the production doesn't do it for me, though. Larry's tone is spectacular (as always), but it seems like everything else is way too far in the background. The horns, especially, sound thin and compressed, without punch. There's some sort of synth strings over the top of the horns on some of the tracks which really doesn't need to be there. The Hammond organ doesn't growl; it purrs.

If this group put out a live record, it would be amazing.