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New CGT Album Andromeda: After working on this album for more than 2 years, we have just set an official release date of October 12, 2010. This will
be the first CGT album featuring entirely new original music, both composed and improvised by Bert, Paul and Hideyo. Guests on the album include Tony Levin, Julie Slick, Eric Slick, Tom Griesgraber, Tyler Trotter and more. Album Artwork by Pablo Mandel. More info soon.
| Reviews of CGT's Whitewater album
| April 9, 2010 - Review of the Frankort KY Concert by Walter Tunis
| April 7, 2010 - CGT Live shows available here at aftershowmusic.com
| Siuslaw News, Florence, Oregon March 24, 2010
"California Guitar Trio recycles Classical Gas with Frippery
A local physician shook his head. I never thought I'd see it here. Pink Floyd. And Beethoven hand in hand. And it was all great! Women bubbled with glee. They did "Bohemian Rhapsody". Did Helen Mirren get as much adulation as Queen? Did Elizabeth II? A retired attorney and fledgling guitarist whose mind is always in gear claimed he was totally engaged in the music with no passing thought to politics or economics. A long line formed at the table in the lobby where the CGT burned and autographed CDs of the just-played concert. (A brilliant marketing plan!) Clearly, the crowd was blown away by the California Guitar Trio, March 12 at the Florence Events Center, the sixth concert in the Seacoast Entertainment Association's 2009-10 season series. And the guitar workshop hours before the concert attracted a circle of 30 players anxious to learn some new licks from the masters. The CGT enjoys giving workshops at its gigs.
The trio makes long cross-country tours this time out included California, Oregon, Washington, Canada, Michigan, Illinois, Tennessee, Kentucky, before returning to their separate residences not in California. CGT members were not born and bred in the Golden State; they became an official ensemble there when they relocated to Los Angeles nearly 20 years ago when one of them married. They no longer live there; Hideyo Moriya lives in his native Japan; Paul Richards lives in his native Utah; and Bert Lams, a native of Belgium, lives on the East Coast. The guitarists communicate over the internet, exchanging tunes and arrangements,, and meet a few days before each concert tour. Yet they are able to pass the notes with precision, agility, and camaraderie. Music is a universal language, and California retains its golden marketing image. Guitar was their first and only instrument, according to amiable spokesman Paul, and they all began to play at age 13. But they did not meet until the 1980s in England at Robert Fripp guitar seminar. Zing went the strings! Fripp, an eccentric British guitarist who is left-handed but plays right-handed developed Guitar Craft, a series of zenlike guitar and personal development classes. One technique was New Standard Tuning, said to expand the range of the instrument. Fripp intended it for beginners, and it proved to be a hurdle for guitarists for whom standard tuning was second nature. Another technique CGT refined is Circulation in which each guitarist plays every third note allowing the note to be held three times longer than if played by a single guitarist. Bach might have flipped to hear his Toccata played with such dazzling sonority! Curiously, a year ago Fripp recommended Guitar Craft cease on its 25th anniversary in 2010. Nevertheless, the CGT mastered the course to enjoy a stellar career. Paul, Hideyo, and Bert all write music, and their program included instrumental covers and originals. There were no vocals; the guitars spoke volumes.
Originals included a lush, lilting innocent "Eve" prior to the apple event; a frenetic "Melrose Avenue" documenting their time in L.A.; a bucolic "Marsha" burbling in Fripp's English country garden; a towering "Cathedral Peak"; a Latin tune inadvertently inspired by folk tunes in Argentina; and "The Hazardous Sea" circulating swells from throughout the world. Covers included Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody"; an outrageous Pink Floyd rocker stretching the limits of acoustic guitar; Mason William's iconic "Classical Gas"; surf guitar from The Venture's "Pipeline"; "Sleepwalk" from rock an' rollers Santo and Johnny; Bach's Toccata and Fugue, Beethoven's "Presto Agitato"; and an even older composition for koto, a traditional Japanese stringed instrument. Eclectic pyrotechnics. Bert lit the fuse and snaked it through the three-dimensional grid of strings while Paul pumped an anchor pulled by Hideyo rolling bass notes back to Bert who tickled the strings into submission released and reiterated by Paul and contemplated by Hideyo and so on, round and round, a circle of sparkling lights, until Bert pulled the plug on the sudoku of strings marinated by the roaring applause of the crowd.
Playing Breedlove guitars from Bend, the CGT rocket scientists were full of sound and fury. They flew us to the moon, circulated through the stars from Jupiter to Mars, plunged into cosmic deep space shattering all records for velocity, and galloped to back earth like lone rangers to the "William Tell Overture" returning us, shook up but safe enough for the trek to the lobby to purchase a concert CD fresh off the burner. Deja vu all over again. Now that's circulation!
Reviewed by Burney Garelick"
| February 25, 2010 - Getting ready to head out on the road again next week. Check the tour dates page for details.
| January 21, 2010 Some unfortunate news: Tony Levin received a phone call late last night that his 96 year old mother had a very bad fall and has been taken to the hospital and will undergo surgery. Tony has booked a flight home today, and will not be able to join us for the concert tonight in Felton. Our best wishes go to Tony's mother. And our apologies to all the people coming to the show, hoping to see Tony with us tonight.
| January 17, 2010 - Bert, Hideyo and Paul are in San Francisco rehearsing for the upcoming tour. Check the tour dates page for the latest schedule.
| January 9, 2010 - Bert and Paul are in Louisville KY for the final mixing sessions of the new CGT album at Kevin Ratterman's studio. Sounding good!!!
| December 29, 2009 - Bert and Paul will be back in the studio next week to complete the mix of the new CGT all originals album, to be released early 2010.
| California Guitar Trio and Montreal Guitar Trio: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; Live in Quebec City October 23, 2009
| October 27, 2009. Great photos by Hugues of the CGT/MG3 concert in Saint Jerome Canada
| October 22, 2009. CGT is in Quebec doing concerts with the Montreal Guitar Trio
| CGT living room concert on Echoes.org on September 18. 2009
| June 30, 2009 - Very nice review of the recent Sellersville show with Eric and Julie Slick.
| June 24, 2004 - CGT is in the studio in Louisville KY recording tracks for a new original music CD.
| June 22, 2009 - Review of CGT/Stickmen show at BB Kings in NYC.
| June 11, 2009: Interview with Paul Richards for Columbia Festival of the Arts Concert
| May 5, 2009 - CGT in Gouviea Portugal playing Echoes
| April 28, 2009 - The CGT mini tour in Europe begins this weekend with a concert in Portugal with Tony Levin's Stickmen. Check the tour page for details, and be sure to check back on our diaries for photos from the tour.
| March 3, 2009 - Review of Granada Theater show
| March 1, 2009, Click here to see CGT playing with UT Percussion studio in Austin TX.
| February 28, 2009 - MP3 Download from the show last night in Austin TX now available on the store.
This show features two songs with the University of Texas Percussion Studio.
| February 26, 2009 - Recent interview with Paul on Music Sojourn
| January 28, 2009. The WHYY PBS "On Canvas" CGT special can now be viewed online in its entirety.
| Acoustic Guitar Magazine Review of CGT Echoes CD
| CGT voted #2 Best CD of 2008 by Echoes listeners
| CGT on Amazon.com top 10 best list of 2008!
| CGT Animation by Ron Brewer of Family Guy fame.
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