1. Cathedral Peak
2. Turn of the Tide
3. Andromeda
4. Improv IX
5. Hazardous Z				play
6. Chacarera				
7. Improv VII
8. Middle of TX
10. Portland Rain
11. Improv I				play				

Personnel: 
Paul Richards: guitars; 
Bert Lams: guitars; 
Hideyo Moriya: guitars; 
Tyler Trotter: Moog.

California Guitar Trio celebrates it twentieth anniversary on Andromeda. Protégé's of iconic progressive rock guitarist Robert Fripp (of King Crimson fame), the trio's distinct and borderless methodologies have garnered acclaim throughout the past two decades. The band was often the opening act during King Crimson's late 1990s and early 2000s renaissance. Here, the artists and a special guests pay a bit of homage to the constellations.

"Andromeda" finds the trio incorporating a touch of classical inferences and folk-rock, with Tyler Trotter enveloping and treating the overall muse via streaming Moog effects. The primary thrust of this piece centers on the guitarists' interweaving ostinato voicings, that cast a flowing and prominent chordal impression. Dynamics abound, as the musicians render highs and lows with a linear gait that offers a race-against-time vibe. The trio culminates the memorable melody with soaring lines, amid an absorbing and sublime theme that simply caresses the soul. ---Glenn Astarita, allaboutjazz.com

A change meeting led to the formation of the California Guitar Trio. Paul Richards (Salt Lake City, Utah). Bert Lams (Affligem, Belgium) and Hideyo Moriya (Chiba, Japan) were studying with Robert Fripp in 1987 and joined the King Crimson legend on Fripp’s League of Crafty Guitarists tour. In 1991 they founded the trio and have been performing an recording on and off since then, always keeping in touch.

Their music went sky high, being used as the soundtrack for numerous documentaries about outer space. One of their tracks was picked to wake the astronauts aboard the NASA space shuttle “Endeavor”. No wonder that the named their new album Andromeda, their first album featuring only original material. The tracks flow together to build a musical stream of consciousness. The musicians play within each other, taking sidesteps when the moment strikes them. The title track has a speeded up medieval tempo, the kind that Mike Oldfield popularized in the early Seventies. He is an obvious influence. They covered a part of Tubular Bells on their previous cover album Echoes. A hint of Spain comes along in Hazardous Z, an a slow rumble introduces Middle of TX with a flawless steel guitar.

Andromeda is an album that grows on you. Just when think you dissected all the goings on, you will find something new and rewarding.

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1. Scramble - (2:22)
2. Symphony No. 9 - (8:58)
3. Bohemian Rhapsody - (5:46)
4. Caravan - (3:34)
5. Punta Patri - (4:19)
6. Waters of Eden - (4:27)
7. Blue-Eyed Monkey - (1:59)
8. Pathways - (4:58)
9. Pictures at an exhibition / Hut of Baba Yaga and The great gate of Kiev (M.Mussorgsky) - (3:59)
10. Happy Time in Fun Town - (3:16)
11. Misirlou - (2:04)
12. Rokidan - (1:50)
13. Blockhead - (4:38)

Paul Richards - Guitar, Photography, Mixing
Bert Lams - Guitar, Photography
Hideyo Moriya - Guitar, Photography
California Guitar Trio - Producer, Main Performer
Bill Janssen - Saxophone
Tony Levin - Fretless Bass, Photography, Chapman Stick

Through three decades of progressive rock in King Crimson, Robert Fripp brought guitar-based rock to its most exciting levels. Along the way, he picked up an allergic reaction to the cannibalistic music industry. With his record label Discipline Global Mobile, Fripp releases experimental recordings with a kinder, gentler business ethic. Says each CD, "copyright is operated...on behalf of the artists, with whom it resides. Discipline excepts no reasons for artists to give away such copyright interests in their work by virtue of a 'common practice' which is out of tune with the time, was always questionable and is now indefensible." Well. Certainly in tune with another time is California Guitar Trio. Rocks the West is a live album. It features the acoustic guitar ensemble's stunning arrangements of such classical pieces as Beethoven's "Symphony No. 9" and Mussorgski's "Pictures at an Exhibition." Along the way you get their treatment of more modern classics like "Bohemian Rhapsody" and Ellington's "Caravan." Some tracks feature King Crimson alumnus, bassist Tony Levin. ---Tom Schulte, Rovi

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1. Melrose Avenue -  2:16
2. Skyline -   4:41
3. Dancing Anne -  3:38 
4. Heart of the Sunrise -  7:16 
5. Hanagasa -  3:32 
6. Zundoko-Bushi -  3:37 
7. Blockhead -  3:47 
8. Dance of Maya -  7:12 
9. Swampy Space -  3:40 
10. Swampy Return - 2:10 
11. Train to Lamy -  5:11 
12. Eve -  4:11 
13. What I Am -  6:29 
14. The Chase -  7:36 

Tony Levin - Bass, Chapman Stick 
Pat Mastelotto - Trap Kit, Buttons 
Paul Richards - Guitar, Slide Guitar, Mixing 
Bert Lams - Guitar, Mixing, Guitar (Tenor) 
Hideyo Moriya - Guitar, Mandocello

Since 1998, the California Guitar Trio has regularly toured with expanded versions of the band. The fan favorite is no doubt the quintet form with King Crimson members Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto. A live album, Live at the Key Club, was made available in 2001 through the CGT Direct Collectors' Series. CG3+2 takes the quintet in the studio to record their repertoire. The track list includes a couple new CGT compositions, jams and studio constructions credited to the whole group, a few more of those incredible covers the band is known for, and a few old favorites revisited. Granted, "Melrose Avenue," "Blockhead," and "Train to Lamy," all dating back to the trio's first two albums (Yamanashi Blues in 1994; Invitation in 1995), suffer a bit from overexposure, but having a rhythm section to back them up is a whole new thing -- "Melrose Avenue" turns into a splendidly driving album opener. The group compositions, in which engineer Bill Munyon also had a word, are not as satisfying as the trio's own songs. Somewhat looser, they don't pack as much energy or beauty as "Skyline" and "Eve," the two new pieces co-written by the team of Bert Lams, Paul Richards, and Hideyo Moriya. The highlights are provided by the covers: Yes' "Heart of the Sunrise," the Mahavishnu Orchestra's "Dance of Maya" (did someone mention virtuosity?), and two delightful Japanese traditional tunes rearranged by Moriya -- "Zundoko-Bushi" even includes bits of King Crimson's "21st Century Schizoid Man" and "Vrooom." CG3+2 is only half new to the fans and constitutes a meager offering composition-wise. But if the idea of the guitar trio being backed by such a skilled rhythm section makes you salivate, then by all means grab it. You won't be disappointed! ---François Couture, Rovi

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1. Yamanishi Blues 
2. Melrose Avenue 
3. Train To Lamy (incl. 21st Century Schizoid Man Homage) 
4. Blockhead
5. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly 
6. Punta Patri 
7. Toccata And Fugue In D Minor (J.S.Bach) 
8. Pipeline 									play
9. Kan-Non Power 
10. Invitation 
11. Walk, Don't Run								play 
12. Misirlou

Musicians
- Bert Lams - guitars
- Hideyo Moriya - guitars
- Paul Richards - guitars

The California Guitar Trio consists of three musicians who are not necessarily California-bred; Bert Lams is from Belgium, Hideyo Moriya hails from Japan, and Paul Richards is the only native of the U.S. The three first crossed paths at a guitar seminar held at Robert Fripp's home in England in the late '80s. Lams, Moriya, and Richards toured the U.S. and England as part of Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists until deciding to branch out on their own in the fall of 1990.

The band officially became the California Guitar Trio in February of 1991, after relocating due to the fact that Lams was getting married and was moving there anyway. By starting out playing small clubs and coffeehouses on the West Coast, the group soon became well-known in guitar playing circles, thanks also to their Fripp/King Crimson connection. They were eventually signed to the Fripp/Crimson label Discipline Global Mobile, releasing 1994's Yamanashi Blues and 1995's Invitation. The group has toured intensely ever since their debut, opening for King Crimson, David Sylvian, Robert Fripp (solo and with his Robert Fripp String Quintet), and John McLaughlin, as well as headlining shows themselves; Pathways followed in 1998, and two years later the group resurfaced with Rocks the West. --- Greg Prato, Rovi

Out of a stack of California Guitar Trio (CGT) CDs, my favorite may be "An Opening Act: On Tour With King Crimson." It's everything that we've come to love about the group. It features that distinctively CGT balance of surf and classically inspired material. This trio met while enrolled in Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft program. Afterwards, they took it to the next level by becoming one of the most active elements in the guitar craft movement. Coming full circle, we can only imagine how wonderful it would have been for the group to actually open for Fripp's King Crimson. While CGT's music has always been infused with the sensibility of the League of Crafty Guitarists, "An Opening Act" feels an especially heavy shadow of Robert Fripp. 'Train To Lamy' even features an exciting nod to '21st Century Schizoid Man.' One of the benefits of this live show is that it plays like a greatest hits. In terms of the Americana, 'Walk Don't Run' and 'Misirlou' are strengths. 'Kan-Non Power' is a CGT original that Robert Fripp assimilated into the setlists of his String Quintet. From Morricone's 'The Good, The Bad And The Ugly' to Bach's 'Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,' the listener simply can't go wrong. What is gained in the studio is often lost on the stage and vice versa. Live performances tend to trade production quality for energy. One of the outstanding dynamics of this release as a live recording is that it shows that these guys still shine in terms of their technical precision and blinding speed. Indeed, "An Opening Act" kills any suspicion that the merits of CGT have been engineered with studio trickery. After a dozen albums, this late 1990s show is special given that it is the group's only live release. All in all, "An Opening Act: On Tour With King Crimson" stands as an exciting document of what California Guitar Trio can do on stage. --- The Delite Rancher, amazon.com

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01. The Cruel Sea 					play
02. Music For A Found Harmonium 	play
03. Unmei 
04. Echoes 
05. Tubular Bells 
06. Pastorale 
07. Bohemian Rhapsody 
08. and I Khow 
09. Preedird

Personnel: 
Bonnie "Prince" Billy (vocals); 
Jamie Masefield (mandolin); 
Tom Griesgraber (Chapman stick); 
Kevin Ratterman (shaker, tambourine); 
Pamelia Kurstin (Theremin).

The California Guitar Trio have been plying their formula for over a decade now: applying their combined virtuosity to a few originals, some classical pieces, some surf music, and the occasionally kitschy cover. For Echoes, they've left out the originals and added a few new wrinkles. The album begins, sounding like just about any California Guitar Trio release, but the ears perk up a bit when electric guitar enters during Beethoven's Unmei. "Echoes" has still more electric guitar along with additional keys, bass, and theremin (there are a number of guest spots on the album, including past cohort Tony Levin). "Echoes" is nicely done, but "Tubular Bells" comes off even better since the composition itself really lends itself to the CGT modus operandi. "Bohemian Rhapsody" might seem like an odd choice, but their instrumental arrangement makes it sound more like it came from the pen of Beethoven than Freddie Mercury (although somebody nails Brian May's solo). Then things sort of veer off the normal course for a CGT album. The last two tracks bring in Bonnie "Prince" Billy (aka Will Oldham) on vocals for a pair of covers: the folky "And I Know" (originally performed by Switzerland's Krokodil) and "Free Bird" (the mere thought of which might produce audible groans from some listeners). Actually, "Free Bird" comes off better than it ought to, with a bit of a reggae lilt and some dubby echo for the first part before going full electric for the coda. The vocal tracks may not appeal to all their fans (and can be programmed out anyway, if need be), but Echoes is another solid offering that manages to expand the sound of the California Guitar Trio while remaining very true to it at the same time. --- Sean Westergaard

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1		Hallitussilmad	3:56
2		Where It Goes, We Go	3:22
3		Get Back	2:34
4		Gaudela Trilogy Part I: Alva	3:26
5		El Aparcero	1:35
6		Daydreaming	4:14
7		Gaudela Trilogy Part III: Mondego Rio Da Esperança		4:28
8		Cavatina	3:26
9		Diamond Head	1:53
10		Droning Circulation	5:28
11		Shining Road	3:21
12		Gaudela Trilogy Part II: Ribeira De Gouveia	3:10
13		Elegy	3:22
14		Hallitussilmad Argo Vals Remix	3:43

Paul Richards - guitar
Bert Lams - guitar
Hideyo Moriya - guitar
+
Special Guests:
Davide Rossi - strings performed and arranged on Cavatina
Tony Levin - upright bass on Droning
Fabio Mittino - electric guitars on Shining Road, Elegy and Hallitussilmad 

Like many of you, our lives have been severely impacted by Covid-19. Many of our family and friends have been directly affected by the virus, and we’ve suffered devastating losses in both our own communities and our global community. Also, like so many of our fans, our livelihood has been altered - drastically and indefinitely. Because of this situation we had to cancel all of our shows for the foreseeable future. We are currently unable to participate in our favorite part of being working musicians - which is traveling to your local venue to play for you. We want to thank you for supporting our music and coming out to share time with us all these wonderful years.

During the past year, while touring, we recorded our new album ELEGY at Airbnb houses in West Hollywood, Chicago, Bryn Mawr and Montreal. In addition to our own compositions and a few covers, we focused on music written by friends we met during our travels in the past 29 years. The album features special guests Tony Levin, Davide Rossi and Fabio Mittino.

Until we can get back out on the road and see you in person, CGT would like to offer our new album ELEGY via digital download at a price that works for anyone - PAY WHAT YOU WISH.

We hope you enjoy the new music. And we wish you peace and good health. ---Hideyo, Paul, and Bert, California Guitar Trio

I’ve been playing the California Guitar Trio on Echoes for 30 years now, about as long as the group has existed. They’ve performed live many times and been interviewed many times. But they’ve only had one CD of the Month pick, last year’s In a Landscape with the Montreal Guitar Trio. Well, now they have a second one, with their beautiful new album, Elegy. It’s a set of pristinely-crafted instrumentals, with many of the compositions coming from friends who, along with CGT’s Paul Richards, Bert Lams and Hideyo Moriya, went through Robert Fripp’s Guitar Craft courses in the 1980s and 90s.

CGT have taken those teachings and deployed them across an eclectic range of music that includes covers of Queen and Lynyrd Skynyrd songs, pieces by John Cage and Pink Floyd, along with many original compositions. Elegy may be their most coherent and finely-crafted album yet, even though it was recorded in Airbnb living rooms while on tour this past winter. The album features a lot of compositions from friends they met over the years including “Hallitussilmad,” written by Estonian composer Argo Vals. It’s the kind of track that exemplifies the meticulous sound of CGT, with cycling arpeggios and staccato decrescendos, accented here by a bit of electric guitar sustain from Fabio Mittino, who brings the song to an unusually fiery peak. There’s also a more ambient mix of this song at the end of the album.

“Where It Goes, We Go” is written by Argentinian guitarist Alex Anthony Faide and American guitarist Steve Ball, both of whom are Crafty Guitarist alumni. It’s another energetic piece, tapping more of a virtuoso folky finger-style guitar sound that evokes Leo Kottke, but also moving into dark, churning grooves.

There is the usual assortment of covers that the band indulges in. For me, CGT covers are a mixed-bag. If it’s a song I don’t love, they don’t make me love it more. That’s the case with The Beatles’ “Get Back”, a fun, but lightweight Paul McCartney tune that they approach with humor and a shouted “Get Back JoJo.” If it’s a song I do love, however, like Radiohead’s “Daydreaming,” they make me stand in awe at how they translate it to their acoustic guitars and reinvent it. On Radiohead’s 2016 album, A Moon Shaped Pool, “Daydreaming” is a drifting, lysergic reverie. CGT turn it into a more pastoral meditation.

“Daydreaming” is one of the songs that features the “circulation” technique they learned from Robert Fripp. It entails passing a melody between the three players, one note at a time. They do that overtly in Claude LaFlamme’s “Droning Circulation” and more subtly in other songs like “Daydreaming.” It’s one of the reasons why CGT albums are such great headphone material, something you don’t often consider with acoustic guitar. It’s the best way to hear the interlocked synchrony of their melodies which ping across the stereo spectrum, sending riffs through your head in a lattice symmetry, like watching a dance of stars.

Centering the album is the “Gaudela Trilogy,” a three-part work, each movement composed by a different member of CGT, and scattered across the album in random order. Each part is distinctive. Bert Lams’s “Part I: Alva,” has more of a classical bent, with arpeggiated melodies circling around each other as a subtle, flute-like sustain creates a building tension. Hideyo Moriya’s “Part III: Mondego Rio Esperanca” creates a multi-structured work of cyclical crescendos and a bit of a Flamenco flair. Paul Richards’s “Part II: Ribeira de Gouveia” charges out of the gate with a chase-theme groove, leading to a string of solos and hard-picked rhythms.

The title track of the album, “Elegy,” was written by Collin Landinguin, another Crafty friend who passed away. The album is dedicated to him. It’s a spatial envelopment, with CGT joined by some 24 musicians including guitarists, violinists, and singers, playing interlocking unison lines that ring out in space, along with some wailing, ululating wordless vocals by Beth Fleenor.

After 30-plus years, the three-headed, six-handed guitar monster known as the California Guitar Trio has released one of their best albums. Elegy is a remarkable feat that should not go unmarked, and I’m marking it right here. ---echoes.org

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1.New Horizons 04:35
2.Weird Fishes 05:12
3.Magneto 03:35
4.In a Landscape 06:19
5.Fortune Island 04:42
6.Glass Tango 04:16
7.Space Oddity 04:52
8.First Steps 03:01
9.Perpetuum Mobile - Live in Atlanta 03:34 

Sébastien Dufour - classical guitar, charango
Glenn Lévesque - classical guitar, vocal
Marc Morin - classical guitar, bass
Bert Lams - acoustic guitar
Paul Richards - acoustic guitar, E-bow guitar, slide guitar
Hideyo Moriya - acoustic guitar

Our first studio album recorded together with the California Guitar Trio, just in time to celebrate our 10 years of musical collaboration in sextet ! Recorded in the beautiful Holy Trinity Church of Gore, QC in the Laurentians, "In A Landscape" features new original music and arrangements of music from Radiohead, John Cage and David Bowie. ---montrealguitartrio.bandcamp.com

The musical territory of In a Landscape doesn't take very long to cover, yet somehow still feels vast. There's a lot of exploring behind everything these two trios do, which is only fitting in light of their globe-spanning origins, not to mention the collective miles they've racked up on the road over the decades. So it's only natural that their first full collaboration is based around that endlessly fascinating theme.

There's a richly expansive work packed into these 40 minutes. There was already plenty of common ground (pun unintended) between the California Guitar Trio and Montréal Guitar Trio when they first crossed paths on tour and subsequently decided to keep their collaboration going. Both share an exceptional level of musicianship and focused interplay, good humor, and a near-total disregard for genre. Montreal Guitar Trio + California Guitar Trio Live (Self Produced, 2011) followed the usual format of their joint shows, alternating individual mini-sets from each group before all six played together at the finale. In a Landscape finally shows them as a unit from start to finish, and it's a humble success—a beautiful organism that exceeds the sum of its parts.

As a whole, the sextet smoothly showcases the characteristics common to both trios: non-flashy virtuosity, bogglingly intricate interplay and a stylistic range as wide as the tundra. At the same time it benefits from the different and complementary tones of each. The CGT aren't averse to judiciously coloring their steel-stringed acoustics with electronic tones, while the MGT produce all the sounds on nylon-string classical guitars with no 'artificial' effects. The material likewise ranges all over the figurative map, from several beautifully evocative originals to sources as diverse as John Cage, David Bowie and a most uplifting closer from the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

To the surprise of no one who knows their music, all the players' parts lock together without any crowding, like the fine gears of a Swiss watch. These fellows could do complex in their sleep, but that's not really the point—everyone is happy to contribute as much or as little as needed, and they handle touching simplicity as well as virtuosic intricacy. The sonic landscape is masterfully crafted and a delight to explore. ---Geno Thackara, allaboutjazz.com

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