The California Guitar Trio returns to the Barns at Wolf Trap on its 20th anniversary celebration to mark the release of its latest album, “Andromeda.” The recording was the perfect opportunity to pair their instruments with a vintage acoustical system with a new digital and electronic process. No guitar lover should miss this treat. The CGT represents the optimal merging of three different cultures: Paul Richards from Salt Lake City, Bert Lams from Belgium and Hideyo Moriya from Japan. They met while studying with Robert Fripp in England. After touring with his League of Crafty Guitarists, they made their way to California to start the ensemble.
| Onstage |
| California Guitar Trio |
| Where: The Barns at Wolf Trap |
| When: 8 p.m. Wednesday |
| Info: $22 at 800-WOLFTRAP (965-3872) or wolftrap.org |
“Our diverse backgrounds have contributed very significantly to our music,” Richards said. “From the beginning it threw us together. We all experienced very different musical influences growing up, so our unique slant on music comes out even in our arrangements of other people’s music to keep us and our audiences interested.”
More than a dozen CGT albums represent an appealing, accessible fusing of classical rock, blues, jazz, world and progressive music. In a given moment, the guitars can emulate a flute, cello, violin, harpsichord or other orchestral instrument of choice. Their standout arrangements of Beethoven and Bach classics and standards like “Classical Gas” and “Caravan” emphasize their originality.
Because they like to combine their guitars with other instruments when possible, the album features bass guitarist Tony Levin on “Town of the Tide” and Turkish violist Dilek Engin on “Portland Rain.” “Andromeda” gave them the opportunity to focus on their own writing.
“Our composing process often begins when one of us comes up with a theme, melody or a few chords with an exciting sound,” Richards said. “Then we work together to develop a piece. One exception in the new album is ‘Hazardous Z,’ a piece Hideyo wrote while he was visiting in Japan. He made a recording with two friends and sent it to us. Bert and I added our own parts. The final version is different than the original.
“We look forward to playing at Wolf Trap again because the people who come out are open-minded and appreciate new concepts. One of our techniques is ‘circulation.’ Bert stands on my right, Hideyo on my left, and we each play one note of a piece in sequence in rapid succession giving a harp effect. It’s a technique we learned from Robert Fripp and we use it a lot. Because it’s an exercise in listening, we have to be extremely focused, and when the audience understands what we’re doing, it keeps them aware.”
