The California Guitar Trio, which explores and blends the boundaries of rock, jazz, classical and world music, will perform in Cortez on April 12.
The band might even throw in a spaghetti western.
The concert is sponsored by SouthWest Colorado Concerts and begins at 7 p.m. at the Montezuma-Cortez High School Auditorium.
“The California Guitar Trio’s shows are full of captivating stories and humor that enable concertgoers to feel like they’re part of the music, not just spectators,” the band’s website says. “In fact, the group’s goal is to transcend their instruments, so people focus on the music first, and its considerable technical prowess a distant second.”
The trio is composed of Bert Lams, Hideyo Moriya and Paul Richards and is celebrating 25 years of making music together.
Its albums, streamed 59 million times on Pandora, offer diverse snapshots of the group’s muse. The trio’s most recent release, “Komorebi,” showcases its acoustic side, with cover arrangements of Beatles, Beach Boys and others. Its “Masterworks” album features its takes on Bach, Beethoven, Arvo Pärt, and Schubert. “Andromeda” combines their influences into an album of original material, “CG3+2” ventures into kinetic rock in collaboration with bassist Tony Levin and drummer Pat Mastelotto, and “Echoes” takes a trip down memory lane with timeless material by artists such as Mike Oldfield, Penguin Café Orchestra, Pink Floyd and Queen.
The California Guitar Trio has contributed to a soundtrack of Olympics coverage and programs on CNN, CBS, NBC, and ESPN. NASA used their music to wake the crew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor.
California Guitar Trio also performed with the Montreal Guitar Trio in 2014.
California Guitar Trio’s lineup is the sum of its parts. Paul Richards, a Utah native who lives in Los Angeles, immersed himself in rock, blues, jazz and folk during his early days and while attending the University of Utah’s jazz guitar program. Bert Lams, a native of Belgium, graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Brussels, after specializing in classical guitar. Tokyo-born Hideyo Moriya began his guitar journey with surf music and British rock, then relocated to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music.
“This is a concert for everyone – old and young – especially if one plays guitar!” Julie Ayers, of SouthWest Colorado Concerts, said in a press release.
For more information, visit swcoloradoconcerts.org or call Ayers at 970-882-1284 or Eric Wilson at 970-739-8508.
