What do famous guitarists do after climbing to the top of their field, having contributed to literally hundreds of the most influential jazz, rock and pop records of the past 30 years? Well, if you ask Larry Carlton and Steve Lukather, the answer is: They turn up the amps, load their guitar chops with grit and start jamming.
Yes, that's Carlton, the accomplished studio musician who has long turned out light, groovy, smooth jazz, and Lukather, the singer and guitarist for the definitive late '70s/early '80s mainstream rock group Toto.
Their shows at the Blue Note, Tokyo, the first week of April were packed with not radio-format predictability or guitar-god pretenses, but the rollicking excitement of performers more interested in creating honest, heartfelt music than in status or acceptability. The wildly applauding fans were hardly interested in any historico-critical perspectives, they came to enjoy their powerful, bluesy sound -- and got what they came for.