Happy Birthday: Larry Carlton

Today we celebrate the birthday of Larry Carlton, a gentleman who may be best known to the masses as a jazz guitarist, despite the fact that he’s played a part in a ridiculous number of tunes that the average radio listener would recognize in a heartbeat. In fact, believe it or not, but he even plays on the theme to The Greatest American Hero!

(See what we did there?)

To commemorate Carlton’s b-day, we’ve put together a playlist which features 20 tracks by 20 different artists, all of which feature his playing in some capacity or other. We can’t say it’s all guitar work, though, because there’s at least one song in the mix where he’s playing sitar! (That’s the America song, just so you’re not left guessing.) Give a spin and don’t be surprised if your jaw drops once or twice at the realization that, holy crap, Larry Carlton played on that?!

He sure did. Happy birthday, Larry!