California Guitar Trio with Kaki King

June 21 

8pm

 

 

 

 

The universe of guitar knows no boundaries for The California Guitar Trio. Since 1991, the group has
enthralled listeners with a singular sound that fearlessly crisscrosses genres. The trio’s questing
spirit drives it to explore the intersections between rock, jazz, classical, and world music. It even
throws in the occasional surf or spaghetti Western tune for good measure.
Comprised of Bert Lams, Tom Griesgraber and Paul Richards, the group has established a unique,
personal connection with audiences. In addition to dazzling musicianship and interplay, The
California Guitar Trio’s (CGT) shows are full of captivating stories and humor that enable
concertgoers to feel like they’re part of the music, not just spectators. In fact, the group’s CGT’s 21
albums, streamed over 115 million times on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music, offer
diverse snapshots of the group’s mercurial muse.
The trio’s latest album “Live In Scottsdale – On Tour With King Crimson” is a recording of the final
opening set from the 2021 tour with the legendary King Crimson and features the new CGT 2.0 line
up with Tom Griesgraber on Chapman Stick. CGT’s most recent studio release Elegy showcases its
acoustic side, with beautiful lush originals and innovative cover arrangements of Beatles, Radiohead
and more.
The trio’s output has made a major global impact, having served as the soundtrack for Olympics
coverage, and programs on CNN, CBS, NBC, and ESPN. They have fans in high places too: NASA
used their music to wake the crew aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavor.
CGT’s lineup is truly the sum of its distinct parts: A Utah native now residing in Los Angeles, Paul
Richards immersed himself in rock, blues, and jazz during his early days and while attending The
University of Utah’s jazz guitar program. While on and off the road, Paul enjoys doing landscape
photography.
Bert Lams, originally from Belgium, graduated from the prestigious Royal Conservatory of Music in
Brussels, winning awards in classical guitar performance. Bert Lams currently lives with his family in
Jupiter Florida.
Tom Griesgraber, the only California native in the group, is from Encinitas. Tom is a virtuoso player of
the Chapman Stick, a guitar/bass hybrid tapping instrument invented in California by Emmett
Chapman. Tom is a graduate of the Berklee School of Music on Boston.

 

 

Dubbed by Rolling Stone as “a genre unto herself,” Brooklyn, NY-based Kaki King has proven to be
just that. Her career has taken her all over the world, sharing stages with Dave Grohl of Foo
Fighters, contributing music to award-winning films (Sean Penn’s Into The Wild), and performing at
the Kennedy Center, the London Jazz Festival, and the Paris Les Femmes s’en Melent. Her
explorations into the guitar and multimedia have led to the creation of groundbreaking work such as
The Neck Is A Bridge To The Body, Modern Yesterdays, SEI, and her newest show for audiences of all
ages, BUGS. Kaki continues to create, perform, and lend her musical voice to the forefront of
contemporary music.