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Smooth Like Earl Klugh: A Collection

Thirty-one tracks of nylon-string guitar played with a delicacy nobody else in the idiom has matched. Earl Klugh is the quietest virtuoso in jazz.

Earl Klugh

Earl Klugh was born in Detroit in 1953 and is almost unique among jazz guitarists in playing exclusively acoustic nylon-string guitar — no electric, no amplification beyond a microphone. That choice defines everything: the tone is warm and woody, the attack is soft, and the whole music sits at a volume that requires you to lean in.

He was playing professionally as a teenager, recorded with Yusef Lateef at fifteen, and joined George Benson's band before working with Chick Corea's Return to Forever. That is a serious jazz apprenticeship, and it is worth knowing before filing him under easy listening.

His influences are unusual for the genre — he has named Chet Atkins as a primary one, which explains the fingerstyle technique and the country-adjacent clarity of his lines.

What to listen for

"Living Inside Your Love" is the signature piece and the best demonstration of the tone.

The covers show the taste, and it is excellent. "For the Love of You" is the Isley Brothers, "The Look Of Love" is Bacharach, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes" is Kern and Harbach, and "Mona Lisa" is Nat King Cole.

"Love Theme from Spartacus" by the Earl Klugh Trio is the most harmonically interesting thing here — the Alex North composition has been a jazz vehicle since Bill Evans recorded it, and Klugh's version holds its own.

"Love Theme from Romeo & Juliet" with George Benson comes from their Collaboration album, which won a Grammy — two guitarists with completely different approaches to the same instrument.

"Calypso Getaway" and "Sandman" are the up-tempo originals, and "Whisper and Promises" and "Balladina" the quietest.

"Laughter In The Rain" is the Neil Sedaka song, which tells you he does not care about genre hierarchy.

Go deeper

Finger Paintings (1977) is the album most people name, and Collaboration (1987) with George Benson is the other essential.

For the nylon-string jazz tradition: Charlie Byrd — whose Jazz Samba with Stan Getz launched the bossa nova craze in America — and Baden Powell from Brazil are the two names to know.

And Chet Atkins is worth the detour if the fingerstyle technique interests you; the influence on Klugh is obvious once you hear it.

Listening note: Klugh plays nylon-string acoustic in a field that mostly went electric, and that choice is the entire character of this music. No sustain to hide behind, no effects to smear the edges — every note has to be placed correctly the first time, and he places them.

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