It was a special night in the Carolina’s as legendary jazz guitarist Earl Klugh chose downtown Charlotte as the place to spend his birthday on. The sold out crowd was in for a treat as he brought along a talented band including Nelson Rangell on sax and flute. He started the show with his classic “Slow Boat To Rio” that featured Rangell on flute, followed by the always popular “Midnight In San Juan” that featured Nelson once more on some great alto work. Slowing down the pace a little, he played “Canadian Sunset.” The acoustic guitar played well with the flute through out, and we could imaging the sunset in our minds.

Having recorded many albums over the years, it was good that he could go back and get one of the first songs he had ever written with Bob James called “Kari.” David Lee’s keys were “James-like” throughout in this classic, and were a good contrast to the fast paced “Brazilian Stomp” that he had recorded with George Benson. Rangell helped take this one out for a climactic ending. Earl reminisced about his childhood and his mother as he went into the slower “Driftin’.” He followed that by “Ocean Blue” and a song of Lee’s called “Aaron’s ABC’s” before finishing the first set with a funky number called “Vonetta” featuring Rangell once more on flute.

The second set featured a surprise vocalist as Nnenna Freelon came out and performed an acoustic version of “Moon River” while the band joined them for “Will You Still Love Me?” and “Say A Little Prayer.”  It was a good change of pace from what we had heard in the first half, and the audience was very appreciative of the effort. Nelson grabbed his soprano as they went into the classic “Livin’ Inside Your Love” and “Cabo Frio.” Earl stepped back as Nelson began whistling on “Sonora” that went on into his piccolo. It was an amazing display of both as the audience was taken back. Earl got back on track with his classics “Heartstring” and “Dr. Macumba” that featured a lot of keys as well. This was classic Klugh, and everyone was enjoying what this legend was playing. As he came back out for his solo encore, he was presented with a birthday cake that was had a guitar on one end of it. He finished up with some of his early works and showed off some great guitar work in the mean time.

It was a night we won’t forget for a long time, and we are glad that he could spend his birthday with us. We could all see why this jazz legend is so famous, and like fine wine, gets better with age.