Low Ride

Blue Note had a number of iconic jazz guitarists during its heyday (think Grant Green and Kenny Burrell), but Earl Klugh signaled a very different style of jazz guitar in the 1970s, experiencing big mainstream success in the process. By the early ‘80s, he jumped to a major label to even greater success. Low Ride sets his nimble acoustic picking against a supple backdrop of synths, popping bass, fusion keyboard hero Ronnie Foster, and Brazilian percussionist Paulinho Da Costa. Flashes of flamenco, Spanish guitar, and the flat-picking style of Klugh’s idol Chet Atkins pop up amid the arrangements, which range from orchestral to Balearic-adjacent to lean and twitchy.