CARLITOS DEL PUERTO INTERVIEW
June 2008
By Will Minting

Will: Hola Carlitos! We've been emailing for a couple of years already, for publicity of your jazz club gigs with my buddy Steve Weingart in Los Angeles. You have a very busy schedule.

Carlitos: Hey Will, how are you my friend. Before anything let me thank you for all your help with our Nu Alliance project, we really appreciate your time and your work.Yes indeed, I am very fortunate to work all the time, with great musicians from whom I learn and share the beauty of the music language. One of those musicians is the great pianist Steve Weingart, apart of playing together with Nu Alliance, we have been good friends for a very long time.

Will: You, Steve Weingart and Eric often perform together in LA at the Baked Potato and La Ve Lee. You guys are one of the most solid rhythm sections in LA! Luke's "No Jazz Tour" is going to rock!

Carlitos: I do get to play in a lot of rock projects around town, so I try to make rock language part of my musical vocabulary.

Will: Your father is a well known musician. Did you always want to be a musician, and who were your other influences apart from your father?

Carlitos: I think from the time I was 6 months, my father was introducing me to music. My mother took this pictures of me sitting on my Dad's bass and in awe of how the double bass looked and THE SOUND this big thing had, so yes, I always knew I wanted be a bass player. In terms of influences, first and foremost CARLOS DEL PUERTO my father, then the bass masters. On the acoustic bass Oscar Pettiford, Ray Brown, Sam Jones, CACHAO, Scott Laffaro, Niels Henning Pedersen. On the electric bass JACO PASTORIUS of course, James Jamerson, Anthony Jackson and many, many more.

Will: With so many latin and jazz influences to your playing, as with many bass players, what rock music do you listen to?

Carlitos: Well It is a long list of players that I admire and learn from, Like Paul McCartney, Jack Bruce, Tony Levin, Sting, John Paul Jones, John Entwistle, Roger Waters, Noel Redding and many more, also now I am playing a lot of the bass lines of Mike Porcaro, he is on this list for sure. I listen to everything I get my hands on, I try to keep my ears and mind open to whatever is happening now or happened before my time.

Will: How long have you known Steve Lukather, and where did you meet him? Were you familiar with Toto or Luke's solo albums before now?

Carlitos: I just met Steve, great guy man, what impressed me about him the most was how cool and down to earth he is, I felt like we had been friends forever. And what to say of his career, INCREDIBLE, with TOTO, as a solo artist....A GUITAR GOD..........

Will: So you're learning a lot of Luke's old material? One of the cool things about this tour, apart from the new material from "Ever Changing Times", is that Luke hasn't played a lot of the songs from his first solo album before. There'll be a lot of people really looking forward to hearing some of those songs.

Carlitos: I think that the audience is really going to enjoy the material that Luke choose for this tour, from the new tunes to the classic ones they are all KILLINNNNNNG....

Will: You have played with an array of artists in many musical styles! Please could you tell us about some of the more memorable gigs/tours, and recording sessions.

Carlitos: I really have been very lucky to be busy and to work with all my music HEROES, there is many memorable moments, but a few of them, like the TV commercial with Herbie Hancock, I played on award show with Stevie Wonder, that was killing, I did a couple of gigs with Kenny Garrett that was incredible and many, many more, hard to put into one little paragraph.

Will: What else is happening in Carlitos' world? What other sessions have you performed recently?

Carlitos: Well I just recorded a solo on a album tribute to the great CACHAO, and I got called to record on Jose Feliciano's new project, just finished Orestes Vilato's album, orestes was SANTANA'S Percussionist for a few years, and 1000 other little sessions in town.

Will: Which bass guitars and amplification are you using on Luke's tour?

Eric: My gear is D'ADDARIO strings for all my electric basses, PIRASTRO for my acoustic basses/uprights. My amps are GALLIEN KRUEGER, the electric basses are LAKLAND.

Will: And finally – how do you spend your time on the rare occasions you're not gigging, touring or recording?

Carlitos: Enjoying life with my wife, my family and all my friends.

Will: Gracias Carlitos. Adios chavalote.

Carlitos: Thank you Will. Be well, I will see you soon. Thanks to all the readers. SALUD.............

For more information, www.myspace.com/carlitosdelpuertobass and www.carlitosdelpuerto.com

© Will Minting, June 2008
www.myspace.com/willminting