Guitarist Larry Carlton, Pat Martino and Howard Alden Were ALL At The Musicians Institute 35th Reunion!

April 3, 2012 by
Filed under: Entertainment 

This past weekend Vickie and I left Las Vegas for the weekend and went to Hollywood California to attend the 35 year Class Reunion of Musicianc Institute, Formerly Called Guitar Institute of Technology.

This was the MOST FUN I have had at a musical event in 30 years!

A Part of My Soul Got Fed at this Reunion That I Didn’t Even Realize was Starving!!! (I wonder if something else is starving inside of me that I am not even aware of still? Hmmm.)

Back in 1980, just after high school, I attended Guitar Institute of Technology. At that time most of my training was focused on classical guitar however, I could play a few rock tunes. G.I.T opened up my vision of Fushion, Funk, and JAZZ guitar.

Prior to attending G.I.T., I had never heard of Jazz Guitar Greats as Pat Martino, Joe Pass, Lenny Breau, Joe Diorio, Howard Alden, Les Wise or Ron Eschete. Then there is guitarist Larry Carlton of Steely Dan. Fushion, Blues and Rock Specialist Don Mock, Danny Gilbert and Keith Wyatt.

Am I name dropping? YOU BET!
What do all those guitarists have in common, besides being GREAT players? They were ALL my teachers at G.I.T.!!!

I was in the class of 1980. Sometime in the early 1980’s they changed the name of the school from G.I.T to Musicians Institute.

Several months back my classmate Doug Perkins, Beth Malis from Musicians Institute and school co- founder Pat Hicks decided to put this reunion together. Then it became a reality.

HOW DO I DESCRIBE THIS EVENT?
The Musicians Institute re-union was absolutely overwhelming with tears, fears, excitement and FUN! The tears I speak of are those of joy, the joy of seeing your ex-classmates, teachers and friends for the first time in almost 30 years. The fear of playing with, for and too your monster guitar mentors. The excitement of seeing your favorite guitar players of ALL time playing a private concert, as we all had front row seats! And the FUN! The fun we had sharing our stories from the old GIT days, sharing our successes, our challenges and yes, our dreams.

HONESTLY… A Part of My Soul Got Fed at this Reunion That I Didn’t Even Realize was Starving!

There were 300 hundred students from the over 10,000 students that went through the Musicians Institute that attended the reunion. A few days before the event I started feeling excited like it was my first guitar lesson all over again. Once Vickie and I arrived, I REALLY felt like a little kid again. We were blessed to have stayed with one of my classmates and monster JAZZ
guitarist Doug Perkins.

While at the reunion, we’d go jam and see old friends all day long then at night Doug Perkins and I would talk till we were exhausted. Then get up and do it all over again, for 3 days! AWESOME FUN!

Vickie and I went to LA a day early to attend the PRE-Dinner on Thursday night. This was a small gathering of about 30 musicians.

FRIDAY MARCH 23, 2012:
The event officially started on Friday night with a cocktail party, then dinner, then a few concerts. It was during the cocktail hour that I was seeing my old friends and teachers for the first time in 30 years. It was very emotional. The first concert of the evening was JAZZ Greats Howard Alden and Ron Eschete. AWESOME Jazz Guitar Duo!!

Then the surprise concert was with guitarist Larry Carlton. Most people recognize him as the main guitarist for Steely Dan recordings. He was the one playing those beautiful solo’s! Abe Laborial was on bass! My God, they ROCKED the house and I and front row seats!!! I’ve got video of these concerts and will post some of them soon…

At this event I became a photographic maniac! I took over 1,100 photos. I realized the moment I got there, that there would NEVER be another event like this EVER AGAIN! The chances of having ALL these great guitarists, students and bass players in one location, was HIGHLY unlikely. So I wanted to capture on digital film as much of it as possible.

SATURDAY MARCH 24, 2012:
Saturday was dedicated to live jam sessions with all the great legendary master players, one on one music counseling sessions and networking off the charts. I played with JAZZ Great Howard Alden, Latin GREATS Nelson Faria, Bruce Buckingham, and bass greats Bob Lee and Oskar Cartaya. You’ve probably heard Oskar with Jennifer Lopez, Rickie Martin and many others.

Each musical moment was better than the next. There was not enough to play and jam with all the players, but the time we had was PERFECT! In between jam sessions I’d bump into an old classmate and we’d get caught on each other’s lives then run off to another jam session. The players in the jam sessions were once my teachers, and now 30 years later I’m playing with them!

The love and emotions I felt in my heart could never be captured on film, but I tried!

SATURDAY NIGHT:
We all went to the Hard Rock Café for more networking, dinner and concerts. The food was great. Vickie and I shared a table with Blake Milton and a few others. Seeing old friends and
meeting new ones was WONDERFILLED! Blake was in the first GIT class of 1977 and I was class 1980. The funny thing is, Vickie and I met Blake on a cruise in the Caribbean 2 years ago and it was during our conversation that we discovered we both graduated from G.I.T.!

AFTER THE HARD ROCK WE WENT BACK TO MUSCIANS INSTITUTE:
The final guitar concerts of the night was one great legendary performance after another. Each group played 2-3 songs. The FINALE was JAZZ LEGEND Pat Martino! I will write an article all about him in the future. He played a duo with a young, 25 year old MONSTER pianist named Elgar. By the time the performance was over, I had Tears in my eyes. It ended with a STANDING OVATION from 300 enthusiastic and fanatical X students!

I still have so much more to say and share about this reunion weekend. It touched a part of my spirit that has never been touched. And as I mentioned earlier, this event FED a part of my soul that I didn’t even know was starving. I have not felt that fulfilled in a 3 day period in my entire life, period. It was AWESOME!

For the most part I have been pretty optimistic my whole life, but this event bumped my enthusiasm for life to a NEW level.
This reunion was a BIG reminder that I need to play full out and continue to strive for EXCELLENCE.

SO LET ME ASK YOU A QUESTION:
Do you have a part of your soul that desperately needs to be fed? Hmmm…

Until Next Time – Keep Being Brilliant,
Robby LeBlanc

P.S. – A Special Thanks To Pat Hicks, the co-founder of GIT/Musicians Institue for his Vision and Persistence to creating a setting for young musicians to Learn, Practice and Dream.

P.S. 2 – A Special Thanks To Doug Perkins for helping make this reunion and Pre-Dinner Happen.

P.S. 3 – A VERY Special Thanks to Beth Marlis and (her staff) Vice President, Industry and community Relations at Musicians Institute for putting in ALL the hard work and time to make this one of a kind event possible.

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