As a composer and songwriter, Earl Klugh’s credit appears on recordings by Aretha Franklin, Jamie Foxx, Roberta Flack, Mary J. Blige, Kenny Loggins, Al Jarreau, and many others. He has been invited to play as a guest artist by such diverse peers and admirers as Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Loggins, Brenda Russell, Stevie Wonder, Miles Davis, and McCoy Tyner. In film, Klugh’s guitar is heard in the soundtrack scores of How to Beat the High Cost of Living, Marvin and Tige, and Just Between Friends. He has performed on such television institutions as The Tonight Show, Late Night featuring David Letterman, The Today Show, and Good Morning America.

“The essential excitement of music-making is renewed in every studio and stage performance,” Klugh says. “Once I get into the actual song, I try to go back to what made me write the song or decide to perform it. I try to keep myself in an open mind, so I don’t reproduce the record (but instead) create a live performance at that moment. I play it for myself as if it’s the first time I’m doing it. Most of my band members have been with me ten-plus years, like Al Duncan (keyboards, horns). We’re very comfortable with each other. If one of us plays differently than the night before, it sparks a different reaction. Going into something unexpected is great, because the music takes on a life of its own. After all these years, that’s what we try to do.”

Even with the many accomplishments of a long career, Earl Klugh doesn’t necessarily believe there is a peak level to playing guitar. In a 2005 interview with Modern Guitars, Klugh reflected, “My enjoyment is searching out new things to play every day, and ways to play them. There’s so much more I want to do. If there were nothing else to learn and do there’d be no reason to play.”

Presenting THE SPICE OF LIFE, Klugh continues to show us just how much he has learned, and makes us hope that his reasons to play will exist for many years to come.