Carlton Kitto (c. 1942 – 28 November 2016) was a bebop jazz guitarist from Kolkata, India. He was born in Bangalore, where he started working in the railways in his early days. Kitto later started his music career in Chennai in the 1960s. He moved to Kolkata in 1973 and became a part of the band ''Jazz Ensemble'' in Moulin Rogue, an upscale restaurant in Park Street, Kolkata. After two years he started playing in another restaurant named Mocambo in the same locality. He was a teacher of jazz and classical guitar at the

Calcutta School of Music The Calcutta School of Music established in 1915 by Phillipe Sandre is an institution in India, in the field of Western Classical music and Contemporary classical music. It was established in the year 1915 by Phillipé Sandré, a musician of co ...

and also performed in some of the restaurants and pubs, such as the Chowringhee Bar, Trincas, Blue Fox and Someplace Else in Kolkata. Kitto had the distinction of playing along with other legendary jazz musicians such as

Sonny Rollins Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a ...

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

, David Leibman,

Larry Coryell Larry Coryell (born Lorenz Albert Van DeLinder III; April 2, 1943 – February 19, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist. Early life Larry Coryell was born in Galveston, Texas, United States. He never knew his biological father, a musician. He w ...

, Chico Freeman and

Charlie Byrd Charlie Lee Byrd (September 16, 1925 – December 2, 1999) was an American jazz guitarist. Byrd was best known for his association with Brazilian music, especially bossa nova. In 1962, he collaborated with Stan Getz on the album '' Jazz Samba' ...

. The independent documentary film Finding Carlton -Uncovering the story of Jazz in India completed in 2012
www.findingcarlton.com
pays tribute to Carlton Kitto whilst telling the fascinating story of how jazz came to India. The filmmaker Susheel Kurien compiled extensive interviews and live performance footage that is a historical archive of the Carlton Kitto story. Kitto died on 28 November 2016 at the age of 74 after a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kitto, Carlton 1940s births 2016 deaths Indian jazz guitarists Musicians from Bangalore 20th-century Indian musicians