Larry Klein

Larry Klein is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer.

He is based in Los Angeles.

He began his career as a bassist, playing with jazz artists Willie Bobo, Freddie Hubbard, Carmen McRae, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Bobby McFerrin, and Dianne Reeves.

As a bass player he has also worked with artists such as Bob Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Peter Gabriel, Don Henley, Lindsey Buckingham, and Randy Newman.

As a record producer, Klein is a four-time Grammy Award winner, for his work on albums by Joni Mitchell and Herbie Hancock, and has been nominated for six additional Grammy Awards, including three nominations for Producer of the Year.

Klein has produced more than 100 albums during his career, for musicians such as Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock, Shawn Colvin, Holly Cole, Madeleine Peyroux, The Innocence Mission, Melody Gardot, Walter Becker and Tracy Chapman.

Klein grew up in Monterey Park, California, the son of an aerospace engineer father and a stay-at-home mother.

When Klein was in junior high school, he was enrolled in the Community School for the Performing Arts, an after-school music program at the University of Southern California.

Klein studied music composition and music theory through the program and began playing in various bands.

After graduating from high school early and enrolling at California State University, Klein began to work with various jazz and Latin music groups.

His first job as a touring musician was with Freddie Hubbard.

He also played with artists such as Carmen McRae, Wayne Shorter, Willie Bobo and Joe Henderson during this period.

After five years of touring, Klein landed a year-long residency as the bass player for the TV program The Merv Griffin Show.

He was nominated for Producer of the Year (Non-Classical) at the 52nd Grammy Awards for his work on albums including Melody Gardot's My One and Only Thrill.

Klein continued his work with Herbie Hancock, producing The Imagine Project.

In 1982, Klein began working as a bassist on Joni Mitchell's Wild Things Run Fast.

During the sessions, the two became romantically involved and married the same year.

It was during his marriage with Mitchell that Klein established himself as a record producer, and began to branch out beyond jazz into pop, rock, soul, and alternative genres.

In 1985, Klein, Mike Shipley, and Thomas Dolby produced Mitchell's Dog Eat Dog.

He secured his first solo production with The Cars' bassist Benjamin Orr's 1986 solo album The Lace, also playing bass and keyboards and programming the drums.

In 1988, Klein co-produced both Mitchell's Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm and The Innocence Mission's self-titled album.

He also played with Tracy Chapman on her self-titled debut, on her follow-up albums Crossroads and Matters of the Heart, on Bob Dylan's 1988 album Down in the Groove, and on Roy Orbison's posthumous release King of Hearts.

Klein became known for his work with female artists during his marriage to Mitchell.

He also co-produced Mitchell's 1991 album Night Ride Home and Shawn Colvin's Fat City in 1992.

Klein and Mitchell separated while in the midst of making Mitchell's Turbulent Indigo album.

The two continued to work together through their divorce in 1994, and Turbulent Indigo would win the 1995 Grammy for Best Pop Album.

In 1997, he produced Holly Cole's Dark Dear Heart and Mary Black's Shine.

Despite their divorce, they collaborated on the 2000 album Both Sides Now, which won the 2000 Grammy for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album.

In 2000, he produced Julia Fordham's Concrete Love, and in 2004 he produced Madeleine Peyroux's Careless Love.

They also collaborated on Mitchell's 2002 album Travelogue, which was composed entirely of orchestral examinations songs taken from Mitchell's body of work.

During this time, Klein continued to work as a bassist, most notably on Don Henley's singles "The Boys of Summer" and "The Heart of the Matter", Peter Gabriel's So (also touring with Gabriel), Robbie Robertson's self-titled debut, and Bobby McFerrin's self-titled debut.

In 2005, Klein met Brazilian singer Luciana Souza while she was performing at the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The two married in August 2006.

He produced Souza's 2007 album The New Bossa Nova.

Klein also produced Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters, a 2007 re-imagining of ex-wife Mitchell's work.

The album features vocals from artists including Norah Jones, Corinne Bailey Rae, Tina Turner, Leonard Cohen, Luciana Souza, Wayne Shorter, and Mitchell herself.

River: The Joni Letters won the 2008 Grammy for Album of the Year, as well as for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

In 2008, Klein co-wrote and produced Walter Becker's Circus Money, and played bass on Tracy Chapman's Our Bright Future.

In 2009, Klein produced Madeleine Peyroux's Bare Bones and produced a duet with Celine Dion and Zachary Richard on Richard's album Last Kiss.

The album won the 2010 Grammy for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.