Carlos Emilio Morales (born November 6, 1939) is a Cuban jazz guitarist.
Morales perfected the application of classical guitar techniques to a jazz witting and helped introduce global audiences to Cuban jazz sounds in the early 1970s, particularly for his contribution with the group Irakere. His technique reflects his careful study of the work of Andrés Segovia, while his unique playing style has influenced not only Cuban guitarists but also many many other instrumentalists of various generations of his fellow music players. Affectively nicknamed El Gordo (The Fat), Morales is regarded as the first to suggest to Cuban [bassists that they could apply guitar techniques to the bass guitar with gratifying results, instead of trying to play their instrument like a contrabass.
A native of Marianao, Cuba, Morales was the son of a dentist. He attended medical school at the Universidad de La Habana and worked as a travelling salesman of medical products for several years. But it did not take for him to find his true vocation.
Morales learned to play guitar himself at the age of 12, based mostly into the sound of the Mexican guitar trio Los Panchos, being already acquainted with Trío Matamoros' style, something that he heard daily at home. He received formal training in the 1950s with professors Clara Nicola, García Gattel, Jesús Ortega and Federico Smith. Expanding his knowledge, was later influenced by jazz guitarists as Charlie Byrd, Tal Farlow, Barney Kessell, Wes Montgomery and Django Reinhardt, before starting his professional career in 1959 with the Teatro Musical de La Habana orchestra, where classical guitarist Leo Brouwer was composer.
In 1967, Morales became a founding member of the Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna, an 18-piece big band conceived and directed by Armando Romeu, which featured players such as Chucho Valdés, Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo Sandoval and Carlos Averhoff, among others, who together with Morales founded the Irakere group in 1973.
Morales toured and recorded extensively with Irakere as well as occasionally with his own performance projects, including master teaching classes at Escuela de Superación Profesional. Though he never has recorded a solo album, his improvisational skills have being documented on many records as a sideman. He is currently living in Havana City.
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