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"LOVE SONGS LIVE" features a bonus CD entitled "Jazz Brunch." It was also recorded live at the Hilton in Jackson. It includes 19 instrumental tracks, all totally improvisational. In other words, all of the songs were made up on the spot.
The only instrumentation on the entire CD is a digital grand piano with the piano sound played with the right hand and an upright bass sound played with the left hand. The drums came from a built-in drum machine, which could be changed with the touch of a button and drum fills were added with a foot switch.
It's all live, no overdubs. It's a musical territory not explored by Hunter until now. Below are a few samples:
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"LOVE SONGS LIVE" review
Hunter' voice is more sure than ever, gracefully daring and sweetly, deeply seasoned. It's unfortunate that most might take his piano playing for granted, more than likely because he makes it sound so easy and natural. When he stacks some of those (live we might add) vocal performances next to their respective, involved piano arrangements, he has much more than a cover tune; it's an art form that he has come to master.
It's not everyone's account that he or she is better at the game at this middle stage. But Hunter is better than you've ever been, owing to the care that he has obviously give to your voice and the regard that he has for the music. "Souvenirs" is an apt Fogelberg choice for a twenty-five year reflection. It's a young man's composition but a mid-life sensibility. He didn't have a whole lot of past when he wrote the line, "when faced with the past, the strongest man cries." That might well be my favorite line of his. It ached to hear it sung so bittersweetly by a man in his forties. It made me cry.
Porter Smith, Cakewood Music, Trumansburg, New York
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