Duo

Artist: Charlie Hunter & Leon Parker
Label: Blue Note Records
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

UPC: 724349918726
EAN: 0724349918726
ASIN: B00000I8UN

Release Date: 1999-03-23

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Tracks:

Mean Streak
Belief
Do That Then
You Don't Know What Love Is
Recess
Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
The Last Time
Dark Corner
The Spin Seekers
Calypso For Grampa

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Customer Reviews:

A major disappointment.......2001-12-19

I had heard Charlie Hunter somewhere and liked him enough to buy this album. I'm not sure what I heard then, but it surely wasn't this filler for "soft jazz" radio stations. Maybe, as others have noted, he does better with a trio or quartet. He doesn't have the chops in this album to provide the interest a couple of more instruments might have added.

Hunter's use of the eight-string guitar on "Duo" never raises the instrument above being a novelty. The amplified bass lines sound more like bar band rock, and playing them doesn't leave Hunter with much attention or, let's face it, fingers to be very interesting in the normal guitar register. "Don't Talk" particularly suffers: the startlingly lush vision of Brian Wilson is here reduced to not much more than melody and bass. What's worse--this is supposed to be jazz, after all--there's no improvisation to speak of in this number.

Leon Parker's percussion work is never less than competent and often quite interesting. Alas, it is not enough to save this effort.

A poster way down there said that even his friends who didn't like jazz liked this album. I can well believe it; "Duo" doesn't sound like jazz at all.

Highly recommended.......2000-11-25

Came across this album in a listening bar, knew nothing of Hunter, and I'm hooked. This is such a refreshing sound, I am now in search of other Hunter projects that deliver the same quality.

Finely Crafted Contemporary Jazz.......2000-08-08

When Charlie Hunter's expert guitar-playing ability and Leon Parker's unstoppable percussion mix together, an incredibly soothing style of music evolves. This album has it all; mellow songs, sensual songs, and of course, the songs that make you smile with delight. This is one of my favorite jazz albums because of Hunter's perfection and Parker's masterful drumming. I highly recommend this to anyone who can appreciate good music. I am more into rock music than jazz, but I can find solace in this music even when I can't find it elsewhere. 4 stars.

Duo plays to Hunter's weaknesses.......2000-06-06

It's not that Charlie Hunter isn't a good guitar player by any standard, but his simultaneous guitar/bass shtick does seem to limit his playing to a certain, comparably narrow space. In his previous ensembles this has never been a real problem, as his he has shrewdly defined his role in the band. Not so on Duo. No matter how technically astounding Hunter's "space" is, his limitations became liabilities in this unadorned duo setting, where they never or very rarely did in trio and quartet settings. Don't get me wrong, nothing on this record is bad, it's just all very similar, and as a result, frankly, a little boring. The compositions do nothing to alleviate these problems. Hearing how effective Hunter's rendition of Don't Talk is just makes the blandness of the originals all the more apparent. Of the original tunes only Do That Then sticks with me. Though his originals for trio and quartet were not uncommonly distinctive, they usually compensated with good-natured energy, drive and savvy ensemble arrangements. I am sad to say that I don't find that to be the case here.

Charlie Hunter is a very fine artist, but in my opinion this Duo project plays to his weaknesses.

An acquired taste in jazz.......1999-12-30

Charlie Hunter is an incredible jazz guitar player. His style is not for every jazz fan however. On certain tracks like "Recess", if you close your eyes, you'd be convinced that you are listening to a Hammond B3 organ. The only instruments used on this album are drums and guitar. Hunter uses an 8 string guitar (3 bass strings and 5 regular strings). It is with this guitar (and a number of guitar pedals) that he can trick our ears into hearing an organ. "Recess" alone, makes this recording worthwhile. I wrote "acquired" because Hunter is an original. He is not a standard jazz guitarist (just check out an older recording of Hunter on "Bing Bing Bing" where he does a jazz rendition of Nivana's "Come As You Are"). If you're looking for something original that grew from classic jazz roots, this may be for you. Just put it on the CD player, sit back and close your eyes.

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