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| Steve Hunter: Tone Poems Live DVD |
On August 30th 2013 Steve Hunter was joined by bass player Tony Levin, keyboard player Phil Aaberg and drummer Alvino Bennett in a recording studio in LA, California. They rehearsed for two days and on the third day a film crew came in and filmed them as they performed a total of 14 tunes twice. The project was instigated and co produced by Brian Brinkerhoff, the other producer being Paul Lani.
The idea was to make it as live as possible, the band played as if they were in from of an audience, there would be no overdubbing later so between the two takes, one had to be good enough to be used. The material chosen was a selection of instrumentals from some but not all of Steve's solo albums, Swept Away, The Deacon and The Manhattan Blues Project, which was released in 2013. They also added a performance of {Peter Gabriel's) 'Solsbury Hill' which Steve, Tony and Phil had performed together on Peter's first solo tour in 1977. Tony and Steve had played on the original album as well which all added to the magic that was rekindled on this session.
Also added to the list was Steve's version of Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On' which he had also done on his Manhattan Blues album, but here it is paired down to just the four players as was all the material. This gave it a different approach and a different sound compared to the layered recordings Steve usually works on.
'What's Going On' was left off the CD version as was Steve's tunes 'Skin ' and 'The Brooklyn Shuffle from the Manhattan Blues album. The other cover tune left on this CD is very dear to Steve's heart, he is a huge Stevie Ray Vaughan fan so with such world class players by his side he wanted to perform his own version of Riviera Paradise.
Here is the audio recording from that day. 'Tone Poems Live CD'
Bio:
Steve Hunter was born in Decatur Ilinois in 1948, at age 19 he was drafted into the army and deployed to Okinawa where he worked as an x-ray tech in the air vac hospital. Having learned to play the pedal steel from eight years old he had moved on to guitar and continued to play as much as he could whilst in the army.
Once back at home he began to forge a reputation as a gifted player and since the 70's he has been contributing his expertise, style and tone to other people’s albums. Starting with Mitch Ryder in 1971 and moving on to record and or tour with Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Alice Cooper, Julian Lennon, Bette Midler and Tracy Chapman to name a few.
He has had a longstanding working relationship and friendship with legendary record producer Bob Ezrin since those early albums, which continues today. From unforgettable tracks such as ‘Solsbury Hill (Peter Gabriel), the ‘first half’ solo on ‘Train Kept A Rollin’ (Aerosmith) and ‘Intro to Sweet Jane’ (Lou Reed). Steve has dedicated his life to music despite dealing with the degenerative eye disease Pigmentary Glaucoma, which has now made him legally blind.
In 2011, he featured heavily on the new Alice Cooper album ‘Welcome 2 My Nightmare’, a successor to ‘Welcome To My Nightmare’ released in 1975 and completed a world tour with Alice in 2011. At the beginning of 2013 he was featured on a bonus track for 2Cellos new album 'In2ition', playing the melody of Sting song 'Every Breath You Take'.
Steve has recorded five solo albums: ‘Swept Away’ ‘The Deacon’ ‘Short Stories’ ‘Hymns For Guitar’ and most recently ‘The Manhattan Blues Project’ which features guests Joe Satriani, Joe Perry, Johnny Depp and others. The latter three albums can be purchased on most major online stores including iTunes and www.cdbaby.com.
Steve is married to singer songwriter Karen Ann Hunter and they live in Phoenix, Arizona.
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