Duo

List Price : CDN$ 20.99

Amazon Marketplace : CDN$ 13.95

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Product Details

Artist : Charlie Hunter & Leon Parker
Binding : Audio CD
EAN : 0724349918726
Label : Blue Note
Number of Discs : 1
Product Group : Music
Release Date : 2006-07-11
UPC : 724349918726

ASIN : B00000I8UN

Track Listings for

Disc-1
1. Mean Streak
2. Belief
3. Do That Then
4. You Don't Know What Love Is
5. Recess
6. Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)
7. Last Time
8. Dark Corner
9. Spin Seekers
10. Calypso for Grampa

Editorial Reviews

From Amazon.com

Guitarist Charlie Hunter and percussionist Leon Parker have both made names for themselves by producing jazz that is both inventive and invigorating. And while both have done much to redefine the role of their respective instruments--Hunter by recasting his guitar as a bass, guitar, and Hammond B3 organ; Parker by removing himself from behind the kit, taking the opportunity to whack any available surface--the jazz on Duo is bracing in its simplicity and its stripped-down allegiance to the notion of swinging in and all around the groove. Parker and Hunter come off here as the young, groovy virtuosos they are more than the genre-stretching explorers many see them as. But because Duo is so good, so listenable, so finger-poppin' cool, it doesn't matter how the artists are viewed, but rather, that they are heard. And this disc demands to be heard, preferably at substantial volume. Recorded live without overdubs, Duo rushes from idea to idea with boundless energy and enthusiasm. Parker is all over his drums while Hunter's amazing vocabulary of guitar sounds is even more astounding in this pared-down setting. Recommended. --S. Duda

Customer Reviews

One of Hunter's best (2004-03-27)

There's only one word that can be used to describe what Charlie does... Amazing. I'll be seeing him next week and I can't wait. I have 6 of his albums and I would have to say that this one takes the cake. The thing I havn't liked about some of hunter's albums is that sometimes the solos don't really go any place. But on this album Leon Parker really builds off of Charlie and Vise-versa. This CD features 5 star songs. Mean streak is the opener, it's probably my favorite song of the CD. Charlie does a remarkable solo on "The Spin Seekers" and the duo plays a ballad (hunter style mind you) on "Don't talk.

This is a Must-have for any Charlie Hunter fan or any body new to Charlie Hunter. This is also a great CD for anybody who wants to get into Jazz... This is a great place to start.

A major disappointment (2001-12-20)

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 (2000-11-26)

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 (2000-08-09)

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 (2000-06-07)

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.

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