The Queensland Blues Association, based in Brisbane, Australia, sponsored two performances and a workshop with Hunter during the last week of October in Brisbane. (THANKS to Tony May, Helen Farley, and Paul King for their assistance in setting up these events!) On Wednesday, October 28, Hunter was featured performer at a jam session sponsored by the Queensland Blues Association at "The Healer," Brisbane's premiere blues club. Hunter performed with several of Brisbane's leading blues bands, and played a short set of his solo pieces. On Friday, October 30, Hunter ran a workshop and performed with Brisbane's own "Blind Dog Donny," guitar, at The Bombshelter at the Story Bridge Hotel in Brisbane, playing a program of solo pieces drawn from Hunter's recent recordings The Second Act of Free Being and The Act of Being Free in One Act, jazz, and blues. Both the workshop and the performance were well-attended and enthusiastically received, and the Brisbane press gave both shows plenty of coverage. We can't wait for our next trip to Australia!
Hunter gave a solo performance at the Weston Public Library, Weston, CT, USA in September, under the auspices of the Weston Arts Council. The performance featured a wide range of Hunter's solo works, plus a set of jazz pieces on which Hunter was accompanied by Joe Carter, guitar. It was a great night, close to home for a change, and the Connecticut audience asked for and got encores until well after the close of the official program.
Hunter's CD The Second Act of Free Being was released on May 8 at a concert at the Bank on Main, New Canaan, CT. Hunter was accompanied at this show by Jerome Harris, guitar, and Brian Torff, bass. The performance included new solo pieces and the first ensemble performances of some of Hunter's works that were originally written for solo harmonica. The Fairfield County Weekly, the most important weekly arts and entertainment guide in Connecticut, ran a terrific piece on Hunter before the performance. (Thanks!) Click here for samples from the CD. The CD is available for sale now at this website; stay tuned for details on additional outlets.
Hunter performed his works for solo harmonica to a packed house on Saturday night, April 24 at the NEFFA Folk Festival in late April in Natick, MA. This was our second appearence at NEFFA, and the response was terrific. Hunter did a workshop on solo harmonica technique for the festival the next day where he demonstrated some of his advanced techniques (such as the 2-voice contrary motion technique he uses on "Billy The Kid" and other pieces in his repertoire; check the samples out if you want to hear it!).
Our last update was in August 1997, and a lot's happened since then, the biggest news being the completion of recording for Hunter's new CD The Second Act of Free Being, to be released in April 1998. Hunter has performed in Washington, DC, Mountainview, CA, San Francisco, CA, Norwalk, CT, New Haven, CT, and a bunch of other places in the last few months (including a show with Jim Infantino's band Jim's Big Ego in Stratford, CT), and has been busy writing new pieces for the upcoming third CD, which will be an ensemble record (yeah, bass, drums, guitar, vocals, the whole nine yards!). Hunter's recent performances have featured Joe Carter, jazz guitarist, bandleader, and accompanist to Brazilian jazz harmonica great Mauricio Einhorn. Hunter is now rehearsing an ensemble that includes jazz guitarist Jerome Harris and bassist Brian Torff; the first performance by this group will be at the Bank on Main in New Canaan, CT on May 8, 1998. We're also preparing for a set of performances and a workshop in Sao Paolo, Brazil in late May!
Hunter's CD The Act of Being Free in One Act picked up another couple of rave reviews in Folk Roots magazine (March 1998 issue) and the Harmonica Information Press. Folk Roots is published in the UK and read widely throughout Europe, and we're getting requests for the CD from radio stations as far afield as the Czech Republic as a result.
The most exciting event of the year, without a doubt, was Hunter's appearence at the 1997 SPAH (Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica) convention. See our HUNTER AT SPAH 1997 page for a review by Winslow Yerxa of the Harmonica Information Press. We'll just note here that Hunter's appearence at the gala closing concert was widely considered to be one of the highlights of the convention, and numerous observers, including some of the best harmonica players in the world, have commented that Hunter must now be considered one of the most innovative harmonica players and composers in the world. (Needless to say, such praise is deeply meaningful to us; it validates 30 years of work by Hunter.) Also this month, Hunter's CD The Act of Being Free in One Act was picked up by Frontiers CD and Tapes, who will offer the CD via their mail order and Internet services starting with their Fall catalog. Thanks!
The big news this month was in the press: a terrific review of The Act of Being Free in One Act ran in the respected acoustic music journal Dirty Linen, and the American Harmonica Newsletter ran a cover story and lengthy interview with Hunter. (Click here to see the full interview courtesy of author Pete Brunelli.) Dirty Linen said, among other things, "This is one of the most innovative harmonica players to record since Alain Lamontagne (from Quebec) in the 70s." Wow! Check our critic's page at this site for more info.
Hunter performed at the New World Coffeehouse in Ridgefield, CT, a great room that we'll return to soon. Our energies are now devoted to preparing for the 1997 SPAH convention in late August. See you in Detroit!
Hunter performed solo at the Kopi Cafe in Chicago, and opened at the Night Lights Coffeehouse in East Norwalk, CT for Jim Infantino. Jim performed solo, which was a big relief for Hunter (who thought for a while there that he was going to have to compete with "Jim's Big Ego," Mr. Infantino's big ol' amplified rock band). The folks at both shows were vocally enthusiastic, but no one at either show could provide the right answer to the question: "What Little Feat song is interpolated into Hunter's arrangement of 'Billy the Kid'?" Hunter is both delighted and dismayed to have so successfully disguised the number in question. In any case, listen for "Billy the Kid" at Hunter's gigs; the first person who guesses the answer to the question above wins a copy of Hunter's CD The Act of Being Free in One Act.
Plans to complete recording and mixing the second CD were derailed by illness this month (nothing really serious, but you can't play solo harmonica when you're wheezing and sneezing). The sessions have been rescheduled for October, which means the second CD won't be ready for the SPAH show in August. We regret that the CD has been so delayed, but we liked the work our engineer in Vermont, Chuck Eller, did on the first one (as did every reviewer who reported on the first CD), and we're willing to wait for his services (and hope our fans are too!). Entries for the "Name Hunter's Second CD" contest continue to arrive at our e-mail doorstep. (Click here to see the entries to date.) There's still room for yours. . .
May's performances included Arcadia in Greenwich, CT; Barnes and Noble in Winston-Salem, NC; Fast Eddie's in Fairfax, VA; and the Radisson Hotel, Alexandria, VA (with Doris Justis). It was especially nice to play with Doris, a folk artist and DC-area DJ who's been giving The Act of Being Free in One Act a lot of airplay.
Recording for Hunter's new CD continued this month with a couple of new solo tracks and several duets with vocalist Susan Hunter-Cutrona. All tracks will be recorded and mixed by June 7; look for release of the new CD later this summer. We plan to have it ready when Hunter plays the 1997 SPAH convention in late August.
April was a great month, with performances at Anne’s Red Brick Coffeehouse in Monroe, CT, Arcadia in Greenwich, CT, and the NEFFA (New England Folk Festival Association) Festival in Natick, MA. The NEFFA Festival was especially cool: hordes of people, lots of great musicians, and both a workshop and concert performance by Hunter, both of which were well-attended. Hunter was interviewed a week before the festival on-air by Alex Helsinger of WHRB in Cambridge, MA; Alex has also been giving The Act of Being Free in One Act plenty of airplay.
Hunter’s CD The Act of Being Free in One Act got a terrific review by Daniel Delgado in the May-June '97 issue of Harvard Magazine. Check our critic’s page at this site for more info.
Recording sessions for the second CD are well underway. 10 pieces are in the can awaiting a final mix, including 3 duo tracks featuring John Cain on guitar. The new pieces are overall bigger, more complex compositions than those on the first CD, and they’re also in general faster and louder. (That’s the difference between Connecticut and Vermont, where the first CD was recorded, we guess.) As on the first CD, ALL pieces are recorded live in the studio with NO overdubs. The basic tracks will be finished later this month, and the project will be mixed in mid-June for release later this summer. Stay tuned to this site for more news (and downloadable samples from the CD!)
Hunter’s February performances at the Buttonwood Tree and the Atticus Cafe in Middletown, CT were recorded for posterity via rave performance reviews posted to the internet by Pete Brunelli and Garry Segal (the latter of CT blues band Garry and the Moodswingers). Check the Harp-L Archives at http://www.garply.com/harp-l/archives/index.html for details. Also in February, Hunter recorded a half hour interview (with host Chris Prece) for New Haven’s Citizen’s Television (CTV) cable TV station. The show will air in March in the New Haven area, and includes performances of several of Hunter’s works for solo harmonica.
Fans in New England take note: Hunter has been signed up for a solo performance AND a workshop for the 1997 New England Folk Festival Association (NEFFA) Festival in Needham, MA on Saturday April 26. The workshop will begin at 10 AM, so if you want the lowdown on Hunter’s harmonica techniques bring your instruments and come early. Hunter will perform traditional pieces for solo harmonica (it’s a traditional folk festival), including one or two slated for recording for the second CD (see below), in the afternoon.
Hunter’s CD is now offered online by Mabel’s Music Shop and Kevin’s Harps . You can call Kevin’s at (800)-27HARPN, and Mabel’s at (203)698-0029. In Canada, we are distributed by Festival Distribution; retailers and other interested parties can call them at (604)253-2662.
Hunter and guitarist John Cain’s every-other-Wednesday-night series of performances at the Arcadia Coffeehouse in Greenwich, CT have drawn steadily larger audiences for the last 6 weeks. This series of performances is now moving to Sunday afternoons, beginning Sunday, March 23 from 2:30 - 4:30 PM. Arcadia is our all-time favorite room, and March 23 will be the LAST chance to hear the material for Hunter’s second solo CD before it’s recorded in early April, so come and check it out!
Bookings are now underway for the summer festival season, and we will let you know as soon as dates are confirmed. (NEFFA is only the first!) We’re still on target for the recording of Hunter's second CD in April 1997. In addition to new compositions and arrangements for solo harmonica, this CD will include duets for harmonica and voice, harmonica and guitar, and harmonica and piano. We're very excited about this project; come to one of our upcoming performances and you’ll know why.
November’s rave reviews of Hunter’s groundbreaking CD The Act of Being Free in One Act in Sing Out! and the Stamford Advocate were followed in December by two more terrific reviews in Blues Access magazine and the New York CD Blues web site. Also in December, Hunter accepted an invitation to perform and teach a workshop on solo harmonica at the annual convention of the Society for the Preservation and Advancement of the Harmonica (SPAH) in Detroit this August. Fans who live within listening distance of WPKN (Bridgeport, CT) heard Hunter on Pete Stuart’s show on December 15. Pete interviewed Hunter on-air, played cuts from the Hunter archives, and hosted a mini-set of material from the first and soon-to-be-recorded second solo CD.
In February, Hunter and guitarist John Cain will begin an every-other-Wednesday-night series of performances at the Arcadia Coffeehouse in Greenwich, CT. This is our all-time favorite room; the acoustics must be heard to be believed. This series of performances will feature ALL the material for Hunter’s second solo CD, so if you want a preview this is the place!
The big news for November was a pair of terrific articles on Hunter and The Act of Being Free in One Act: a feature that occupied the entire front page of the Arts section in the Sunday, November 17 Stamford (CT) Advocate, and a rave review of the CD in the latest issue (Nov.'96 - Jan.'97) of Sing Out! magazine. Those are two great writeups that are generating lots of interest in the CD and Hunter.
In October, Dancing Cat Productions announced that program booklets for composer and pianist George Winston's current concert series will list Hunter's The Act of Being Free in One Act in a section titled "Musicans Who Have Influenced Me." We are utterly delighted by this recognition from Winston; he is a wonderful artist and an important role model for Hunter, who like Winston is pioneering a virtuosic repertoire for solo performance on his instrument.