Featured Artist: Steve Carter

CD Title: Act I Solo Guitar

Year: Reissued in 2002 - Originally Released in 1997

Record Label: Frogstory Records

Style: Straight-Ahead / Classic

Musicians: Steve Carter (guitar)

Review: Anytime an artist records songs made famous by other musicians, it can be a catch-22 situation. The difficulty becomes, how to make a quality album and stay true to the flavor of the original artist. To make the difficulty even more extreme is trying to do it solo, without the benefit of accompaniment.

Steve Carter has done exactly that. He has taken the influences of Duke Ellington, Oscar Hammerstein II, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Herbie Hancock and others to blend his brand of jazz into Act I Solo Guitar. In an attempt to cover some of jazz's most prolific artists, guitarist Steve Carter jumps into the fray with a singular idea. Seemingly, his background as a seasoned musician in and around New England for the past thirty years has prepared him for Act I. In addition to having served as a sideman for Al Martino, Anna-Maria Alberghetti and blues singer Little Walter to name a few, Steve has taught at Berklee College of Music for over 25 years.

Act I-Solo Guitar is accomplished with a high degree of purpose and sensitivity. Steve uses melodic chord progressions to set the stage for some of the finest compositions ever written. His guitar skills are impeccable, and he makes listening to solo guitar enjoyable; however, one has to be a true connoisseur of jazz to appreciate the dynamics of what Steve Carter does. As a musician and educator, he approaches each track with a vision of making his guitar sing the melodies dancing in his head. He also makes every effort to convey the original intent the composer tried to establish. Overall, Steve Carter is very pleasing to the ear and not boring in length. In other words, this guy's solo guitar is worth a listen. It also serves well for quiet moments of introspection and intimate thoughts.

Tracks: Scotch'N' Soda, Softly As In A Morning Sunrise, Once I Loved, God Bless The Child, A Kiss To Build A Dream On, Skating In Central Park, How High The Moon, Dindi, Embraceable You, Dolphin Dance, A Child is Born, Gentle Rain, I Got It Bad, I Remember Clifford, Baba Ghanosh

Artist's Website: http://www.world.std.com/~swc/

Reviewed by: Sheldon T. Nunn

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