Steve Oliver

美國的帥小伙Steve Oliver是吉他手，還是個(gè)電吉他手。和其他一些Smooth Jazz音樂家一樣，第一次聽到他的音樂是從smoothjazz網(wǎng)絡(luò)電臺(tái)，而在去年，這張專輯里被電臺(tái)播放頻率最高的是那首“High Noon”,這首的確是好聽，而且熱情奔放。專輯的的曲子一樣動(dòng)聽，而且給我就是一個(gè)“初生牛犢不怕虎”感覺。Steve用盡渾身解數(shù)，把自己所有的熱情和溫情同時(shí)都表現(xiàn)出來，甚至在其中兩首曲子里還獻(xiàn)上他那不是很專業(yè)的歌喉?！癏igh Noon”在電臺(tái)播發(fā)頻率是非常高的，而且在今年的National Smooth Jazz Awards里，因?yàn)檫@張專輯Steve Oliver還獲得最佳吉他手和最佳新人兩項(xiàng)提名。而在smoothjazz.com電臺(tái)里，主持人的背景音樂都是來自這張專輯的那首“Horizon”。 另外，在專輯里演奏SAX的，是同在Native Language旗下的Jeff Kashiwa,他也是著名Smooth Jazz團(tuán)體The Rippingtons的主音SAX手。
by David Jeffries
Playing sideman to Rick Braun, Larry Carlton, Gato Barbieri, the Neville Brothers, and many others introduced guitarist/vocalist Steve Oliver to smooth jazz fans, but it was with Steve Reid's band that Oliver found a following. It was 1996 when Reid contacted Oliver at the last minute to fill in for a canceled opening act. Oliver hit the stage as a solo act and Reid was impressed with the guitarist's vocalese skills and summery sound (Oliver is a California native and a true follower of the laid-back lifestyle). Oliver had come to vocalese not through King Pleasure or Lambert, Hendricks & Ross, but through Bobby McFerrin and Pat Metheny's work with Richard Bona and David Blamires, who sang along with guitar solos. Being a fan of the earthy Metheny sound, Reid hired Oliver after the gig and featured him in his touring band. Reid's Mysteries and Passion in Paradise albums featured Oliver not only as guitarist but songwriter as well.
Oliver struck out on his own in 1999 with his debut, First View, released by Night Vision. The album spawned three hit singles on smooth jazz radio and earned the guitarist a Debut Artist of the Year award from Smooth Jazz News. Duties in Reid's band kept Oliver busy until 2002, when he released Positive Energy on Native Language. Spyro Gyra keyboardist Tom Schuman was in the producer's chair for Oliver's third album, 3-D, released by Koch in 2004.