Reviews
JazzReview.Com
Featured Artist - Brent Gunter’s “next generation guitar style” is a fusion of the sounds of Southern Spain, the Middle East, Africa and America producing a rich and dramatic effect. The mixing and melding of the various styles and instruments brilliantly portrays the cross-cultural influences that inspire his compositions.
Centered around the Spanish guitar, which actually has its origins in the Middle East, each track has the feel of the burgeoning and flavorful region the album is named for. Andalucia is an intricate weave of some of the biggest musical influences in the world, and also to Gunter, personally, who was raised in New Mexico and who developed a love for Flamenco music early on in his life.
His well-structured compositions reflect the classical training he received, but his style has an open, free-flowing form that reaches into a place that is timeless. The arrangements illustrate, in intricately designed textures, his aspirations of promoting togetherness, tolerance and fusion of cultures worldwide.
All in all, this collection proves to be a very enjoyable excursion to a place intensely infused with generations of historic musical diversity. - Veronica Timpanelli
Vintage Guitar Magazine
VG Hit List - Our sole gut-string exponent here is Portland, Oregon-based Brent Gunter. The classically trained guitarist/composer released his debut, Andalucia, on his own Sandia Crest Entertainment label. The evocative collection of ten originals shows Gunter’s world view, somewhat like Badi Assad, spicing flamenco and Middle Eastern melodies with classical, pop, jazz, and even blues tinges, and employing percussion, bass, and electronic keyboards.
Gunter lists Will Ackerman as an influence, both musically and as a business model, and much of the material here would be equally home on smooth jazz (“With My Heart”) or new age (“Touch”) charts. All of the tunes, including the aggressive, up tempo “Moorish Groove,” share a romantic quality, and Gunter’s playing is economical without ever becoming overly simplistic.
The CD was recorded at Gunter’s home studio, but cuts no corners. The sound is as high-quality as the playing. - D. Forte
New Age Retailer
Sounds From the Ground - Named after a region in southern Spain that has attracted people of ethnicities from all over the world, Andalucia is a cross-cultural fusion of flamenco and Spanish guitar, African and Mediterranean rhythms, and modern Western electronica. Brent Gunter, the mastermind behind the album and Sandia Crest Entertainment, his own label, draws from his New Mexico childhood and his study of classical composition to construct these vibrant instrumental offerings.
Complementing Gunter’s guitar are doumbek, congas, shakers, tabla, udu, and cajon. With a small group of talented musicians, Gunter offers musical interpretations of themes on “Villa de Amor,” “Solitude,” “Touch,” and “Moorish Groove,” a terrific song that begins with a traditional, pulsating arrangement of instruments Arabian-style. Gunter is a bit edgier than Ottmar Liebert, but fans of Liebert and Nuevo flamenco in general will enjoy Gunter’s style and this impressive release. - Mara Applebaum
Media
Download Brent Gunter’s Bio.
Download an 8x10 publicity photo.
Download an 8x10 publicity photo with border.
Download a retailer "one sheet".
Download a Kiva Blue Concert Poster
Download a Kiva Sepia Concert Poster
