Date: Fri 23-Aug-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: SHANNO

Illustration: C

Quick Words:

Hunter-harmonica-Gasball-SoNo

Full Text:

(feature on harmonica player Richard Hunter, 8/23/96)

Hunt For The Blues:

(with photos)

By Shannon Hicks

MONROE - Richard Hunter considers music his life's work.

The Monroe resident has been playing music in one form or another for 37

years, 30 of which have been mainly on the harmonica. About 15 years ago, it

became apparent to Richard - who uses his surname alone for concert

appearances - he was going to focus solely on the harmonica, leaving behind

anything else he had been playing.

He began work then on a series of harmonica compositions, which years later

culminated in his approach to solo harmonica. Hunter released his first full

album early this year, entitled The Act of Being Single in One Act . His next

CD will be ready for a January, 1997 release, and this one, unlike the first,

will be augmented with some vocal work. Act of Being Single was completely

solo harmonica work.

Watching Richard Hunter perform is interesting in itself. Some of his songs

work with one single harmonica, while others have him stacking up to three

differently-tuned harmonicas in his hands. To get the fullest sound, he

sometimes looks as if he is going to inhale the instrument, it goes so far

back into his mouth.

Performing solo harmonica pieces is a very physical, demanding situation for a

musician to be in ("I'm working like a bellows every second," he said). And

with no one else beside or behind him, it becomes apparent pretty quickly if

Hunter makes a mistake while performing.

"I don't have anything to hide behind," he said. "I have to go up there and be

very good. A lot of people come in to a show, though, and understand the

complications involved."

Those who attend a Hunter show who do not know what they are in for - the

uneducated who may not have heard his album, or read any information about the

performer - learn quickly. A song like "Peppermint Life," for instance,

immediately establishes a certain level of seriousness on Hunter's behalf.

After letting an audience know what he can do, Hunter works through a concert

with varying textures, tempos and techniques spread throughout.

Unfortunately, he does have to support himself with a full-time job. Richard

is a research director with Gartner Group in Stamford. The good news is, he

enjoys this employment nearly as much as he does music.

"I'm lucky I live in a century where you can have an enjoyable job," he said.

"And I have another enjoyable job. I'm probably happier than Louis XIV, is my

guess. My house is more comfortable, and I have a better job."

This "better" job of his has had Hunter performing in a number of different

venues, with more approaching. Last month he was a featured performer at the

annual SoNo Arts Festival in South Norwalk. Hunter is still raving about the

setup festival organizers had going, from the terrific stage he was able to

play on to the sound technicians working behind the scenes.

"It was the best sound I've ever had on stage," he said. "I had a very

tuned-in audience. I really didn't expect it to be such a gas."

Speaking of things being a gas, Hunter's next gig is at this weekend's Gasball

Festival in Danbury, where he will be performing between sets by two young

rock bands. The Gasball, at the CityCenter Green in downtown Danbury, runs

from noon to midnight and will present continuous live music, artists and

craftsmen, food and the like.

"This festival was originally conceived as a sort of Lollapalooza for Danbury,

but [the organizers] have decided to expand on that idea to pull in more of a

crowd," the mouth harp player said. This is the first year Danbury will host

the Gasball Festival, and Hunter is hoping "they pull it off as well as SoNo,

which was terrifically organized."

Hunter's plans for Saturday's event may have him playing music a little more

oriented toward the more rock-hype crowd than he usually performs For. He said

he has a few pieces "almost guaranteed" to attract some attention. Keep your

ears tuned, then, for "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," a song with

familiarity which always, said the musician, pulls in a straying audience. Or

"Never Go Back," a more in-your-face piece, he said.

He is scheduled for two, 30-minute performances, the first of which will be a

typical solo performance and the second with jazz guitarist John Cain, who

hails from the Greenwich-Stamford area.

"That opens up a few possibilities right there," Hunter said. Cain also sings,

which may work its way into the performance. It may not; that's the beauty of

being a solo performer. Hunter can play what he wants each night. He can

change his set list in the middle of a song, deciding to add or drop something

at his own whim.

"When I started working in this direction, I really had to work this stuff

out," Hunter stated. "But now I'm at the point where I'm adept enough with the

techniques so I'm beginning to be able to improvise these lines, these

multiple lines happening at the same time, so that I'm really thinking in a

different way about the instrument, hearing the instrument as two voices going

simultaneously rather than a single voice that might be augmented with chords.

"Things that I just wouldn't think of before, now I'm improvising."

A new piece he is working on, its working title is "Bela's World," is

something he has performed in concert a few times, yet it is still unfinished.

He is capable of creating as he goes along, in other words.

Hunter admits he has always been a big admirer of Bela Bartok's stuff; "I'm

always writing stuff that is kind of Bartok-y." The song has an old Southern

flavor to it, with, like Hunter says, "a Bartok-y feel" to it.

Hunter gets a lot of feedback at his performances because his approach is so

new.

"I think the pieces have been there previously, but I don't think any of the

other players, contemporary harmonica players, are working in the same

direction in attempting to turn the instrument into a polyphonic instrument

quite the way that I'm trying to do it," he said.

"I am trying to become a pocket orchestra. It originally happened because of

necessity, but the more I do it, the more excited about it I am. The more in

love with it I am.

"I like what's happened with this line."