Truth and Devotion are two great smooth-jazz albums Hill released in the early '90s. They are pristine productions with quality tunes that display his singular sax tone and they made the Canadian a smooth-jazz star. Howeve... more »r, his next four releases found him sliding into the tepid murk that many smooth-jazz musicians swim through to make radio programmers happy. Plus, he fell in love with his just-average singing voice and the concept of love, all of which could make smooth-jazz fans leery of a Hill disc filled with love songs. Actually, this is a rebound for Hill, as his choice of cover tunes and arrangements are inspired, particularly the upbeat version of the Chi-Lites' "Oh Girl" and "Fallen," Lauren Wood's classic anthem from the film Pretty Woman. He takes an acceptable Chet Baker-like vocal turn on the first part of "My Funny Valentine" and sings wonderfully on his original bossa nova, "Dancing with You," featuring Marc Antoine on guitar. There is still some sap flying here, but Love Songs delivers on some of the unfulfilled saxophone promise of Hill's early work. --Mark Ruffin« less
Truth and Devotion are two great smooth-jazz albums Hill released in the early '90s. They are pristine productions with quality tunes that display his singular sax tone and they made the Canadian a smooth-jazz star. However, his next four releases found him sliding into the tepid murk that many smooth-jazz musicians swim through to make radio programmers happy. Plus, he fell in love with his just-average singing voice and the concept of love, all of which could make smooth-jazz fans leery of a Hill disc filled with love songs. Actually, this is a rebound for Hill, as his choice of cover tunes and arrangements are inspired, particularly the upbeat version of the Chi-Lites' "Oh Girl" and "Fallen," Lauren Wood's classic anthem from the film Pretty Woman. He takes an acceptable Chet Baker-like vocal turn on the first part of "My Funny Valentine" and sings wonderfully on his original bossa nova, "Dancing with You," featuring Marc Antoine on guitar. There is still some sap flying here, but Love Songs delivers on some of the unfulfilled saxophone promise of Hill's early work. --Mark Ruffin
deepbluereview | SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA USA | 04/05/2002
(3 out of 5 stars)
"Sometimes, I read reviews and wonder whether the reviewers actually ever listen to the CD or if they are even reviewing the correct CD. Whether you like Hill's vocals or not should not be a deciding factor for this CD. As a factual matter, Hill performs vocals on this CD on only two tracks, "Can't get You Out Of My Head" and the tribute to his baby girl, "Olivia". The remaining vocal tracks are sung by either rapper Sean Holland, also known as "Novacain" ("Mr. Magic" and "Master Thief"), Ellis Hall, ("Easy") and/or Joaquin "Quino" McWinney, ("Why you Got To Worry?"). If you are a fan of Hill's vocals, skip this and go directly to his release "Love Songs". While, there is no disputing the fact that Hill is an accomplished sax player, the variety of singers and the mix of rap and jazz is not to my liking and makes the CD inconsistent. Guest appearances are put in on the disc by Larry Carlton on the rehash of Lionel Richie's "Easy", trumpeter Chris Botti on three tunes and Eric Marienthal with his tenor sax on "Mambo 2000"."
Outstanding CD
Jeffrey Richter | Hawaii | 04/09/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I am new to Jazz conniseuring(Spelling). I have to say this cd is a really wonderful investment. Warrens Vocals are ok..but do not fit in on the cd.."Sax in the city" is a great mixture of emotional/musical talent."
Warren Hill-Love Life
Sean Hill | Greensboro, NC USA | 02/28/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you like the wonderful sound of a sax you want this CD? On this CD you'll here Jazz, HipHop, Rock, Soul, Latin and more. To sum it up this kat's music is HOT."
Disappointing "effort"
Michel de Coninck | Ankara, Turkey | 04/12/2002
(1 out of 5 stars)
"I really liked Hill's previous cd and did not hesitate to purchase this new release. But it's really a big disappointment: hollow, absolutely not imaginative or new (indeed, and even if that was his choice, the cd is full of cover versions of well-known songs), like in most of his recent releases, Hill insists on singing (instead of concentrating on his very good sax playing) and he should leave this to REAL singers.The choice of the covers lacks any ambition or creativity and, as usual when artists want to do cover versions, they actually make you run to listen to the original versions.Funnily enough, the only interesting track is the first one, an original song...This cd sounds like a (good sounding) demo tape of a top 50 cover band.Please try harder next time!"
EXCELLENT
Donald E. Coney | Boca Raton, Fl USA | 03/23/2001
(4 out of 5 stars)
"It takes real guts to step out of the box...This cd was an adventure into other venues of music. I play sax, so I was interested in what Hill did on this cd. Its great ."