Cynics who don't get smooth jazz -- and wonder why thousands of passionate genre fans spend their hard-earned money every year on the genre's many festivals and cruises -- just listen to the radio too much. No matter how catchy the songs are, the airwaves just don't capture the potential magic and fire of a live performance. That goes for most of the format's big artists, but few have been as compelling on-stage as the multi-talented
Steve Oliver, whose soulful vocals and snappy guitar lines are just the beginning of what is essentially a one-man orchestra capable of numerous sonic delights; these include wild and crazy vocal percussion, breezy wordless vocal joys, and -- as evidenced by the "Guitar Demonstration" of this exciting live CD/DVD package -- a synth guitar that can simulate everything from a grand piano to bass, flute, and orchestrated strings. In the economic climate of the late 2000s, a dual package like this seemed like a calculated commercial risk. But as wildly compelling as
Oliver's instantly infectious songs are on the ears, the visual entertainment he provides and the way his grateful audience responds (at any of his 200-plus performances annually) make a DVD of one of his classic performances (at the State Theatre in Modesto, CA) a must.
Oliver doesn't go crazy finding new twists on instrumental hits like "Magic World" and "Chips and Salsa," but they are still some of smooth jazz's best songs and are always fun to hear. On classics like "I Know" and new tunes like "Fearless," he also shows his penchant for romantic lead vocals. The title of one of the package's later uptempo tracks, the breezy top-down "Feeling Good," sums up the charms
Oliver offers throughout. Beyond the 13 live performances, the guitarist adds two new studio tunes, the catchy vocal "This Fire" and a cheerful new instrumental, "On the Upside," which is just that. The DVD features a behind-the-scenes segment and a lighthearted explanation of the artist's "guitar orchestra" that shows his truly "
Radiant" personality one more time. If this blisteringly happy disc doesn't make you feel all Disneyland, no music released in 2008 will.