Mark Carter Productions

Mark Carter
Its About Time
Review by Jeff Charney

Here is a CD that caught my attention from the very start. Guitarist Mark Carter has spent over 25 years performing and recording. His resume includes playing with David Foster, Eric Marienthal, Dave Koz, Al Jarreau, Ric Flauding, Roger Williams, The Drifters, The Coasters, Glen Campbell, Lee Greenwood and Englebert Humperdink to just name a few. The title of the CD comes from the joke some of his fans made when he told them he was finally committing his music to CD. Six of the tracks are produced by veteran keyboardist Tim Redfield (worked with guitatrist Richard Smith and harpist Roberto Perera), three were produced by Redfield and Richard Smith. The CD starts off with a very up tempo Grant Green style jam titled “Green Is Beautiful.” Redfield does some nice piano chops on the track as well. Carter is showing that he can play his notes right off the bat! “Smooth Dancer” is a mid to up tempo hip, R&B flavored track with Tony Guerrero on the flugelhorn lending just the right touch and some background vocals from Scottie Haskell. Carter’s playing is fluid and interesting in his choice of notes. “Alone With You” slows it down, but he shows us that he can be pretty and romantic as well. “West On Sunset” is a tribute to Wes Montgomery in the style that Carter plays. He carries it off and adds some sax harmony to give it flavor. “Groovin Out Wes” is another Montgomery flavored track, maybe even more so than the previous one mentioned. More soulful and up tempo. It’ll sway you. “Lost In Cabo” is a Reggae/Latin flavored medium bounce with strings added by Ric Flauding. The melody is strong and impressive. Points always go to musicians who write their own songs which Carter does, though he does have a few covers including “Could It Be I’m Falling In Love” with Michael Paulo on sax and “I Just Wanna Stop” with Haskell once again on vocals. For a debut CD this is damn good.  Out of the 12 songs I dug 8 a lot.