willie hill
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willie hill

Durham, North Carolina, United States | INDIE

Durham, North Carolina, United States | INDIE
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"Natural Evolution"



Media name: John Reid


Company name: Keith Community Radio


Date: 2006-06-13 10:12:48



Feedback: Thank you for sending on this C.D. I thoroughly enjoyed this Album from first to last. All the tracks are well crafted and superbly arranged. This is Jazz easy to listen to,cool, funky,and flows along with subtle,and mellow tones. It would be nice to hear Mr Hill record an Album with a Latin Jazz theme, with his talent, this would be something to savour. I will undoubtedly be playing tracks from this C.D. in future Jazz Programmes on K.C.R. Top Marks to all concerned. Best Regards, John Reid, Keith Community Radio 102.8 FM Keith, Banffshire, Scotland

- John Reid/Keith Community Radio


"Featured Artist"

Featured Artist: Willie Hill

CD Title: A Restful Day

Year: 2004

Record Label: Joy Records

Style: Smooth Jazz

Musicians: Gwen Farrington (lead vocal), Shawn "CoCo" McMillan (lead vocal), Yvette Bolden (background vocals), Tony Springs (lead vocals, background vocals, keyboards, drum programming), Willie Hill (acoustic guitar, bass, keyboards, drum programming), James Brown (alto sax, soprano sax)

Review: Durham, North Carolina, native Willie Hill incorporates his experiences as a soul and rhythm and blues musician into a reflective 10-track album, "A Restful Day."
And restful it is. The tracks on this album is a perfect gift to anyone wanting to unwind after a taxing, stressful day. Get away with the smooth sounds of "An Evening in Cannes" to the reflective vocals of Tony Springs, in "Fly Away." His vocal range, along with other background singers, adds a sensual touch to the music.

What makes "A Restful Day" memorable is the music as well. The keyboards and drum programming makes the title track refreshing for soulful meditation.

Hill is an example of "hidden" jazz musicians who continue to develop stellar music, just waiting to be rediscovered.

Tracks: Too Late, Is It Real, Fly Away, A Restful Day, I'm On My Way, Broken Pieces, Unwind, Always, An Evening in Cannes, Unwind (reprise)

Record Label Website: http://www.inspireproductions.biz

Reviewed by: Natasha Washington/JazzReview.com

- JazzReview.com


"Featured Artist"

Featured Artist: Willie Hill

CD Title: Open Door

Year: 2002

Record Label: Joy Records

Style: Smooth Jazz

Review: Multi-instrumentalist Willie Hill is one of the best undiscovered talents I have heard in a long time. From modest beginnings building a recording studio out of a former tobacco warehouse in Durham, North Carolina to releasing his material on his own record label, Hill has shown that even if he works in a relatively small town, he still can perform with smooth jazz's elite. His newest release Open Door brings out a different type of sensitivity that most projects of his kind do not possess.
Usually in projects where a musician plays most of the instruments on a CD, there seems to be a similarity in how the tracks sound. In Open Door, Hill performs each instrument with a different kind of feeling that surprises me. Even though he does use James Brown on sax and Mickey Mills on steel drums, Hill's mastery of the other instruments on the nine tracks shows throughout Open Door.

Another thing I was impressed with on the CD was the versatility of Willie Hill. He is very good on the uptempo numbers and has the right amount of sensitivity on the slower songs. Of note, Tony Springs' vocals on Let This Be Love have feeling, yet has the right amount of feeling. Hill wrote all but two tracks on the CD and seems to be comfortable in whatever he writes. The only low point on Open Door was Yvette Bolden's vocal on Interlude. The song itself was good, but someone that shows a little more emotion would make the song better.

For a man who has been working all his life to be able to present his music his way, Willie Hill has succeeded in what he does best. Open Door will open up more doors for Hill and he will have a bright future making music his way.

Record Label Website: http://www.allmusic.com

Artist's Website: http://www.inspireproductions.biz

Reviewed by: Norm Breest

- JazzReview.com


"Some Love & Peace"


The fourth self-released record from Durham, NC, native Willie Hill is definitely his most polished effort to date. Hill is a one-man army, having produced, engineered, and arranged the 11 tracks on the CD. In addition, he penned ten of the 11 tracks and performed the bulk of the instrumental work. Hill's sound is a smooth fusion of urban soul and an understated jazz sensibility. He works a animated jazz-funk groove on "I Wonder," a tune that also benefits from some fine alto sax work from James Brown. The title track is a bluesy, laid-back, jazz instrumental that affords tenor sax man Ira Wiggins an opportunity to unwind a gentle, articulate solo. In addition to his considerable chops as an arranger, Hill brings a nice emotional depth to his vocals, as we hear on the socially relevant "Stand Up" and "If I Had." The only track on the album not written by Hill, "Miracle," is given a moving interpretation by Tony Springs, who wrote the tune. Some Love and Peace is a solid indie soul album, highlighted by an impressive group of original songs. ~ Philip Van Vleck, All Music Guide



- All Music Guide


"Willie Hill Open Door"

March 2003 Denis Poole offers his view with an english slant on all that's good in smooth jazz


Welcome to the March 2003 issue of Denis Poole's Secret Garden, the page that offers a British perspective on all that's good, and not so good, in the world of smooth jazz.





Willie Hill - Open Door
This month has been one of those times in the music review business where an artist has come onto the Secret Garden radar screen with a piece of music that makes it hard to understand why a break through into the really big time has not yet come.

The artist is Willie Hill and the recording is Open Door on the Joy record label.


Willie Hill - Open Door
Multi instrumentalist Willie Hill is one of the best-undiscovered talents on the scene today. Modest beginnings saw him build a recording studio out of a former tobacco warehouse in Durham NC, and progress to releasing his own material on his own label. Hill has shown that, even if he works in his own relatively small town, he can still operate with the elite of smooth jazz. This latest release Open Door brings out a different sort of sensitivity. Hill performs with each different instrument and engenders a different kind of feeling with every one. Integrating James Brown on sax and Mickey Mills on steel drums, Hill’s mastery of the other instruments shines through through on all nine tracks.

Open Door is Hill’s fifth album release and, talking for an interview in the Herald Sun of Durham, he says, ‘ It took a long time for me to find my niche. I went through a lot of phases like most artists do. The funny thing is that years ago my wife told me that I needed to do an instrumental album but I didn’t think it would work. As it turns out she was right’.

Hill believes that Open Door is his best album to date and anyone who is familiar with his discography will be inclined to agree. His sound travels effortlessly between R & B and smooth jazz, dominated by instrumental tracks that find inspiration in Hills cool and melodic inventiveness.

Hill wrote most of the tracks for Open Door, engineered the tracks and performed on keyboards and bass guitar as well as doing the drum programming. Although the album is basically a ‘one man’ creation he was wise enough to know where to go when it was time to master the record. He brought in Brent Lambert from The Kitchen in Carrboro.

Standouts from the album are many and varied. Track #1 is the tight and funky ‘Me and JB’ that gets the show nicely on the road. Track #4, the fantastic and haunting ‘Did You Give It Thanks’ is very much a tune for rainy days or lonely nights. Track #5, ‘Late Nite’ is mellow, laid back and tinged with a feel good sensation. Track #6, ‘Think’ finds Hill at his very excellent best with some terrific piano work.

Open Door is already enjoying airplay in Holland, Spain and the USA. There is good reason to expect that the album will find even more radio outlets, particularly in Europe.

For more on this recording go to www.inspireproductions.biz




- SmoothVibes


"Featured Artist: Willie Hill"


CD Title: May I

Year: 2008

Record Label: Joy Records

Style: Smooth Jazz

Musicians: Willie Hill (bass, acoustic guitar, drum programming, keyboards, percusssions)

Review:
In 2006, I reviewed Willie Hill’s Natural Evolution album, which I classified as having a purely soft, mellow, almost ethereal feel about it. It was an album expressly made for that consoling, pampering state of being, the one we yearn for right after a hard day at work. The multi-instrumentalist did an excellent job of luring me and several others, I’m sure into that quiet place of peace and reflection with island rhythms and caressing violins. May I picks up where Natural Evolution left off, leaving the door to “that place” open wide so as to allow us entry once again to experience the ultimate experience in solace through jazz and R&B.

The first and title track escorts us through the door with confidence and as we plop down in some mental soft cushiony chair, further serenades us with subtle island rhythms via tunes like “Just Jazzin” and “A Song For FeFe.” No tune is ever far away from the room where Hill places us, and it is truly comfortable. Nothing extremely complicated, no obscure timing, no electronic manipulations. Just very exotic, acoustic, placid, and melodic music. Hill turns a tune well in this direction. When he couples it with his magical strings reminiscent of Barry White’s Love Unlimited Orchestra, it’s clear this is his area of expertise and he claims it definitively.

No stranger to the lazy, hazy blues of R&B, selections like “Wonderful” are handled with much finesse and the total R&B feel is even more evident here on cuts like “Ocean Waves.” Bottom line, Hill again delivers another aural treat.



Tracks: May I, Just Jazzin, It's Alright, Wonderful, Today I Feel You, Ocean Waves, A Song For FeFe, Falltime, Happiness

Record Label Website: http://www.inspireproductions.biz

Reviewed by: Ronald Jackson














- Jazzreview.com


"Media name: Dennis Gardner"

Media name: Dennis Gardner


Company name: Highland FM


Date: 2006-07-18 10:52:09



Feedback: a great album release with 9 of the 12 tracks either getting or scheduled for airplay on adult contemporary programmes . . . tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11 and 12 . . . dennis gardner - Highland FM


"Media name: Michael Criddle"

Media name: Michael Criddle


Company name: Triple H-FM


Date: 2006-07-17 04:20:12



Feedback: What a great sound you have, I have played several of your tracks to date and plan to schedule more in future programs. Keep up the good work and please keep me up to date with your progress Regards Michael Criddle ozradio@ozisp.com.au - Triple H-FM


"natural evolution"

Jazz Review.com is your complete guide to jazz music on the web


Featured Artist: Willie Hill


CD Title: Natural Evolution

Year: 2006

Record Label: Joy Records

Style: Smooth Jazz

Musicians: Willie Hill (acoustic guitar, bass, keyboards, drum programming), Tony Springs (keyboards, drum programming), Tinya Cagle (vocals on "Hold On")

Review:
How’s this for a purely soft, mellow, almost ethereal sound with some solid R&B thrown in for good measure? Yep, that’s what I think we have here. Willie Hill is a multi-talented instrumentalist with competent skills on each of the instruments he plays. He obviously gives serious thought to what he wishes to express and the mood he seeks to create with each selection.

He opens with the soothing, caressing “Reaching for Me,” a piece complete with heavenly strings to put one in that truly meditative state that we all long for so very often. His music is truly the antidote for stress, without a doubt. Besides being very heavy on the violins, he brings with him a hint of the islands on many of the pieces. At the same time, he is quite capable of turning on the R&B switch and does so very well with the help of vocals from Tony Springs (“Forever” and “Living Without You”) and Tinya Cagle (“Hold On”). Hill can also carry a tune, as he demonstrates on “Each Day.” He also adds a nice touch here and there with the synthesizer for effect and often manages a very contagious rhythm on the more up-tempo or moderate tempo pieces.

My favorites on this CD are “Forever” and the mildly sedating “Just Because.” For this smooth jazzer, "Natural Evolution" doesn’t quite hit the ground running as quickly as I’d like, but Hill certainly gets it going eventually. For a change to your fast-paced, stressful world, give this CD a listen. You just might find yourself off in a space all your own.



Tracks: Reaching For Me, A New Life, Dancing Feet, A Brighter Day, Each Day, Hold On, Forever, I Dream, What I Feel, Living Without You, Just Because, Strolling Along

Record Label Website: http://www.inspireproductions.biz

Reviewed by: Ronald Jackson



- jazzreview.com


"natural evolution"



The Personal Vision of Willie Hill By Philip van Vleck


Durham native Willie Hill has been making music since his early teens. Musician, composer, studio owner and engineer, Hill has pretty much done it all. His latest project, Natural Evolution, just hit the racks in July and, as the title suggests, Hill continues to refine a sound that’s come to be quite distinctive.


Natural Evolution is Hill’s most polished album to date. His sound has always been a very personal style of instrumental R&B. This general type of music is often referred to as smooth jazz—a label evidently coined by someone who couldn’t discern the difference between jazz and R&B. Hill’s music is strongly melodic, rhythmically intricate and atmospheric.


Hill isn’t doing jazz. During our most recent conversation at George’s Garage in Durham, Hill stated, “I don’t get jazz.” What he does understand, however, is his personal musical vision, and with every album he’s released he’s sharpened that vision.


Hill is the first to admit that he’s no lead singer. Still, he’s managed to incorporate vocals into his albums when the notion seemed appropriate. On Natural Evolution, for instance, he’s collaborated with singers Tinya Cagle and Tony Springs on the tracks “Hold On,” “Forever” and “Living Without You.” Hill does a background vocal on the tune “Each Day.”


As for the instrumental performance, Hill basically does it all. On Natural Evolution he played bass, acoustic guitar, keyboards, synth and drum programming. Springs also did some keyboard work and drum programming.


Hill produced and engineered Natural Evolution in his home studio. He entrusted the mastering chores to the noteworthy Brent Lambert at The Kitchen in Carrboro. Hill initially involved himself in music with both a guitar and a trumpet. He played trumpet in the Hillside High School band and afterward in the North Carolina Central University band.


“I wasn’t very good at it, though,” Hill said with a smile.


He went on to explain that he took up the guitar when he was 12 years old.


“I got it for Christmas and didn’t know how to play it,” he said. “I had a real interest in learning music, however. A friend from high school had a group and they needed a bass player, so he got me started on the bass. I got my first gig when I was about 15.


“When I was 19, I managed to get with The Communicators, and that’s when I wrote ‘One Chance,’ which was a hit single for us in 1974 [‘One Chance’ is featured on the 1999 album Lost Soul Oldies, Vol. 5]. Once that group disbanded, The Modulations needed a backup band, so they hired the band from The Communicators to play for them. I performed with The Modulations, a Durham group on Buddha Records, for about three years.”


After his gig with The Modulations had run its course, Hill found himself working in his parents’ store on Geer Street in Durham. That lasted until Doug Clark came looking for a bass player for his band The Hot Nuts.


Hill went on the road with Doug Clark & The Hot Nuts, chalking up about five years before calling it quits.


“During those last couple of years with Doug I felt like I wasn’t growing as a musician, so I decided I wanted to create my own music,” Hill explained. “I figured if I opened up a studio I could work on my music and still make a living at the same time.”


He was staying in Charlotte at the time. He moved back to Durham and found a space for his recording studio, Inspire Productions, which he opened in 1987.


“At the time it was rough,” he allowed. “I didn’t have any money, so I was living month-to-month. It seemed like for the whole first year at the end of every month the studio would fill up with clients and I’d have the money to pay my bills. It was crazy. After a year of that I just quit worrying about it.”


Hill made a success of Inspire Productions, engineering tracks for, among others, Lois Dawson, Shirley Caesar, the NCCU Jazz Ensemble, Mickey Mills and Steel, Shabba Ranks, Norman Connors, Stanley Baird, and Gerald Hinton, as well as doing industrial work for IBM, BET, and Duke University.


Hill also started his own record label, Joy Records, in 1984. The label has been a vehicle for Hill’s music and he has released seven albums since 1996, including Natural Evolution.


In discussing his own music, Hill explained: “I’ve always had this sound in my head that I was trying to get to. It’s a transparent kind of sound, where everything has its own space in the music. The goal is to make what you record sound like a finished product, while at the same time working to perfect my skills as a musician, so I can communicate my ideas.


“The first couple of years in my studio I spent a lot of time alone, experimenting and playing, trying to develop my skills as a piano player, for instance. It took me awhile to actually see a song completed, you know, arranged so that every voice was where it belonged.”


After spending year - metro magazine


Discography

Deep Inside Of Me-1996 Cd
Another Place In Time-1997 Cd
My Destination-1998 Cd
Some Love & Peace-1999 Cd
Open Door-2002 Cd
A Restful Day-2004 Cd
Natural Evolution-2006-CD
MAY I-2008-CD

Songs are played on numerous radio stations worldwide

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Photos

Bio

Willie Hill is a veteran musician who spent a number of years playing with touring R&B and soul acts before starting his own recording studio and record label in Durham, NC.

Hill is a native of Durham and attended North Carolina Central University (located in Durham), where he played trumpet in the University's marching band. He began playing guitar as a teenager and soon gravitated to bass guitar, a move which landed him his first band gig, at age 15.

By the age of 19, Hill was playing bass with the Communicators and had written a hit single, "One Chance," which was recorded by the group in 1974 and is featured on the 1999 album Lost Soul Oldies, Vol. 5.

Hill played with the Modulations in the mid-'70s, but left to play bass for Doug Clark and the Hot Nuts in 1977.

After playing with Clark on and off for eight years, Hill left the Hot Nuts and, in 1987, opened a recording studio, Inspire Productions, in Durham. He has since engineered for Lois Deloatch, Shirley Caesar, the NCCU Jazz Ensemble, Mickey Mills and Steel, Shabba Ranks, Norman Conners, Stanley Baird, and Gerald Hinton, as well as doing industrial work for IBM, BET, and Duke University.

Hill also started his own record label, Joy Records, in 1984. The label has been a vehicle for Hill's music and he has released eight albums since 1996. His latest project, "May I", is scheduled to be released in Summer 2008. Hill also traveled to Europe for many years to promote his releases.

Hill was an adjunct professor at North Carolina Central University, teaching music production I&II.

Deep Inside Of Me-1996 Cd
Another Place In Time-1997 Cd
My Destination-1998 Cd
Some Love & Peace-1999 Cd
Open Door-2002 Cd
A Restful Day-2004 Cd
Natural Evolution-2006-CD
May I-2008-CD

Songs are played on numerous radio stations worldwide

Current activity: Produced the song, “The Battle’s Not Over”, in 2009 featuring a duet with Gerald Hinton (formerly Malaco artist) and Shirley Ceasar. The video of the song was nominated for a 2009 Stellar Award. Hill also engineered on Shirley Ceasar’s current release, “A City Called Heaven”. Hill’s latest cd “May I” was also on the ballot for a 2009 Stellar Award as instrumental cd of the year.