Customer Reviews

All My Love

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This music is some of the most tender and hauntingly beautiful I have ever heard. Only recently was I introduced to this treasure on the Home Shopping Network. I had fallen asleep on the couch, and awoke to the sounds of Esteban. I found myself absolutely taken away by the music. My wife gave me this cd and a live Esteban video for my birthday, and I am a fan for life!

As a guitartist I am in awe of his incredible skill, but more so by the spirit and feeling with which he plays. Esteban's blend of flamenco, classical, jazz and other elements absolutely captivates. The music actually has a deeply spiritual feel.

Esteban takes time-honored classics and crafts them with his fingernails against nylon strings like you've never heard them before. Try "Never My Love", "Fernando", "Don't Cry For Me Argentina"...or my personal favorite..."Unchained Melody"

Listen to it with someone you love, or while thinking about someone you love.

I don't know what's up with some the uptight, technically hung up reviews here, but ignore them. Esteban does a terriffic job playing a cross section of great tunes and he does it with style and emotion.

Who cares if he didn't write them? Frank Sinatra sang other peoples songs and did so with his own style and tempo and nobody seems to mind. I've been fortunate enough to see Esteban perform locally in Scottsdale, Arizona and he's terrific.

EVERY time I put this CD on people want to know who it is so they can buy it, relax and enjoy.

Best of Esteban's work yet. Sexy, romantic, classic.

Let's be honest about what Esteban is and what he isn't.

His many critics don't give him credit for making popular spanish-influenced acoustic guitar music that's accessible to the masses, helping to revitalize interest in this instrument.

He's also done an excellent job of creating an image/identity, which is just as much his commercial appeal as the music. Something that many of the "serious" spanish-fusion guitarists have unsuccessfully attempted. (Pretty amazing when you consider he grew up a "Stillers" fan in Pittsburgh.)

This latter aspect is a double-edged sword that has caused the harsh reviews from some.

Esteban's overt selling of his relationship with Segovia when the trained ear can quickly tell he was probably the Master's worst student is annoying. For example, his excess reliance on legato soloing indicates deficiencies with right hand finger picking technique. He's not a master, not even close .... he wouldn't even be allowed on stage with contemparies of acoustic-Spanish fusion music like Paco De Lucia and Al Dimeola. (Speaking of contemparies that tried and failed to make the switch to popular appeal.) Heck, he can't even compete with Jose Feliciano.

Much like the Artist, this album is comprised of both quality tracks and flat out clunkers. On the good side, his rendition of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" is particularly powerful and the Spanish standard "Malaguena" is lightly and nicely delivered. However, his limitations as a soloist are on full display on "Lady in Red" where he gets lost harmonically and technically he can't produce what he aims to, missing several notes and screaming out "beginner!" On a few other tracks there's a complete disconnect between the accompaniment and the guitar.

In the end the Dimeolas and De Lucias of the world could learn showmanship and attention to each to each note (versus cramming as many in as a possible) and Esteban should upgrade his technical skills to be more inline with them. Reality is the world is still waiting for the flamenco guitarist with limitless technical skills but a sensitivity to the fans and the music.

But that said if you're looking for reasonably good music for background that's not technically challenging enough to compete with the foreground, you can't go wrong with Esteban.

A very beautiful and relaxing CD of some of Esteban's best. I love guitar music and am very pleased with this.

I have Songs from the Heart, All My Love and Enter the Heart. The only one I think does Esteban justice is the cd of his own songs, Enter the Heart, which is very moving and a joy to listen to. The other cd's, those in which he plays the songs of others, is just elevator music and really doesn't have anything new to offer.

This is one of those rare music CD-s which contain only top hits, favorites. In every song Esteban's wonderful music is talking to us. He is telling us stories, telling about the most intimate feelings, the language of which we understand, but we ourselves can not pronounce its 'words'. I can listen to this music endlessly, and once you hear it for yourself, you will understand why....

Esteban's CD-s are not regular items on Amazon, still, I found it as a 'used' item. It came promptly and in excellent shape for an absolutely bargain price.

Thank you!

Jason O.

This is a great cd of wonderful guitar music by a great musician. It is very relaxing to listen to and would be good to get someone in a romantic mood. All My Love is a very good CD.

Alot of folks seem to be annoyed by Esteban; I rather guess that's because he's a promoter and many people find that to be objectionable. His CD's prove enjoyable as something different-yet-familiar to put on, either to study for learning or just have in the background. I was rather taken by how playable his guitar packages can be when my wife, unexpectedly, bought one to supplement a Martin, Seagull and treasured koa wood Washburn. At least it didn't take a luthier to make it playable, as it did take with a factory new, U.S. made Martin out of the box. I see no one else making this kind of positive effort. Kudos to the guy ... and he's not a bad guitarist, either!

Esteban is the handsome dude "As seen on T.V." selling guitar kits (his own brand of guitar with instruction books, DVDs, etc.), and on this CD plays a collection of pop favorites, one traditional Latin American folk song, "La Paloma", and one Spanish standard, "Malagueña". Most of the tracks teeter on mediocrity, and part of the reason for this are the arrangements that back him, which sometimes don't seem to fit in with what he is playing at all, and this problem is very noticeable in the upbeat numbers. The terrific Del Shannon hit, "Runaway" for instance, has marvelous moments, and other moments that are a total mess.
He fares best with the very simple, mellow tunes, and my two favorite tracks are both by Nino Rota, "A Time for Us" (from "Romeo and Juliet"), and "Speak Softly Love" ("The Godfather"), and which make fairly decent background music.

The flowery liner notes state that these are "live" recordings, and Esteban has "on the spot improvisational skills", and goes on to tell us how "To Esteban, the Spanish guitar is like a beautiful woman" with a most lavish description. They also claim that he studied classical guitar with Andres Segovia, and had years of flamenco playing. His technique is adequate for the material, but something goes terribly wrong in practically every track on this CD, for one reason or another. The songs however are a nice selection, the sound is quite good, the foldout insert has the romance novel style liner notes and a song list with a glaring typo...a big pet peeve of mine ("Caundo" instead of "Cuando"), and total playing time is 73'26.