Exploring the Soundtrack of Life: Malcolm Hunter's Musical Mission
Malcolm Hunter, an accomplished American composer, arranger, and saxophonist, joins the podcast to share his musical journey and the inspiration behind his debut solo album, "Alpha and Omega." This album serves as a heartfelt expression of his faith and a musical narrative that explores the story of Jesus from creation to redemption. Malcolm reflects on the importance of reading the Bible and engaging in prayer as foundational elements of his artistic process. He also discusses the influence of mentors in his life, such as Al Borg and Jim Ayala, who have shaped his faith and musical career. Listeners are treated to insights into Malcolm's creative process, which often starts with melodies or chord progressions that emerge from everyday life, illustrating how music can vividly convey profound themes and emotions.
Takeaways:
- Malcolm Hunter emphasizes the importance of reading the Bible to understand God's will.
- He shares how his musical journey has been influenced by various experiences and mentors.
- Malcolm's advice highlights the significance of prayer in navigating life's challenges and decisions.
- His album, Alpha and Omega, serves as a musical testament to his faith journey.
- Malcolm believes that music can evoke imagery and convey profound biblical themes.
- The song 'The Least of These' reflects on serving others and Jesus's teachings about compassion.
Malcolm Hunter, an accomplished composer and saxophonist, brings a wealth of experience and inspiration to the conversation. Born in the United States, he has navigated a diverse musical landscape that has shaped his artistry. In this episode, Hunter reflects on his musical journey, which began at a young age with piano lessons and transitioned to the saxophone in the fourth grade. His early involvement in concert bands and orchestras laid a strong foundation for his later work, culminating in his first solo album, "Alpha and Omega." This project not only showcases his talents but also serves as a testament to his faith and the spiritual themes that resonate throughout his compositions. Hunter emphasizes the importance of reading the Bible, prayer, and mentorship in his life, highlighting figures like Al Bork and Jim Ayala who have profoundly influenced his spiritual and musical growth. The episode delves deep into the creative process, discussing how inspiration can strike from unexpected sources, whether it be a chord progression or a melody heard in everyday life.
As the conversation progresses, Hunter shares insights into his creative methodology, revealing how he combines his skills in both saxophone and composition using modern technology like MIDI. The episode takes a reflective turn as he discusses the significance of his piece, "The Least of These," inspired by the contrasting legacies of public figures like Princess Diana and Mother Teresa. This composition embodies his mission to highlight the importance of serving the marginalized, echoing the biblical call to care for "the least of these." Hunter's passion for creating soundscapes that evoke imagery and emotion is palpable, as he illustrates how his works aim to tell the story of Jesus through music. This episode is a rich tapestry of faith, creativity, and personal stories, offering listeners a glimpse into the life of a musician dedicated to intertwining his art with his beliefs.
Listeners are treated to a discussion that is not only rich in musical insight but also deeply rooted in faith. Hunter discusses his approach to composing music, where he allows the Holy Spirit to guide his creativity, resulting in pieces that are both personal and universally relatable. He explores how his album, "Alpha and Omega," serves as a narrative arc that reflects the Christian journey from creation through redemption, ultimately pointing to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The conversation brings to light the challenges of being an independent artist in the digital age, where promotion and visibility can often feel overwhelming. Yet, Hunter remains optimistic, focusing on the joy of sharing his music with friends, family, and a broader audience. The episode culminates with a heartfelt invitation for listeners to engage with his music, emphasizing the album's potential as a meaningful gift during the holiday season. Through storytelling and musical exploration, Hunter leaves a lasting impression on the audience, inspiring them to seek out their own creative expressions and deepen their spiritual journeys.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- CD Baby
- Spotify
- Pandora
- Amazon Music
Transcript
My guest today is Malcolm Hunter.
Keith:Malcolm is an American born composer, arranger and saxophonist.
Keith:He became adept at playing a variety of genres and concert band, jazz ensemble and orchestras in public schools and universities in the Southeast, Midwest, Northeast, France and the West Coast.
Keith:Alphin Omega is his first solo album on which he plays tenor saxophone backed by his own virtual media company.
Keith:Welcome, Malcolm, to the podcast.
Keith:Well, we welcome to the show today, Malcolm, and you're hearing as we come in today, a little bit of Malcolm's in me music from his new album Alpha and Omega.
Keith:This song is called Son of the Promise.
Keith:And we're going to talk more about what Malcolm is doing in his journey as an artist and musician.
Keith:So we're so glad to have you on, my friend.
Malcolm Hunter:Well, thank you, Keith.
Malcolm Hunter:It's good to be here and I really appreciate how you introduced me because it's been quite a journey to get to this point.
Keith:Oh, I'm sure every one of our journeys as well.
Keith:But I'm sure yours is a fascinating story, so I'm dying to hear more about it.
Keith:But before we dive into that, we want to get to know you a little bit better.
Keith:So I love to ask my guests my go to question, which is what is the best piece of advice you've ever received?
Malcolm Hunter:I wish I could say who said it, but I'll say two things, especially as a believer in Christ.
Malcolm Hunter:The first is to again, assuming that you are born again to read the Bible and not only just read it, but become a hearer and a doer of the Word.
Malcolm Hunter:There is no other way to really understand who God is and what he's doing without reading His Word.
Malcolm Hunter:Because this is not for lack of information in terms of, you know, what is his will, as you know.
Malcolm Hunter:But often I, and I was one of these.
Malcolm Hunter:I was, I called myself an illiterate backslider.
Malcolm Hunter:When I was first a believer, I didn't read the Bible.
Malcolm Hunter:And somebody actually who was not a Christian was aware of John 14:6 where Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life.
Malcolm Hunter:No one comes to the Father but by me.
Malcolm Hunter:And I didn't know that.
Malcolm Hunter:And so it was like I was going, well, if that's the case, Lord, you need to show me that this is true.
Malcolm Hunter:Otherwise I'm giving this thing up.
Malcolm Hunter:Because the implications of that were tremendous.
Malcolm Hunter:It's like, yeah, these other religions, this is basically saying they don't count.
Malcolm Hunter:So the second thing, by what I just said there, as far as reading and being a hearer and doer of the Word, the second Piece of advice is actually from a song, one of the hymns called what a Friend we have in Jesus, where the line says, you know, take everything to him, to the Lord in prayer.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, and that's.
Malcolm Hunter:I think the Apostle Paul says, you know, pray without ceasing.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, again, when that friend of mine pointed out that verse, I'm so glad that despite I was being an illiterate backslider of the Bible, I said, lord, show me that this is true.
Malcolm Hunter:And he did.
Malcolm Hunter:And that journey was.
Malcolm Hunter:That took many years, but it involved reading history, archaeology, science, theology, you know, extra biblical literature, things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:And it got to the point where one of my pastors in my previous church, his name was Larry Adams, for every Easter, he would give a sermon that would include, basically, here's how you know that Jesus, you know, is the Savior of the world.
Malcolm Hunter:Said, out of all the major religions and the religious leaders who've ever walked in this earth, there's only one whose body is still not in the grave, and that's Jesus.
Malcolm Hunter:Right?
Malcolm Hunter:And then not only that, there are other things that we have around us in terms of.
Malcolm Hunter:We mentioned, you know, the year today is.
Malcolm Hunter: ,: Malcolm Hunter: But: Malcolm Hunter:And then to go with that, when you think about the turmoil and the Jewish people themselves being God's chosen people, and he had mentioned to the Samaritan woman, you know, salvation comes through the Jews.
Malcolm Hunter:This is really that historical, geographical evidence of a land we call the Holy Land, which Israel.
Malcolm Hunter:That's another historical, concrete piece of evidence that says what the Bible is telling you is true.
Malcolm Hunter:So again, reading the Bible, becoming a hearer and doer of the Word, and taking everything to God in prayer.
Malcolm Hunter:Best piece of advice I've ever given, especially if you're a believer, because that is, as Hank Hanegraaff would say, as far as prayer is firing the winning.
Keith:Shot, I love that, you know, you and I are almost the same age, and I know that we don't get to this age and stage in our life without people who have poured into us and have walked along at different stages of our life and our journey.
Keith:Can you think of a couple people that stand out to you who have either inspired you on this journey or been a mentor for you?
Keith:If you want to kind of give their.
Keith:Their name and give them a shout out, just kind of.
Keith:Because we don't always do that to people who have been important to us here's your chance to do that.
Malcolm Hunter:Wow.
Malcolm Hunter:I have a long people, but I'll just a long list of people, but I'll just say the most significant.
Malcolm Hunter:Wow.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, it's really.
Malcolm Hunter:I hate to leave somebody out, but I think to your point, the people that made the biggest difference, I would have to say there was one of the people is a man named Al Bork.
Malcolm Hunter:Unfortunately, he is no longer with us.
Malcolm Hunter:He was the, I'll say, the adult sponsor for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes chapter when I was at Northwestern University.
Malcolm Hunter:And basically what happened there was he would, you know, tell us the hard truths.
Malcolm Hunter:And, you know, being in college, we of course, you know, are trying to find out what we can get away with or things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:We followed the Lord and he basically, you know, he was not to be deterred.
Malcolm Hunter:He was basically saying, you know, the way is straight, narrow and there's, you know, no wigguru.
Malcolm Hunter:The reason I say that is he would speak the truth in love.
Malcolm Hunter:And the incident that reminds me of that was one day I decided to skip a Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting and went to play basketball at Patton Gym in Northwestern.
Malcolm Hunter:Just pick up ball.
Malcolm Hunter:And after the chapters meeting was over, he and his son Peter stopped by the gym.
Malcolm Hunter:I don't know if they knew I was there, but they came by the gym.
Malcolm Hunter:He had actually gone to school there, so he knew the campus.
Malcolm Hunter:But they walk in, they see me and Peter, his young son, I think he was about maybe less than 10, I think, at the time.
Malcolm Hunter:He looks up at his dad and says, dad, why is Malcolm playing basketball and wasn't at the FCA meeting just now?
Malcolm Hunter:He looked at him, I remember, bent over, put his hands on his knees, and he said this loud enough so I could hear it.
Malcolm Hunter:He said, peter, Malcolm has his priorities screwed up.
Malcolm Hunter:And when he said that, I mean, I don't know if I was still standing with the way he.
Malcolm Hunter:The way that he said that.
Malcolm Hunter:But basically at that point, it was one of those things where it's like, you know, you need to, you know, it's time for you to really decide are you going to follow Jesus or not?
Malcolm Hunter:And so that to me, and after that, I have to say, when I was looking for a job and things like that, I mean, he was like just there to help me.
Malcolm Hunter:He had me over his house, things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, it was like he was really a mentor and he opened his home up to me and also the other people in the fca.
Malcolm Hunter:But I just remember that he would take the time like I Said to tell me the truth and actually help me out.
Malcolm Hunter:He showed me he wasn't mad at me.
Malcolm Hunter:He wasn't, you know, he was basically saying, you need to get your house in order, basically.
Malcolm Hunter:So that was a big, A big influence in my life.
Malcolm Hunter:And another one I would say is more recent.
Malcolm Hunter:It's a man named Jim Ayala.
Malcolm Hunter:He said the church I was at when we were still in California, now I'm up in Washington.
Malcolm Hunter:He was my mentor when I was first becoming a small group leader at that church.
Malcolm Hunter:And then about 20 some odd years later, he had been an elder of the church.
Malcolm Hunter:And I was identified as someone who should consider being an elder.
Malcolm Hunter:And he was my mentor to be an elder.
Malcolm Hunter:So in both those significant roles at that church, Jim Ayala, I mean, he was like my big brother.
Malcolm Hunter:I'm taller than he is.
Malcolm Hunter:But at any rate, he definitely was a mentor and again, another one that would speak the truth and love to me and just really appreciate him.
Malcolm Hunter:So those are the two guys.
Malcolm Hunter:Alan Borg, who's unfortunately not with us, he's with the Lord, and Jim Ayala, who is with us.
Malcolm Hunter:So I'll make sure that he hears this recording.
Keith:That's awesome.
Keith:You know, I'm always curious about your musical journey, because my journey and I always appreciate people who are composers and arrangers, and I love the saxophone.
Malcolm Hunter:Okay, well, thanks for letting me know.
Keith:But I'm a percussionist, so when I compose music, it starts with the drum beat and then we go on the other part.
Keith:So I'm curious about, you know, as a, as someone who started this journey.
Keith:Tell us about your journey into music.
Keith:And a composer and arranger and a saxophonist.
Malcolm Hunter:Okay, I'll make this quick as I can.
Malcolm Hunter:My parents were people that grew up in a generation.
Malcolm Hunter:They went both with the hbcu, South Carolina State College in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
Malcolm Hunter:And so I have three sisters.
Malcolm Hunter:And we all started playing piano at an early age.
Malcolm Hunter:For me, it was age 5.
Malcolm Hunter:So that was when I started getting into music.
Malcolm Hunter:And then by the time I got to fourth grade, I switched from piano to the saxophone.
Malcolm Hunter:And from that point I played saxophone.
Malcolm Hunter:Ever since then.
Malcolm Hunter:Played in concert bands, marching bands, orchestras, in fact, marching band.
Malcolm Hunter: h school, Senior High School,: Malcolm Hunter:That was great.
Malcolm Hunter:But also I still play football and basketball and things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:But so that was where I started was, you know, piano, then saxophone.
Malcolm Hunter:Now, is interesting about that, is that both of those skills came into play when I wound up doing the recording, because I was able to Use many.
Malcolm Hunter:We may talk about that.
Malcolm Hunter:That's a musical instrument digital interface.
Malcolm Hunter:It's basically using a computer and software and a keyboard that has an interface where you can compose music, you know, on the software, like one line at a time, one instrument at a time.
Malcolm Hunter:And then before you know it, you have a whole ensemble, things going like that.
Malcolm Hunter:So those two skills came into play when I.
Malcolm Hunter:When I did this album.
Malcolm Hunter:So now, as far as composing, I remember I.
Malcolm Hunter:It was when I was at Northwestern.
Malcolm Hunter:I was.
Malcolm Hunter:That's why I learned the need to become born again.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, I used to go to church, my family, things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:But I had never heard or maybe didn't.
Malcolm Hunter:It didn't register with me that being a Christian is not going to church, paying, you know, tithe, whatever it's having.
Malcolm Hunter:It's believing in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Malcolm Hunter:At that point, you receive the Holy Spirit.
Malcolm Hunter:And therefore, you know, at that point you were spiritually born again with eternal life.
Malcolm Hunter:Which means from that point on, you are now in God's family and your name is basically in the book of life for the end of time.
Malcolm Hunter:So with that, I remember thinking.
Malcolm Hunter:When I remember I was.
Malcolm Hunter:I was, I guess, humming some music or something.
Malcolm Hunter:And it was like I was realizing, this isn't something I've heard.
Malcolm Hunter:This is something that I'm doing on my own.
Malcolm Hunter:And so at that point, I remember thinking, this is really like.
Malcolm Hunter:It's like in the beginning, you know, God created the heaven and earth.
Malcolm Hunter:He created something out of nothing.
Malcolm Hunter:To me, as a composer, it was kind of the same process where it's like, I'm making up music.
Malcolm Hunter:This isn't me copying what someone else did.
Malcolm Hunter:I'm actually doing something on my own.
Malcolm Hunter:So it was kind of like, for me, sort of like I could relate it to that whole thing of in the beginning, God, you know, there was.
Malcolm Hunter:You know, there was a.
Malcolm Hunter:Everything was null and void.
Malcolm Hunter:And he created something out of that.
Malcolm Hunter:So at that point, I.
Malcolm Hunter:Whatever songs I composed, I remember thinking to show my thankfulness to God for that gift of being able to compose music, I would start.
Malcolm Hunter:I would use biblical themes because they were instrumental.
Malcolm Hunter:I wasn't doing at the time any music that was vocals.
Malcolm Hunter:I've done maybe three or four vocals since then.
Malcolm Hunter:But most of my music has been instrumental.
Malcolm Hunter:And the thing that really kind of inspired that was when I was playing in orchestras or the concert band.
Malcolm Hunter:There's one song I remember from concert band called Jericho.
Malcolm Hunter:I think it was written by Morton Gould.
Malcolm Hunter:And basically it is a song that Uses the, you know, the Negro spiritual, you know, Joshua fit the battle of Jericho.
Malcolm Hunter:Jericho and that song.
Malcolm Hunter:And what he did was he took that melody and he wrapped it around with all kinds of scenic musical elements.
Malcolm Hunter:You could hear the, you know, kind of like the day dawning and you could hear the soldiers marching and then you could hear the trumpets, you know, blowing.
Malcolm Hunter:You know, that God said, you know, you blow your shofars, I think it was.
Malcolm Hunter:And, you know, after they marched around, you know, a number of times, and then when they blew that those horn, then the walls came tumbling down.
Malcolm Hunter:That was.
Malcolm Hunter:That song was full of that.
Malcolm Hunter:And what impressed me about that was that you hear through instruments which people have done forever, you know.
Malcolm Hunter:But it's just one of those things where that experience showed me the power of music to create imagery in someone's head.
Malcolm Hunter:So my instrumentals would sound like something and I say, what does that sound like?
Malcolm Hunter:You know, and then I would come up with, you know, a title so like on the album that you refer to Alpha and Omega, which, you know, name of Jesus beginning in the end, in Greek, using that, you know, the first and last letters of the Greek Alphabet.
Malcolm Hunter:I have song titles called Sea of Galilee, which if you're listening to it to sound like, you know, you could feel waves or people rolling or whatever.
Malcolm Hunter:I've got, let's see Elijah, where you should sense being or seeing Elijah in that chariot of fire that, you know, that basically flies and goes to, you know, to heaven.
Malcolm Hunter:And so like that.
Malcolm Hunter:Let's see Philip in Ethiopian.
Malcolm Hunter:It hopefully it sounds Ethiopian when you hear the music, but it's.
Malcolm Hunter:It's kind of, you know, just kind of a beat that just gives you a sense.
Malcolm Hunter:In fact, there's a call and response sort of line going on.
Malcolm Hunter:Kind of like so two people having a conversation and things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:And then there's Apocalypse, New Jerusalem.
Malcolm Hunter:Apocalypse just being revelation, I think the Greek word for revelation.
Malcolm Hunter:And at the beginning of that, you know, I used my full John Williams inspired orchestral flourishes, you know.
Malcolm Hunter:And so then you kind of sense, yeah, there's something going on here that's pretty apocalyptic, you know.
Malcolm Hunter:And then that ends with.
Malcolm Hunter:It's the first song of.
Malcolm Hunter:It's a sweet, really Apocalypse.
Malcolm Hunter:And then New Jerusalem.
Malcolm Hunter:You kind of get a sense of this is the new heaven, the new Earth, the new Jerusalem that it talks about in Revelation 21, I think, where you kind of just says, here we are now in the place that God promised or Jesus did.
Malcolm Hunter:We're both, I guess, where all things are made New.
Malcolm Hunter:So that was kind of what happened to get to that point of having an album.
Malcolm Hunter:And I will say this.
Malcolm Hunter:I didn't necessarily say, okay, I'm going to name this album Alpha and Omega, and I'm going to do this many songs and that kind of thing.
Malcolm Hunter:No, what happened was after using midi, which was really nice to be able to, you know, flesh out my recordings and make them sound realistic, and then for me to record my saxophone over all that, it just gave me a chance to kind of, you know, do what I had in my head and use this sound generator, to use instruments of all kinds, to come up with these orchestrations and arrangements.
Malcolm Hunter:And so with that, I.
Malcolm Hunter:At one day, I realized, I said, I can make an album based on the number of songs I've done.
Malcolm Hunter:So I finally just started putting things together.
Malcolm Hunter:And I won't say that they're in a perfect sequential order.
Malcolm Hunter:It starts off with Alpha on Omega, which actually, that is Alpha being at the beginning.
Malcolm Hunter:And I have two versions of that.
Malcolm Hunter:So the first track and the 14th track are a little different from each other.
Malcolm Hunter:The first one, Alpha and Omega, called the Alpha, Alpha, Omega, the Omega, the last one.
Malcolm Hunter:And then in between all the other songs.
Malcolm Hunter:And so with that, you'll see some, you know, some sort of sequence of skipping through the Bible sort of thing because of the songs involved.
Malcolm Hunter:But basically it was just to really tell the story.
Malcolm Hunter:And as we know as Christians, the Bible is about Jesus.
Malcolm Hunter:And so with the song, the album being entitled Alpha and Omega, again refers to Jesus as he's referred to in the Book of Revelation.
Malcolm Hunter:I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end of the story of creation, really.
Malcolm Hunter:And then from there, just things along the way from songs like Son of the Promise, which basically is referring back to what was in Genesis, as far as, like, the, you know, the woman, where he said the seed of the woman would, you know, crush the head of the serpent and the serpent would bruise his heel, referring to Jesus there, Abraham and Isaac.
Malcolm Hunter:And then, you know, as far as the sacrifice, when, you know, he was asked to go to Mount Moriah and would he obey God to.
Malcolm Hunter:Even to the point of sacrificing his son.
Malcolm Hunter:And then Jesus, of course, coming in and, you know, being born of Mary and stuff like that.
Malcolm Hunter:So it's.
Malcolm Hunter:The whole thing is really saying in some ways, directly or indirectly, Jesus is in the story of the Bible from the beginning to the end, the Alpha and the Omega.
Keith:I love that, you know, as I.
Keith:I've done some amateur composing myself of music I'm curious how much you just be.
Malcolm Hunter:You're not getting paid.
Keith:That's what it works.
Keith:That's what it is.
Malcolm Hunter:That's right.
Keith:But as I sat down to try to put together songs, I'm curious for you, what is that?
Keith:What motivates you?
Keith:What inspires you to say, okay, let's put together this with this, where I have a concept first that I try to flesh out with music, or how does it start for you as a composer?
Malcolm Hunter:Boy, Good question.
Malcolm Hunter:There are two ways, I would say.
Malcolm Hunter:One can be the chord progression comes first, or the other way is the melody comes first.
Malcolm Hunter:So it really depends on.
Malcolm Hunter:As you again, as a composer, you know that sometimes there's something that you can hear either in your head or externally, that started something.
Malcolm Hunter:And I was.
Malcolm Hunter:Maybe I'll just speak for myself.
Malcolm Hunter:It started something, and I'm going, ooh, I like where that going.
Malcolm Hunter:That's going.
Malcolm Hunter:And in fact, I've heard people say things that sounded musical, and I just.
Malcolm Hunter:It's like, oh, that's.
Malcolm Hunter:That's a nice melody.
Malcolm Hunter:And somehow I extrapolate from what they said.
Malcolm Hunter:I wish I had a concrete example, but it's interesting because even I'll just say this.
Malcolm Hunter:For example, we have a Volkswagen ID4, and there's a song.
Malcolm Hunter:There's a melody that's played when you open or close the door.
Malcolm Hunter:If anybody has an ID4, they know what I'm talking about.
Malcolm Hunter:And actually from that, I came up with a song where I'm like, oh, that could go this way.
Malcolm Hunter:My wife says it sounds like Margaritaville, but I came up with something beyond that.
Malcolm Hunter:But no, it's like.
Malcolm Hunter:So for either somebody saying something or I hear a.
Malcolm Hunter:You know, I've even heard noises that are musical that would cause me to think of a melody.
Malcolm Hunter:And then there are other times I like to.
Malcolm Hunter:You know, again, that's what I was saying about.
Malcolm Hunter:It was nice that I learned to play the piano, even though I want to become a sax player.
Malcolm Hunter:And I didn't really play piano much anymore, except, you know, several times throughout my life, I had to take lessons for different reasons.
Malcolm Hunter:But what I learned on my own in many ways was how to form chords.
Malcolm Hunter:And then I had a chance to check them out and say, okay, what I'm doing actually is standard.
Malcolm Hunter:And so there are times when I would just do a chord progression.
Malcolm Hunter:I just like the way, you know, certain things sound, how some chords go together or whatever.
Malcolm Hunter:Or sometimes I would try to then force it, try to make up something that sounds different or Sounds cool.
Malcolm Hunter:And so, in fact, it's funny because there's a friend of mine who's a composer also, and when we do these chords that kind of go in a direction that you don't expect.
Malcolm Hunter:I think he came up with a term or maybe he's report repeated something someone said called Naughty chords.
Malcolm Hunter:His name is Bill Olson.
Malcolm Hunter:And so the whole thing is like.
Malcolm Hunter:I like to find interesting chord progressions because I just like.
Malcolm Hunter:It's almost like doing painting.
Malcolm Hunter:I call my album Sonic Portraits because again, I consider what I'm doing musically to be, you know, musical sound pictures.
Malcolm Hunter:In fact, Sonic Portraits is play on words, musical sound pictures celebrating life in the son of God.
Malcolm Hunter:And so I like.
Malcolm Hunter:And in fact, the thing that I used to do my MIDI compositions was called a sound canvas.
Malcolm Hunter:So the whole thing of being artistic with music and sounds or whatever, you know, maybe that's just.
Malcolm Hunter:It was coincidental.
Malcolm Hunter:I don't believe in coincidence, but that element of, like, being an artist with music, with notes, with chords, that's been kind of like the way I operate.
Malcolm Hunter:So, like I said, it's.
Malcolm Hunter:It will.
Malcolm Hunter:Inspiration, as you probably have experienced too, can come in so many different forms.
Malcolm Hunter:In fact, you can't predict it.
Malcolm Hunter:But one of the things I learned, I remember hearing this from John Tesh, who's a composer as well as.
Malcolm Hunter:I'm sure many people know who he is more than they know me.
Malcolm Hunter:But he one time was doing a concert and he actually showed the audience when he captured an idea for one of his songs.
Malcolm Hunter:And he, you know, he had like, now I have voice recording on my phone.
Malcolm Hunter:I do that now I've got a bunch of ideas that are just sitting there waiting to be fleshed out.
Malcolm Hunter:But he, you know, hum something into his recording.
Malcolm Hunter:And he kept it.
Malcolm Hunter:And so he said, for this song, just so you know, this is how this started.
Malcolm Hunter:And he pressed the button and you heard him going, you know, whatever.
Malcolm Hunter:And it was like, that was how the song started.
Malcolm Hunter:So when you heard the song, you heard what he said, what he was singing.
Malcolm Hunter:And so it was like that.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, so that was a tool, too.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, I don't know if you're doing that, but if it comes down to it, one of the things I learned to be able to capture those ideas that are out there is to have that voice recorder turn it on, hump it in there no matter where I am.
Malcolm Hunter:Well, not in the shower, but, you know, hum it, and then just kind of, you know, and then I'll try to put some kind of A title like a working title to, you know, at least help me associate that when I heard that and maybe what that might be about.
Malcolm Hunter:I have a funny story.
Malcolm Hunter:Let me finish with this.
Malcolm Hunter:With this.
Malcolm Hunter:I heard about the Yesterday, Paul McCartney.
Malcolm Hunter:If I think I got this right, and if I'm wrong, I'm sure somebody would tell me.
Malcolm Hunter:But I think the working title he had for yesterday was Scrambled Eggs or something like that.
Malcolm Hunter:I think that's what it was.
Malcolm Hunter:But so it's that kind of thing where, you know, you use all kinds of ways of capturing ideas so that you can get to them later and flesh them out.
Malcolm Hunter:So like I said, for me to answer your question again, is it could be the melody first or the chord progression first, but then also hearing some things around me that just cause an idea to come to my head and then I want to sing it into my voice memo.
Keith:That's great.
Keith:So I'm a writer, and a lot of my creation, my original things come from writing.
Keith:But here's the thing that always I struggle with as a writer.
Keith:I don't read a lot of other people's writings because I think maybe I heard it from Prince first.
Keith:He's like, I don't listen to other people's music because I don't want to be influenced by their music.
Keith:So I kind of have that same kind of a.
Keith:I don't want to read too many things so that I write like somebody else.
Keith:I want my writing to be original.
Keith:Do you find that as a musician too, where you may not listen to a bunch of different kind of music because you want yours to be original?
Keith:Or does that not.
Keith:Do you not worry that.
Keith:That you got to, like, take a melody from some song you heard and make it into something that's like, oh, no, I got copyright issues.
Malcolm Hunter:No, hey, Keith, you are.
Malcolm Hunter:That is like.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, that's a.
Malcolm Hunter:That's a problem I would love to have because, you know, it.
Malcolm Hunter:Would that be the song got popular enough that somebody, hey, you stole my song, right?
Malcolm Hunter:No, you don't have to say listening to other people's music.
Malcolm Hunter:And again, you know, at some point, maybe I will get called out.
Malcolm Hunter:But I love listening to other people's music.
Malcolm Hunter:John Williams, for example, you listen to some of the stuff that I do.
Malcolm Hunter:He's a big influence.
Malcolm Hunter:There's also an Indian composer.
Malcolm Hunter:I've heard of him through the Bollywood films.
Malcolm Hunter:The first one I heard where he's played music.
Malcolm Hunter:His name was AR And I don't know if I get the last name right.
Malcolm Hunter:It's spelled R A H M A N.
Malcolm Hunter:I think it's Raymond or Rahman.
Malcolm Hunter:Depends on who I guess I'm talking to.
Malcolm Hunter:And he did.
Malcolm Hunter:He.
Malcolm Hunter:I just love this.
Malcolm Hunter:He really takes Indian music and combines it with Western elements and it's just amazing.
Malcolm Hunter:I love it.
Malcolm Hunter:And then Pat Matheny, I don't know if you've heard of him, he's a guitar player.
Malcolm Hunter:Guy plays all kinds of genres, either solo or as big as orchestra or actually he.
Malcolm Hunter:He used a kind of a MIDI instrument called an orchestrion, which basically, you know, has all the different instruments or whatever.
Malcolm Hunter:He played concerts live with that.
Malcolm Hunter:But he's another person.
Malcolm Hunter:In fact, his album called Secret Story was one that really had a huge influence.
Malcolm Hunter:I remember a friend of mine, a musician also Camille Sobovaro, told me about that album and I wouldn't listen to it.
Malcolm Hunter:And so that.
Malcolm Hunter:That album probably was one of the things that caused me to even think in terms of doing Alpha and Omega or, you know, or at least create an album out of music, because it was something that gave me, to me, a freedom to use multi genres on an album, not be everything, be the same thing.
Malcolm Hunter:It's got, okay, this has got to be jazz.
Malcolm Hunter:Okay, this has got to be pop.
Malcolm Hunter:But I think the John Williams influence was what caused me to think in terms of what I'm actually doing are many soundtracks for the theater of your mind.
Malcolm Hunter:So like I said, Sea of Galilee, when you listen to it, you should be thinking in terms of being on the lake or Sea of Galilee.
Malcolm Hunter:And when you mentioned some of the problems, you played that one, I hope people get a sense that there's an Arabic and a Israeli musical influence in both of those.
Malcolm Hunter:Basically pointing to.
Malcolm Hunter:I haven't really had a chance to tell people this, but it should kind of.
Malcolm Hunter:You talk about two sons of Abraham.
Malcolm Hunter:Ishmael was the first one, and of course the son of the Promise was Isaac.
Malcolm Hunter:So in that song, you kind of hear a little bit of both of those things.
Malcolm Hunter:But again, it's like a soundtrack of saying, you know, this is what I'm trying to do.
Malcolm Hunter:You know, this is the portrait I'm trying to paint, you know, that sort of thing.
Malcolm Hunter:But anyway, those listening to other people's music, you know, gives me ideas.
Malcolm Hunter:Now, I won't say this the way that Steve Jobs said it, but.
Malcolm Hunter:And I don't know if he necessarily was the one to quote for this, but I remember seeing an interview with him where he said, good artists, you know, do whatever they do.
Malcolm Hunter:He says, great Art artists steal ideals or something like that.
Malcolm Hunter:Now, there's much I can say about what he said with that.
Malcolm Hunter:I will say that people do influence me.
Malcolm Hunter:People, music that I like.
Malcolm Hunter:And I try not to copy what they're doing.
Malcolm Hunter:I'm trying to say this makes me think of a certain thing.
Malcolm Hunter:But like I said, sometimes the ideas have nothing to do with me listening to someone else.
Malcolm Hunter:It just comes to me and I'm going, whoa, what's that?
Malcolm Hunter:Let me lasso that thing and bring it here and keep it in a place that I can get to it later.
Malcolm Hunter:No, I love listening.
Malcolm Hunter:In fact, that one of the things I love to do most is listen to other people's music.
Keith:I love that.
Keith:So I'm curious.
Keith:You performed in so many places.
Keith:What has been your most memorable performance and why it stands out in your mind?
Malcolm Hunter:Wow.
Malcolm Hunter:Yeah, I said this.
Malcolm Hunter:I probably give a different answer in one of my previous.
Malcolm Hunter:One of my previous interviews, but I think it's the same answer.
Malcolm Hunter:I did a concert at the church I was in in California, Golden Hills Community Church, where we did a concert where I mentioned this.
Malcolm Hunter:His name before, Camille Sobovaro.
Malcolm Hunter:He's a keyboardist.
Malcolm Hunter:He and I were.
Malcolm Hunter:We heard.
Malcolm Hunter:Well, I heard him playing in front of our church during special music where he did a.
Malcolm Hunter:A arrangement of Humble Thyself.
Malcolm Hunter:Humble Thyself in the side of the Lord and He Will Lift.
Malcolm Hunter:You know, that song?
Malcolm Hunter:So I was, like, listening to that.
Malcolm Hunter:I said, oh, man, I love.
Malcolm Hunter:And he was doing.
Malcolm Hunter:Using MIDI and stuff like that, too.
Malcolm Hunter:So I went up afterwards and talked to him.
Malcolm Hunter:And so we basically were kindred spirits musically, in many ways.
Malcolm Hunter:Not just composers, but just playing other songs.
Malcolm Hunter:And we would.
Malcolm Hunter:We.
Malcolm Hunter:So we wound up performing as a duo.
Malcolm Hunter:But in this situation, we.
Malcolm Hunter:We wanted to do a concert.
Malcolm Hunter:So we had, you know, the full band, stuff like that.
Malcolm Hunter:Two keyboards, drummer, bass, guitar, neon sax.
Malcolm Hunter:And then we had some vocalists and things like that.
Malcolm Hunter: ,: Malcolm Hunter:I remember that date because we did a program, and I think it was entitled Sonic Portraits.
Malcolm Hunter:And then Camille's picture and my picture on the front of it.
Malcolm Hunter:So the reason I like this concert was that we heard a story of some people who were coming to the concert, and they had some friends that they brought with them.
Malcolm Hunter:Now, I don't know if they were Christians or not or whatever, but when they heard there was going to be a concert at a church, they kind of didn't have high expectations for how the music was gonna sound.
Malcolm Hunter:So, which is thankfully not the case anymore.
Malcolm Hunter:And same thing with movies.
Malcolm Hunter:Things are a lot better now.
Malcolm Hunter:But anyway, so they came and so that song that I heard Camille play when I first met him, we opened, I think, with that song.
Malcolm Hunter:I believe maybe it was the second song.
Malcolm Hunter:Anyway, it, you know, that song is like, I mean, you know, humble Thyself is not a very humble sounding song.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, it's like really kind of rock out.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, you know, it goes on and on.
Malcolm Hunter:So we finish that and then it ends, like, you know, then we're sitting there, I do an Altissimo.
Malcolm Hunter:So I'm hitting real high notes on that.
Malcolm Hunter:I heard when those guests came in who were kind of skeptical what they're going to hear when that song was over, they looked at their friends and said, who.
Malcolm Hunter:What did you bring us to?
Malcolm Hunter:Who are these people?
Malcolm Hunter:You know, it's kind of like, whoa, this was not what we were expecting.
Malcolm Hunter:And that was like one of the best reactions I've ever had for any concert that I played in was people who came in with low expectations and we knocked it out of the park.
Keith:That's amazing.
Keith:So tell us a little bit.
Keith:You gave us some of your samples of your new album, Alpha and Omega, your first solo album.
Keith:How's it doing?
Malcolm Hunter:Well, here's the reality of doing music this day in the digital domain and having digital streaming platforms around the world.
Malcolm Hunter:Let's put this way, it's on probably every digital streaming platform around the world.
Malcolm Hunter:I partner with a company called CD Baby in Portland, Oregon, and they had different.
Malcolm Hunter:And I'll put it this way, it wasn't as if, you know, I've been discovered and I have this, you know, label that's pushing this.
Malcolm Hunter:The label is my label.
Malcolm Hunter:I have to create it and things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:But what they had were partnerships with people all over.
Malcolm Hunter:Spotify, Pandora.
Malcolm Hunter:I thought it was called Amazon Music.
Malcolm Hunter:On and on and on.
Malcolm Hunter:So you can find it.
Malcolm Hunter:It's again, Alpha and Omega.
Malcolm Hunter:Malcolm Hunter put both.
Malcolm Hunter:Because there's another Malcolm Hunter out there that's not me.
Malcolm Hunter:He's a pianist in New York.
Malcolm Hunter:And you will find Alpha and Omega.
Malcolm Hunter:Okay, you asked me a question.
Malcolm Hunter:Okay, so as far as how is this doing, it's not as if I had, like I said, a.
Malcolm Hunter:Or even took advantage of the promotional services available to make a big splash.
Malcolm Hunter:So at this point, I really kind of sent it around to mainly relatives and friends who knew I was a musician.
Malcolm Hunter:And so it's almost like, I would say, in many ways, Keith, this was more of a thing where I wanted to put my music out there because again, not just for me, but I felt like what the Lord had allowed me to do is like, you know, something, whatever small audience I have for the music that I'm doing, I'm going to make it available for them.
Malcolm Hunter:And like I said, for me, my friends and relatives have been people, I mean, who knew I played music.
Malcolm Hunter:I wanted them to be able to have access to know about it and then, you know, for them to have access to it and things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:But I have to say though, when it's out there in the cyberspace, you have some people who check in from other places.
Malcolm Hunter:I saw some, someone from the Ukraine, from Brazil, from where else can I say?
Malcolm Hunter:I think it was, gosh, I mean, some exotic names, I mean, some countries I'm going, where, who.
Malcolm Hunter:How did they even get a hold of this?
Malcolm Hunter:So it's, there are people who check in from time to time.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, but again, it's, it's really kind of more of like I send things around by email to relatives and friends when I have like maybe a podcast, like for your podcast, for example, will be on there.
Malcolm Hunter:And I think when I do my one year anniversary of the release, which is November 20th, I'm going to put that, a link to that page and say, since I released this, here is a.
Malcolm Hunter:Here are some podcasts and things where I've had a chance to talk about this with other people.
Malcolm Hunter:And so it's really, like I said right now, I felt like it's better for me to just, you know, not kind of beat myself up with the fact that, man, you got to spend all this money to, you know, get this out there so that people, you know, from around the world would be listening to it.
Malcolm Hunter:And I become this big star or whatever.
Malcolm Hunter:But I have to tell you this, a friend of mine who's in this, his name is Kim Nichols.
Malcolm Hunter:Actually he's known by Nick Nichols.
Malcolm Hunter:He's a, he's a musician, also works out in Nashville.
Malcolm Hunter:He and I, he helped me along the way and I really appreciate his help.
Malcolm Hunter:His.
Malcolm Hunter:In terms of getting involved with CD Baby.
Malcolm Hunter:And the thing he said is, you know, if you even have like 10 million hits on your songs, he said the royalties you get for that because basically when you split up everything, when people, you know, subscribe to a thing, they divide all that up between all the musicians.
Malcolm Hunter:He says if you can get enough money to get a cup of coffee, you'd be lucky.
Malcolm Hunter:So my expectations about all of that is like, you're not gonna see this major push or whatever like that.
Malcolm Hunter:But like I said, I didn't pay the money to do the major thing.
Malcolm Hunter:And like I said, for me, it's more of people in my church, friends, relatives who know I play music.
Malcolm Hunter:I let them know that, and they've enjoyed listening, and I've gotten great feedback from them.
Malcolm Hunter:People have given it as gifts, things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:And so as I'm talking right now, I have this special going on that if you buy five or more, the shipping is free and they cost $12 normally, and you can get them for half price.
Malcolm Hunter:So you can buy five albums for $6 and give them to your friends.
Malcolm Hunter:And since we're getting close to Christmas, by the way, folks, since Christmas, Jesus is the reason for the season, this would be a great addition for your Christmas presents.
Malcolm Hunter:And people that are music lovers who might enjoy listening to this music.
Keith:That's great.
Keith:So we all have our favorite something on this album.
Keith:What is your favorite song?
Malcolm Hunter:Wow.
Malcolm Hunter:This is.
Malcolm Hunter:You.
Malcolm Hunter:You.
Malcolm Hunter:This is.
Malcolm Hunter:You shouldn't have done this.
Malcolm Hunter:I have to.
Malcolm Hunter:It's like.
Malcolm Hunter:And I feel like Sophie's Choice.
Malcolm Hunter:I've got to choose.
Malcolm Hunter:I don't.
Malcolm Hunter:I shouldn't.
Keith:You gotta.
Keith:You gotta pick baby.
Malcolm Hunter:Now.
Keith:Which baby is.
Malcolm Hunter:Oh, my gosh.
Malcolm Hunter:All right.
Malcolm Hunter:Right, right, right.
Malcolm Hunter:Boy, this is.
Malcolm Hunter:Okay, good question, Keith.
Malcolm Hunter:Okay, so I'm gonna have to just kind of, through my head, well, I.
Keith:Am good at this.
Keith:I'm a professional.
Malcolm Hunter:So, boy, I'm telling you, you're really.
Malcolm Hunter:I.
Malcolm Hunter:Boy.
Malcolm Hunter:Okay, I'm just gonna have to just make one.
Malcolm Hunter:Make one.
Malcolm Hunter:I'm going to have to say, okay, since this keeps coming back to my head, I'm going to have to go with it.
Malcolm Hunter:The one that's called the least of these.
Malcolm Hunter:For anyone who knows that scripture, when Jesus says, inasmuch as you've given someone a drink of water, visit someone in prison, clothed someone who's naked, things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:Inasmuch as you've done it to the least, that you've done it to me.
Malcolm Hunter:And that to me is very powerful to know that for those maybe who are who, you know, see people in a certain light, who may be among the humblest among us.
Malcolm Hunter:Just like the song, there's a song that says, if you want to be great in God's kingdom, learn to be disturbed of all.
Malcolm Hunter:And so he basically puts that in perspective when he says that.
Malcolm Hunter:And that.
Malcolm Hunter:That composition, I mean, yeah, I would say that it's the thing that kind of.
Malcolm Hunter:And when I say this in May.
Malcolm Hunter:Well, I don't know.
Malcolm Hunter:I'm not going to be in a major television show, so I'll say what I'm going to say.
Malcolm Hunter:I was inspired to write that when I saw.
Malcolm Hunter:When.
Malcolm Hunter:Okay, you know, this is gonna be interesting.
Malcolm Hunter:But this, I guess the first time I've actually want to say this.
Malcolm Hunter:When Princess Diana, you know, died in a car accident around that same time Mother Teresa died, and she was in a.
Malcolm Hunter:A.
Malcolm Hunter:Was it the Sisters of the Poor or something like that ministry?
Malcolm Hunter:The Sister of the Poor, I guess, in India, what like that.
Malcolm Hunter:And I felt like, man, look at all this.
Malcolm Hunter:You know, you had Elton John rewriting Candle in the Wind for Diana, you know, and stuff like that.
Malcolm Hunter:You get all this royalty, things like that.
Malcolm Hunter:And then there was this, you know, the contrast was, you know, with Mother Teresa, you know, not as much, you know, attention or time or anything like that.
Malcolm Hunter:And I just said, you know, thinking about her ministry, you know, basically ministering to the least of these, I just felt like, man, that, you know, that just is the contrast here couldn't be more stark.
Malcolm Hunter:And that contrast inspired me.
Malcolm Hunter:And I remember when I started it, I remember.
Malcolm Hunter:Well, I don't know.
Malcolm Hunter:I'm getting choked up about this.
Malcolm Hunter:But anyway, I remember that I spent a night composing it on my MIDI equipment.
Malcolm Hunter:And I remember I fell asleep, I think, on the piano or something like that.
Malcolm Hunter:And then I didn't know what I had done.
Malcolm Hunter:But I woke up the next morning and I listened to what I had done, and I was just amazed at what came out.
Malcolm Hunter:I was like, whoa.
Malcolm Hunter:I wrote that, you know, and it's like, if you listen to it, it's got many chord changes.
Malcolm Hunter:It's got.
Malcolm Hunter:Not chord changes, but tempo changes.
Malcolm Hunter:4, 4, 7, 4, I think.
Malcolm Hunter:Or 5, 4, I can't remember.
Malcolm Hunter:And 3, 4.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, it's like.
Malcolm Hunter:It's all kinds of different things.
Malcolm Hunter:And so it just really was one of those things where the.
Malcolm Hunter:When it says the least of these, the orchestration through all of that is pretty stark.
Malcolm Hunter:There are certain places where there's only like two instruments playing or three or whatever like that.
Malcolm Hunter:So that seemed to be fitting for the title of that tune.
Malcolm Hunter:And again, when I think about who she ministered to and what the aim was of her, of the ministry she was working in, the least of these, and what Jesus had said about that, I just felt like, man, when I think about all of that, that was one of those.
Malcolm Hunter:That was one of those inspired compositions where you go, that's not for me.
Malcolm Hunter:That's coming from someplace else.
Malcolm Hunter:This is bigger than me, and I don't want to make it sound like it's, you know, more than it is, but I just know for things that I've written, I had never written anything like that.
Malcolm Hunter:And in fact, if you listen to it, it will be the most unique composition on the recording.
Malcolm Hunter:And again, it was.
Malcolm Hunter:That was probably my favorite because of just how that came together.
Keith:Well, we'll.
Keith:We'll go out with that one just because I want to make sure we had your favorite on there.
Keith:And you got to realize that, you know, having emotions on the podcast, that's, again, the goal of Hostess, to bring out that unique part of yourself that makes you a little weepy.
Keith:So you're not the first to weep on the podcast.
Keith:So don't feel.
Keith:Don't feel alone.
Malcolm Hunter:Mission accomplished.
Malcolm Hunter:No, Keith, I appreciate that question, and I really appreciate just everything you've done in this.
Malcolm Hunter:In this podcast.
Malcolm Hunter:Thank you so much.
Keith:My pleasure.
Keith:I love to ask my guests this question because we're going to.
Keith:We're wrapping up, but it's been a phenomenal conversation.
Keith:What do you want your legacy to be?
Malcolm Hunter:Boy, I would have to say this album, it was almost like I said, if I don't do another album, what do.
Malcolm Hunter:What do I do with this?
Malcolm Hunter:So kind of like, you know, make this as if this is the last album I ever make.
Malcolm Hunter:Hopefully it won't be, but, you know, if it is, then I feel like I've done what I needed to do.
Malcolm Hunter:And that was really to tell the story of Jesus through the music talent that he gave me and to basically explain musically.
Malcolm Hunter:And then also in writing on the album, just, again, just one element to mention is on my.
Malcolm Hunter:The physical copy of the CD on the panel next to the CD tray is a summary basically of the Bible.
Malcolm Hunter:But it basically pulls out the gospel story as to what happened at the beginning, what's the problem, what's the solution, and then what is then the path forward, shall we say?
Malcolm Hunter:And that's really kind of what the gospel and what the Bible is telling.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, Jesus.
Malcolm Hunter:And sometimes people don't realize what the Bible says is.
Malcolm Hunter:But it says it's through.
Malcolm Hunter:I think John 1:12 and I think Colossians 3, something it explains that creation came through Jesus, you know, but again, the Godhead, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, they have perfect community, they work in concert, but specific came out in those verses.
Malcolm Hunter:And so basically, it really was way for me to say if anything.
Malcolm Hunter:And I don't want to say I'm like him but he said it perfectly, John the Baptist, when he said.
Malcolm Hunter:When Jesus came onto the scene, he said, I must become more and more.
Malcolm Hunter:I mean, I must become less and less.
Malcolm Hunter:He must become more and more.
Malcolm Hunter:And so for me, it was kind of like, yeah, I wrote the songs on this album.
Malcolm Hunter:Yes, I composed the music.
Malcolm Hunter:Yes, I played the sax, Yes, I recorded recorded at all.
Malcolm Hunter:But I don't want this to be about Malcolm and his music.
Malcolm Hunter:I want it to be about God and his love for man.
Malcolm Hunter:Through, you know, John 3:16, he still loved the world because of the sin that occurred in the Garden of Eden.
Malcolm Hunter:God had a plan for how he was going to undo the situation with sin being entered into the world through the disobedience of Adam.
Malcolm Hunter:He restored the world through the obedience of Jesus, as someone said.
Malcolm Hunter:Or maybe I said, I don't know.
Malcolm Hunter:But if there was no Garden of Eden, there would be no need for a Savior.
Malcolm Hunter:And also, this is a historical thing.
Malcolm Hunter:I know often people look at religions as something that someone came up with just to make themselves feel good and give good advice on how to live right?
Malcolm Hunter:But the reality is that this is a historical story.
Malcolm Hunter:This is history, something that involves both time and space as well as the spiritual realm.
Malcolm Hunter:And that's Jesus being 100% God, 100% man, the hypostatic union, as they call it.
Malcolm Hunter:He's the perfect example of what our existence is, spiritual and physical.
Malcolm Hunter:And therefore he is like.
Malcolm Hunter:There's the series out now called the Chosen.
Malcolm Hunter:And while there is.
Malcolm Hunter:There are other things that are involved with that title, the main one we're concerned about is what the name Christ, or in Hebrew, Messiah, means.
Malcolm Hunter:That the anointed one chosen.
Malcolm Hunter:And as Jesus said to the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman, salvation comes through the Jews.
Malcolm Hunter:And as Peter said in Acts, there's no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved.
Malcolm Hunter:So if that.
Malcolm Hunter:I know it's probably hard for some people to hear who may think, you know, all religions are legitimate.
Malcolm Hunter:You know, I used to think the same thing.
Malcolm Hunter:But when Jesus says in John 14:6, I am the way, the truth and the life.
Malcolm Hunter:No one comes to the Father but by Him.
Malcolm Hunter:I want my legacy to be that people see that verse.
Malcolm Hunter:And maybe if they don't like it or don't understand it, do what I did.
Malcolm Hunter:Take it to the Lord in prayer.
Malcolm Hunter:Ask him, Lord, show me that this is true.
Malcolm Hunter:Because he will.
Malcolm Hunter:He will.
Keith:Well, Malcolm, thanks so much.
Keith:As we are wrapping this up.
Keith:Where can people find your album again?
Keith:And where can they connect with you on social media?
Malcolm Hunter:Thank you.
Malcolm Hunter:Well, the best thing to do for just all of that is to go to my website.
Malcolm Hunter:I think on Spotify.
Malcolm Hunter:It has the old URL, but it'll still work because I included it in the site.
Malcolm Hunter:But sonicportraits media.com, that's the name of my album.
Malcolm Hunter:I'm sorry, my label, SonicPortraits Media, all1word.com.
Malcolm Hunter:And you go on that site and there's a services, podcast and music page.
Malcolm Hunter:You'll see links to podcasts and also links to.
Malcolm Hunter:There's a Here now link that has several digital streaming platforms where you can see the album.
Malcolm Hunter:Also on all the pages, there's a Connect with me or Contact me link.
Malcolm Hunter:You click that and you can actually order a physical cd.
Malcolm Hunter:You go to that site and it'll give you all the instructions for doing that.
Keith:Well, since you wrote this and this is your favorite, you want to kind of segue us into this song, the least of these.
Malcolm Hunter:Sure, yeah.
Malcolm Hunter:As Jesus said, you know, inasmuch as we do it to the things, as far as giving food, water, whatever, visiting people who are sick or in jail or clothing the needy, all those sorts of things he says, inasmuch as you've done it to them, we've done it to Him.
Malcolm Hunter:That's pretty powerful.
Malcolm Hunter:And it's not about just doing that, though.
Malcolm Hunter:It's really understanding that he came to be our Lord and Savior, to be the way that we're saved from an eternity without God.
Malcolm Hunter:And believe me, if the decision you make to believe, as it just says in John 3:16, which you see on those signs at some stadiums, they're holding up John 3:16, there's that.
Malcolm Hunter:What that saying is, so God, for God, so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, so that whoever believes in him will not perish.
Malcolm Hunter:Meaning we won't spend eternity without God, we'll spend eternity with God.
Malcolm Hunter:We'll have everlasting life.
Malcolm Hunter:So, yes, please do that.
Keith:Well, thank you, my friend.
Keith:And we're going to listen to this on our way out.
Keith:And thank you for taking the time of coming on the podcast and sharing your heart and your story with us and your beauty.
Keith:Beautiful music with us.
Keith:So encourage people as the holidays are coming up, that you will go pick up Alpha and Omega and get a couple copies for you and your friends and your family and make that a nice little stocking stuffer for people.
Malcolm Hunter:Very good.
Malcolm Hunter:Thank you so much.
