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"A lot of times a little melody hits me and gets stud' in my
head," he states. "When that happens, I just have to go somewhere
where I can have some time to work it out. And sometimes that
turns into a song that gets put down on an album."
His latest album, simply titled Charlie Hunter, offers some juicy
originals including the percussive "Rendezvous Avec La Verite" and
the lively "Two For Bleu," which Hunter wrote in memory of a friend
who passed away unexpectedly last year. "Al Green" is another orig
inal that has a slow, soulful groove in the spirit of the soul man
himjelf. Charlie Hunter also features a funkif ed .ersion of Hunter's
"Dersu," which was originally recorded as a ballad on Ready... Set...
Shango! (1996).
Although best known for his brand of groove-jazz, Hunter enjoys
pulling songs out of the standard pop, rock, reggae or R&B coffers
to record as covers on each album.
Hunter: "Some song r are just plain good songs. If a melody
strikes me or some element of a good groove catches me, I don't
care what it is. If it's something that will make a good vehicle to
deliver a new sound, I'll use it."
The new Charlie Hunter album also includes Thelonious Monk's
classic tune "Epistrophy," which Hunter livens up with a Latin
beat. The album closes with a compelling solo guitar rendition of
the Donny Hathaway pop classic "Someday We'll All Be Free," a
reaffirmation that Hunter's sound easily transcends the category of
jazz.
In addition to churning out records for Blue Note, Hunter has
found son,? time to contribute to other albums as well. Recent such
efforts include Karl Denson's forthcoming solo album (look for it on
Verve or Blue Note some time this fall) and singer Patricia Barber's
Night Club, which will be released by Blue Note on September 26.
Notably, Hunter is also featured on R&B/Pop star D'Angelo's Voodoo,
and shares writing credit on two tracks.
So what's on the horizon for Charlie Hunter?
"Hopefully all sorts of things," laughs the quick-witted musician.
Tm doing a lot of solo playing and I'm looking forward to touring,
touring and more touring. I just want to keep taking the music to
the people and doing good shows. We'll see where it goes from
here."
Dawn Maynor
WHO: Charlie Hunter, Squat
WHERE: Georgia Theatre
WHEN: Tuesday, August 22
HOW MUCH: Call
Charlie
Hunter
Plays
Eight
Strings
for Athens
really a whole instrument unto
J. L J itself," says Charlie Hunter of
his eight-string guitar. Tm trying to create
a vocabulary on it, you know, a part from
the bass and a part from the guitar, and I'm
slowly making an identity on the instru
ment."
Hunter's guitar has five regular guitar
strings and three extra bass strings that are
made to sound really low, in the same
range as organ pedals. It's a one-of-a-kind
instrument of his own invention, one that
requires manual dexterity to play two parts
at once and renders a sound that deceives
the ear on studio albums and is just plain
scorching at a live show.
Hunter, 32. is one of the most popular
jazz guitarists on the road these days, but
you won't find him playing shows at venues
on the traditional jazz club circuit.
"I like to play at places that don't make
people feel uptight, where they can feel
relaxed and really let their hair down, because they are paying
money to see the show that they made at some job where they can't
let their hair down. They should be able to really enjoy the music."
Hunter, who grew up in Berkeley, California, says he was exposed
to music at an early age by his mother.
"There was always a lot of music around when I was growing up
in Berkeley in the 70s, and all sorts of great musicians around," he
remembers. "My mother played some guitar and she had tons of
records, so that's how I initially became interested in music. She
took me to one show that made an impression on me when I was
12-years-old: John Lee Hooker at this warehouse in Oakland. Tnat
was an amazing show."
Hunter attended Berkeley High School, whose jazz program has
graduated players such as Joshua Redman, Benny Green and David
Murray.
"Obviously there is something good going on at Berkeley High. I
wasn't in the jazz program. All through high school I played in a lot
of different groups that were gigging, playing blues, rockabilly and
soul music. Then when I was 18 or 19, I got a couple of jazz records
like Charlie Christian and Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. That really
turned me on."
After his initial discovery of the jazz sound, Hunter found that
he went through a stage in which jazz was the only music he could
listen to.
"I was in such a state of learning. There was so much for me to
learn from jazz players because jazz is so complex. I immersed
myself in it completely because that was what I was trying to learn.
Later, I recognized that there's a lot of good music out there, and
there's plenty for me to learn from that music as well. I still have a
lot to learn from James Brown and Fella and Changui [Cuban street
music] and I love Brazilian music too. There's just so much more
that I can learn."
After some early work with a hip hop band called the Disposable
Heroes Of Hiphoprisy (which spawned the current group Spearhead),
Hunter made his marie on the jazz scene with Charlie Hunter Trio
(1993) on Mammoth Records. He was soon signed to the legendary
jazz label Blue Note, and has released an album each year since
signing with the label in 1995. Each album finds Hunter throwing
variations into the mix, in terms of both the instrumentation and
the personnel list. This ensures that each offering has a fresh
approach. Vitality is the hallmark of a successful artist, and Hunter
is not one who could rightly be accused of becoming stale or set
tling into a state of heady jazz stasis.
Hunte' is also an accomplished songwriter. With the exception of
1997's Natty Dread, Hunter's recreation of the c'assic Bob Marley
recording in the Blue Note Cover series, each Hunter record is
loaded with original material.
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