By
now it should be apparent that Charlie Hunter's
career has long legs. The 32-year-old eight-string
guitarist has not only been churning out an album
per year since signing with Blue Note Records
in 1995, but he has also consistently thrown change
ups into the mix of each outing-thereby insuring
that each recording has a freshness and vitality
of approach that is the hallmark of a successful
artist. Based on past offerings, you can't accuse
Hunter of drifting into a zone of jazz stasis.
With his latest Blue Note release, self-titled,
Hunter continues to explore a breadth of expression-from
funky dance floor grooves teeming with percussion
to stop-you-in-your-tracks balladry in a solo
setting. He's invited some old friends as well
as new partners. It's his sixth recording for
the label and seventh overall as a leader. So
what's new with Charlie this time out? "This is
the first record I've made without a steady band
and the first where I didn't adhere to the same
concept all the way through," he says, while noting
that this is also the first time he's been stumped
by a title. "I've been keeping self-titled as
a backup all these years just in case I couldn't
come up with something good for my other albums."
As in previous recordings, Hunter tweaks the personnel
list on this self-titled release. Returning in
fine form is the brilliant drummer Leon
Parker who collaborated with the guitarist
on his Duo album (1999).
The leader also enlisted two percussionists, Robert
Perkins and Stephen
Chopek, and for several songs calls on
the services of trombonist Josh
Roseman and tenor saxophonist Peter
Apfelbaum (the latter, like Hunter, an ex-San
Francisco Bay Area noteworthy who now lives in
Brooklyn). This is first appearance of horns on
a Hunter album since 1997's Natty
Dread, the re-envisioning of Bob Marley's
classic recording in the Blue Note Covers Series.
While in the planning stages of the new disc,
Hunter listened to his old albums. "What I liked
about them was that they all adhered to a strict
concept," he says. "That was good because the
listener wasn't subjected to a mishmash effect.
But this time out I decided to try a bunch of
different looks." The quick-witted Hunter, always
ready to launch into an impromptu metaphor to
explain himself, talks hoop: "It's like a basketball
team coming down the court and running the same
play everytime. It gets pretty predictable. But
if you structure your offense around your different
players-running a play for the center, then the
next time focusing on your shooting guard-then
you've got a game."
Translated into jazz lingo: Hunter played to the
strength of his studio-forged band. What's the
difference between that and a mishmash? "You know,
when you're younger and you make your first record,
you think it will be the only album you'll ever
make," Hunter says. "So, the temptation is to
try to fit everything you love into that one record.
Even though I made Untitled without a band
per se, I still approached each song with a band
concept in mind."
Hunter has been one of Blue Note's most popular
artists since breaking in with 1995's Bing
Bing Bing!, a tenor saxophone-drum trio.
He added an alto saxophone to the mix for his
next two recordings, Ready...Set...Shango!
and the Bob Marley cover project Natty
Dread. He then threw a curve ball with
The Return of the Candyman
(1998) when he retired the horn section
and enlisted vibes player Stefon
Harris and percussionist John
Santos to join him and longtime drummer
Scott Amendola
in a new quartet called Pound For Pound.
Last year's Duo found Hunter scaling back to the
rhythm basics with Parker. (In addition to his
own projects, Hunter found the time to contribute
to other albums, most notably pop star D'Angelo
whose recently-released Voodoo
CD features Hunter on three tracks, two of which
he shares co-writing credit.)
Parker appears on nearly every tune of self-titled
which makes for a ready-made rhythm section thanks
to Hunter's eight-string ax, which allows him
to play bass and lead simultaneously. "Leon and
I have played for a long time together, so we
have a continuity," says Hunter. "So the two of
us provide the pencil sketchings of the pieces
so that the other players can come in and apply
shading and color."
Hunter opted for a double barrage of percussion
to give him a little distance from the drum kit.
"After playing with Leon and then Adam
Cruz on tour, I didn't know where to turn
to find a drummer who was as special as both those
guys. So I decided to explore the wall-of-percussion
possibilities to get that big, wide-open sound
with a lot of groove." As for the horn players,
Hunter says, "They played their asses off. All
I had to do was write out melody charts and they
hit the tunes hard."
The album opens with the catchy and very percussive
number "Rendezvous Avec La Verité," a Hunter
original that speaks of the truth. "This is something
Adam and I worked on while on the road. It's got
a strong 6/8 groove." As for its title, Hunter
first chose "A Little 6/8," then went with "One
Outside the Deal" before finally settling on the
French title. "I was watching cable TV one night
late," he explains, "and I saw this show on Haitian
Pentecostalism called 'Rendezvous Avec La Verité.'
I loved the name so I gave it to this number."
The horns get introduced on the jaunty, upbeat
"Two
for Bleu," a tune Hunter wrote for a friend
who died last year of an aneurysm. That's followed
by "Al Green," a soulful muse on the soul
man. "This tune reminds me of Al Green. It has
a slow groove that he could sing over. This is
Leon and me just playing in the studio and coming
up with a tune from nowhere."
The tenor sax and trombone take center stage again
on the cooker "Nothin'
But Trouble," that Hunter calls a "power
tune for dancing and listening...that's a straight
up, stinky, gutbucket Texas shuffle." After the
dance groove ends, the intriguing number "Cloud
Splitter" tip-toes in. With its muted guitar
notes and muted trombone lines, the tune comes
off as a hip, cool pop number. Apfelbaum, Hunter
notes, likened the piece to a giant green caterpillar.
Thelonious Monk's classic tune "Epistrophy"
is spiced with a percolating Latin beat (it's
another tune Hunter and Cruz arranged while on
tour), a Hunter original "Flau Flau" catches
a blues groove and sails (the guitarist says it
reminds him of a "straight-up New Orleans funeral
with a little Albert King and a little funky gravestone
tremolo") and "Dersu" (first recorded as
a ballad in 5/4 time on Hunter's 1996 Ready...Set...Shango
CD) is rendered in a funky vein by Hunter and
Parker with the former soloing over the latter's
rhythms.
The album closes with a striking solo guitar take
on the Donny Hathaway pop classic "Someday
We'll All Be Free." It's a transcendent
moment on the disc. Hunter, best known for his
groove jazz, proves again that his ballad playing
is one of jazz's best kept secrets (check out
his stunning take on "You Don't Know What Love
Is" on Duo).
"Lately
I've been playing around with more solo guitar
stuff," says Hunter. Does this presage a future
project? He's mum on the subject for now, but
don't count that out. There are many more surprising
new turns ahead for Hunter, who once again shows
on self-titled that being plugged in creatively
makes for some mighty fine music.
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