Charlie Hunter Offers Eclectic Mix In New Album Release
by Hollis Wormsby

Charlie Hunter is a very spiritual individual who just happens to be a musician. Listening to his recently released cd, the self titled, "Charlie Hunter"one fmds a veritable potpourri of songs that will reveal many of the spiritual influences in Hunter's life.

In interviews Hunter is very adamant about his belief that music is a physical expression of deeply spiritual feelings, and that the music industry is failing to promote music at this level. For this reason he believes that, "It's a ship that sinking, but only half of it is underwater. Everyone knows its it's going down; it's probably going to be sunk in the next two to three years." He goes on to note later that, "In a way it's karma; if you sow the fields with salt, all you are going to get is salty dirt."

In both his music and his personal philosophy he reminds me of a former blue note artist and friend, Stanley Jordan, who also happens to be a talented guitarist and musician of a deeply spiritual background, who has often expressed frustration with the business end of the music industry.

On his latest cd, Hunter seeks to explore new directions. He notes that in his past albums he has always had a theme that prevailed throughout the album. but that in his most recent release this is not the case. This is also the first of his five albums that was not produced with a single band, but rather with a collection of musicians that he selected at times for a single role on a single song. An exception to this was the presence of talented drummer Leon Parker throughout the album} For Hunter having Parker in the mix was a real God send. He says of his feelings regarding Parker's role in the album, "Leon and I have played together for a long time, so we have a continuity. The two of us provide the pencil sketchings of the pieces so that the other players can come in and apply shading and color."

Some of my favorites from this cd include; "Nothing But Trouble," "Epistrophy", and the Donny Hathaway classic, "Someday We'1l AIl Be Free". On "Nothing But Trouble" Hunter presents an excellent stand up jazz foundation, with a bluesy undertone, that presents an awesome interplay between the tenor sax and the slide trombone. On "Epistrophy" Hunter presents a remake of a Thelonius Monk classic that showcases his prowess on lead guitar and features a kicking percussion section. On "Someday We'll All Be Free" Hunter offers an extrdordinarily eclectic presentation of a Donny Hathaway classic that has a very haunting quality to it.

While I liked much of the cd there are one or two cuts on the album like "Cloud Spitter" that come across as somewhat of an experiment in electronic tinkering and eclectic artistry. This is another way in which he reminds me of Stanley Jordan, a truly brilliant jazz musician who has also experienced some difficulty in finding mainstream success and who has been frustrated by some of the ways that the music industry has tried to use his talent.

Overall, I like"Charlie Hunter" as an album and even more so I like the Charlie Hunter I discovered in researching this story. He is a deeply spiritual, caring musician, who has the heart to believe that he can make a difference in the world both through his music and his living. What a shame that the Puff Daddies of the world are so much more successful.