Search - Charlie Hunter :: Charlie Hunter Trio

Raw Power

Nathaniel Hawkes | San Francisco | 02/12/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This little-known debut shows Charlie Hunter at the height of his early passions. Whereas he branched out into more lush horn arrangements and involved compositions on his later albums, we hear a refeshingly spacious version of his music here. This album embodies all that the later ones lack in terms of daring and spontaneity. Stylistically, it's not terribly different from his Blue Note debut (Bing, Bing, Bing!), but it's actually more varied, less predictable, and has a sound which is more hard-edged and raw, especially in the drums. The trio format gives each player plenty of room to strut his stuff, and the performances by Dave Ellis and Jay Lane are dazzling. This is some of the most distinctively crisp jazz/funk drumming I've ever heard, and Ellis' sax playing is forceful, confident, inventive, and deeply rooted in tradition. Charlie himself is also in fine form here, and his solos tend to go a little farther out than on later albums, with less strict attention to always maintaining simultaneous guitar and bass activity. Nevertheless, the harmonic concepts are well developed, perhaps more so than on his subsequent efforts. This album features the group's unique takes on funk, post-bop, Latin jazz, Mingus, a slower balladish tune, and an almost folky solo guitar piece. For anyone who enjoys Hunter's music, this glimpse of his pre-stardom days is not to be missed."

Fantastic debut

bimwa | Australia | 04/11/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was Charlie Hunter's first album as leader, and I still think his best. It is funky, melodic and raw, which can not too often be said about his later work. Not to pigeon-hole this album though - while Hunter shows his great interest for groovy funk on tunes like 'Fred's Life' and 'Funky Niblets', there is also wonderful jazz ('20, 30, 40, 50, 60, Dead' and 'Rhythm Comes In 12 Tones'), an upbeat latin tune with added horn section ('Dance Of The Jazz Fascists') and a slower bluesy piece ('Telephone's A Ringin'). Hunter also does a beautiful solo rendition of Charles Mingus' 'Fables Of Faubus'.Hunter's compositions and guitar-playing are really fantastic on this album. His colleagues, Dave Ellis on tenor sax and Jay Lane on drums, are outstanding also. They manage to be solid and tight without coming across as too overly polished, which helps to create that rawness mentioned earlier. Primus' Les Claypool produced this album, which may have a little to do with the freshness and 'edge', which is less evident in Hunter's later albums (on Blue Note, and the like).Still sounds fresh after all these years!"

An Incredible Album

M. Conklin | Illinois, USA | 07/26/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"back before charlie hunter signed to blue note, mammoth records put this release out. it didn't take long for guitar nuts to track this release down. from that, jazz fans started to search it out as well and before long, the charlie hunter trio started to gather a decent sized following, in places other than san francisco. with help from dave ellis on saxophone and jay lane on drums, hunter lays down some great funky jazz tunes on this one. in fact, as a whole, it may be hunter's funkiest release to date. while hunter's playing is completely unique, you can often hear the influences of james brown, stanley jordan and john scofield, especially in tone. hunter and ellis trade solo time equally, and on one of the cuts, scott jensen joins in on trumpet. while it's not quite as polished as his later blue note releases, it's actually better than the release that followed it up with essentially the same lineup. it's an incredible album that shows off the young talents of both hunter and ellis."