The Charie Hunter Quartet I/Ima Industrious, Inventive, in the Ucen
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Inside: Jude Narita, Masters of Fine Arts Exhibition and Jason Sattler The Charie Hunter Quartet I/ImA Industrious, Inventive, In the UCen he Charlie Hunter Quartet (until recently a trio) plays jazz. Smooth, funky, completely new and T original jazz. Two saxophones, drums and Hunter’s simultaneous bass and guitar make up the play ers . That’s right—bass and guitar at the same tune. Don’t ask how; he just does it. I guess that’s how he got the quartet named after him. Hunter and friends exude the cool mystique of their native Bay Area with their musical proficiency and creative sound. They are nothing but the finest new jazz group around. In the past few months, the Trio added a second saxo phonist to the mix. The newly supplemented Charlie Hunter Quartet’s tight, friendly sound can be heard on an LP due out in June. Artsweek reached Hunter at his Berkeley home. Flashes ofhumorsurfaced,forinstance;whenhesaid, “I employ him to wash dishes and clean up in exchange for letting him play,” about a band member. Otherwise he stuck to the point in the style one might expect from a virtuoso. A fter years of practice on a conventional guitar, / A Hunter said, “I needed something more. So, I Jl m . had my guitar custom-made. I had been develop ing my playing style for years. I went from six-string to seven-string to eight-string. Thafs where I’m stopping because I can do everything I need to do. I haven’t even remotely tapped all the possibilities of fee instrument.” Now, Hunter plays a guitar wife five guitar strings and three bass strings feat has a specially arranged “fan-fret” fretboard to accommodate his unique ability. Wife a strict touring schedule, The Charlie Hunter Quartet has managed to appeal to enough people to prove feat it’s not-just jazz fans who love them — rock fans and guitar enthusiasts have caught on as well. Even so, mainstreaming is something feat Hunter doesn’t see happening. He seems to think feat it’s jazz itself feat pre sents a barrier for his American audience. He says, “Jazz is something really new for most Americans. We live wife uxe a pop label — they’re real people.” Eazy-E or N.W but they were very important, revolu mass culture and people aren’t used to it. They’re not A., Hunter is an extremely prolific songwriter. Since tionary. My major reaction was just feat it was tragedy. It used to participation that’s required of them. The audi 1994, three Charlie Hunter albums have been released. just made it clear that if s in fee past when we would just ence needs to meet us halfway. What’s important to me is These include his debut, Charlie Hunter Trio on Prawn hear about a friend of a friend feat has AIDS. We all that fee people who are into it find it rewarding.” Song, Bing, Bing, Bing on Blue Note and Hunter’s other know o r will know someone with AIDS. If s such a However, there seems to be enough money to get by. band’s self-titled album, T.J. Kirk. T.J. Kirk, originally shame.” “We end up touring hard enough to make just a little named James T. Kirk, is a cover band feat plays fee music Ellis and Lane, virtuosos in their own right, are fee more than breaking even. We sell a few more albums feat of Thelonius Monk, James Brown and Rashaan Roland way,” Hunter says. perfect complements to fee fiery licks of Hunter. Ellis’ Kirk. swirling, driving riffs mingle with Hunter’s treble-heavy From playing in fee Berkeley High School jazz band Hunter says, “T.J. Kirk is pretty much just a side pro sound. Lane’s aggressive style is abnormal for jazz, but in fee mid-’80s, to playing in fee streets of European ci ject for everybody. We do it when we can do it. The guys ties for tips, to his current state of playing smallish clubs he still incorporates fee slick hand-and-foot maneuver all have other groups going on.” Another T.J. Kirk album ing of a Max Roach or Elvin Jones. across the U.S., Charlie Hunter has certainly put in his is in fee works as well. time. People started hearing about Hunter around 1991 Hunter and company are part of a fruitful scene in San The musicians covered by T.J. Kirk well represent Francisco. Josh Jones, Hueman Flavor, Slide Five and as word got around fee Bay Area about his style of play. Hunter’s influences. He also cites blues and gospel as fa Broun Fellinis, who played in fee UCen in January, are He took part in San Francisco’s Most Underrated Gui vorites. “I like Robert Johnson, Elmore James, Little all involved. Hunter sees fee Bay Area’s jazz scene as an tarist Show in ’91; alongside fee mysterious leader of fee Walter, The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi, The Staples Deli Creeps, Buckefeead. Soon after, he joined forces ongoing entity. “I think it has always been there. It was Singers and The Soulsters. Elvis Costello is great. Also, just a matter of fee young people coming out and seeing wife Primus’ original drummer, Jay Lane, and saxophon pretty much any soul music from the ’60s and ’70s.” it.” ist David Ellis to form The Charlie Hunter Trio. Eventu The cover of Nirvana’s "Come As You Are” on Bing, ally, Lane’s former band member, Les Claypool, set fee As good as he is, most people have no idea who Char Bing, Bing represents fee small amount of popular lie Hunter is. So come by fee UCen tonight and figure it trio up wife a record deal on his own Prawn Song Re music feat Hunter enjoys. “In a world of commercial out. cords. The album was well-liked and sold reasonably music feat didn’t mean much, Kurt Cobain could actu well, catching fee attention of seminal jazz label Blue ally write songs. If s a great song so we decided to do it.” “The Quartet will be on tour forever starting in Note, which snatched up Hunter and company. The Quartet has a fast-paced and, at times, intense About Blue Note, Hunter says, “'Iliey’re really great June,” Hunter says. The Charlie Hunter Quartet will sound, not unlike rap. However, rap is not on fee list of play in the UCen tonight at 8:30. Django will be open people. We’re very happy wife them. There’s a next-to- Hunter’s influences. He spoke about his reaction to fee zero sleaze factor from the president on down. It’s not ing A good time is very likely. Tickets are only $6! It death of gangsta rap pioneer Eazy-E. “I wasn’t a fan of would be a real embarrassment to miss this show. 2 A Thursday, May 9,1996 Daily Nexus parlywayharderthan deli guys.” his m aster's voice Smiling and shaking his Ah aym juss fukin' uih cha head, he invited us in to let us prove our point. Twenty minutes later, the four of us — Dave Grohl, Spliff, Chris and I — emerged from the same The.Jason Sattler Project door and headed toward a Variety of Student sandwich shop that had a © * • • $ © Street Fighter machine. Discounts Available Chris pointed out that both Dave Grohl and I • 20% off photo finishing were wearing white T- “Should I wear my Compton hat shirts. Chances are, any time you see • 20% off camera rentals tonight?” Dave Grohl and me together, we will be “No.” wearing white T-shirts. At last count he • Discount on all photo “If I wear my Compton hat, people will had around 60 and I had 20.1 started to supplies associate me with Eazy-E,” I explained. tell Chris a story: “One time last quarter, Just then, The Richard Bey Show used Dave Grohl, my other roommate, Shane, • Art Studio 120 the Twilight Zone theme as a sound ef and I drove to campus together. And we Upper Division Photography fect. That means either the Twilight Zone didn’t plan this, but we were all wearing theme isn’t copywritten or Richard Bey the same exact thing: a white T-shirt and doesn’t care about copyright laws. I guess khaki shorts. We ran into this girl Dave • We have all the supplies for UCSB after the whole ruining, or at least hor Grohl and I knew from high school, ribly tainting, of the lives of pathetic peo Laura Horn. She’s older than us and she Photography Classes ple (in a manner so efficient and extreme was, like, our hero for awhile. She looked compared to previous forms of media), at all three of us and laughed. 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