Music / Jazz
Review: Charlie Hunter
Thekla, Tuesday 22 November
“Sorry we’re late”, Charlie Hunter greeted the crowd. “We got lost … in this boat.” He was clearly impressed, however, with the novelty value of the Thekla as a gig space and, anyway, the delay let a slightly less small crowd assemble. Neither poor attendance nor an idiosyncratic venue dampened his ebullient nature and he launched, grinning, into the first number, a straight blues workout that showcased his remarkable playing style. By dint of an extra string on his customised guitar and, no doubt, some pretty intense practise over the years Charlie Hunter delivers rhythm and bass guitar parts at the same time, plus solo flourishes when appropriate.
It’s a neat trick, if a bit restricting at times, and it worked especially well for the blues numbers (of which there were many). A couple of funk workouts were pretty successful, too, not least because they gave trumpeter Yelfris Valdez the chance to let rip with increasing confidence. Paired with Kieran McLeod’s trombone the brass parts added texture to Hunter’s music and variety to the show, not least in a country blues guitar tune that grew nicely into a full-on Dixieland hootenanny.
The crucial musical relationship in the foursome was between Hunter and drummer Bobby Previte, though. Previte is a big name in US jazz in his own right but if he was busking here it didn’t show, especially in the second half when he subtly played with what could have been straight 4-beat grooves, shifting the focus and sound without losing precision. When given a solo space – as in the Otis Rush dedicated Already Paid and On My Way Home – his combination of big thump and rhythmic complexity came over nicely.
But of course this was all about Charlie Hunter, the man in the spotlight, and if there was an element of similarity to many of the tunes (an elegantly Metheny-esque solo rendering of Jealous Guy notwithstanding) the man’s good humour and energy made it all very entertaining.
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