Charlie Hunter - Gentlemen, I Neglected to Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid

Certainly not new to the scene, but someone who could easily have flown under your radar until now is seven-string, jazz, blues, funk guitarist, Charlie Hunter. Seven strings? Yes, seven strings. What does a guitarist need extra strings for? Well, for someone like Steve Vai it was probably to have more notes available for his machine-gunning, but for someone like Hunter, what started as an idea to just incorporate more bass into his playing turned into booting the bassist out of the picture and taking on both parts himself. "Great, another gimmicky musician," you say, using loops and whatnot? Nope. Not this time. Hunter is no gimmick. It's all natural. And in fact, if no one told you he played both parts, you might not ever know...until seeing him live.

See, like any great jazz musician, Hunter knows humility. He knows how to let every instrument in the band shine including his own. So no bass line is too flashy nor guitar lick to showy. Actually, I'd say both compliment each other almost perfectly, which makes sense when you think about it. Who better to back you up than you, right? So, now that we've gotten that out of the way...

Hunter's second effort with his Spire Artist Media label, Gentlemen, I Neglected to Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid is another great look inside the mind of this diverse artist. Diverse not only in his previous works, which include projects covering the works of Thelonious Monk, James Brown and Bob Marley, but also diversity throughout the album itself. Combining New Orleans funk, traditional blues and sweet jazz, Gentlemen brings Hunter's full flavor to the table, also tossing in the experience of his support quartet in Eric Kalb on drums (Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, John Scofield), Curtis Fowlkes (Jazz Passengers, Lounge Lizards, Bill Frisell) and Alan Ferber (Don Byron, Kenny Wheeler) on trombones and Eric Biondo (Antibalas, TV On The Radio) on trumpet.

Opening with "You Look Good in Orange," Hunter subtly introduces each member of the group, with the drums and bass/guitar setting the foundation and medley, and then bringing in the horns as a group and allowing them to accent this mostly guitar-led tune. Seeming like a warm-up, "Orange" is followed with "Antoine," which not only picks up the pace, but starts to throw in some of the creole funk on drums and horns, really giving the feeling of some of that Preservation Hall/Dirty Dozen march that makes you wanna get up and boogie.

"High and Dry" is the album's first mellow number. The duo of Hunter and Kalb really feel in touch on this track and, while the slower tempo and lack of horns might not grab your attention as much as the previous two tracks, there's certainly a sweetness to "High and Dry" that shouldn't be overlooked, touching on influences of Scofield and Steve Kimock. "Tout Ce Qui Brille Ne Pas Or" (All that glitters is not gold) continues on the softer side, but reintroduces the horns, showing that Hunter can both lead and follow. "Tout Ce Qui Brille" also gives Hunter a chance to stretch his blues chops during the solo section.

Similar to Hunter's live shows, just as you are getting lulled into that slow-jazz coma, the alarm goes off, and this time it's "High Pockets and a Fanny Pack." Hunter gets things started but soon takes a backseat and lets his horns lead the way. It's the solo section that includes one of the nastiest horn lines of the album. The trombone duo drops an 0h-so-tasty, swanky, burlesque-style curtain down behind Biondo's trumpet work.

"Drop a Dime" and "Ode to My Honda Odyssey" bring the tempo back down, but not necessarily the energy. Powerful horn arrangements and both traditional and atypical medleys keep the ear interested throughout. However, "Everyday You Wake Up New York Says No," while a fine tune on its own, starts to really drop the energy of the album to a dangerous low.

Never fear though, Hunter will bring you back, and he does right away with the album's title track. A Chicago-style blues arrangement of just Hunter and Kalb, Gentlemen closes out the album with a bang and really gives you an idea of what this Charlie Hunter can do (if you weren't impressed already). Holding down the fort with a solid twelve-bar bass line while giving you a taste of BB King with the top (actually bottom) strings, the shortest track on the album is also the most fun, leaving you (as all great musicians do) with a taste for more.

Overall, Gentleman is a solid effort from Hunter. Recorded live onto analog tape, you do get the feel that you're sitting in the club with the quintet, watching them feed off each other and bring a collective effort to the audience. I love the idea of two trombones and a trumpet for the horns too. Nothing against the sax, but the trombone is all-to-often overlooked. I love how it can give the sweet tones of a French horn or the blasting grit of a trumpet, and both are apparent throughout the album. While the slower tunes aren't as impressive upon first listen, when you go back and dig deeper they can really draw out some emotion that you might not have felt otherwise. I recommend this for the jazz enthusiast as well as the modernist who seeks variety.

Rating
Overall: 3/5
Originality: 4/5
Production: 3/5
Listenability: 3/5

Available on Itunes and reapandsow.com. For free, live recordings, visit Charlie Hunter's page on Archive.org.
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Late to the Party: Herbie Hancock - Mwandishi

Herbie Hancock is one of those artists that falls into this writer's "I don't listen to enough of ____" lists. The versatility and raw, unabashed talent displayed in almost every piece of work Hancock composes or contributes to is one not seen in many other artists in my lifetime. From the sweet jazz of Maiden Voyage to the electo-funk of Headhunters, Hancock gives his all to whatever he is does, and that "all" is righteous.

I recently discovered Hancock's Mwandishi while doing some research on his past efforts, and man, where the hell has this been all my life?! A collection of tunes recorded in the early 70s while Hancock was with the Warner Bros. label, this album seems to encompass all that Hancock is about. Collecting tunes from three previous Warner recordings - Fat Mama, Crossings and Mwandishi - the album is a great look into the past and future of Hancock. It pays tribute to the work he had done with Miles Davis in the 60s and the work he would eventually do with The Headhunters in the mid-70s.

While purists will complain (and justifiably so) that this is not a complete Mwandishi album for the fact that it does not include the second half of the sextet's discography (recorded on Columbia), this album does not fall into the "greatest hits" category that I tend to loathe for its inability to convey the true emotion of the story an album can tell when enjoyed start to finish. However, my one complaint about this album is that because it is a collection of three different albums, it's "listenability" (a term I use for how easily an album can be enjoyed start to finish) is not great. That mixture of Miles and Headhunters mentioned earlier goes back and forth almost with each tune. So, just as your getting set on the sweet Miles horns, a Headhunters bop-funk comes on, and vice versa. Other than that, this is an exciting and motivating album. Exciting in that it's a look into Hancock's lesser known works and motivating in that it makes you want to find more just like it.

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