CHARLIE HUNTER TRIO
Mistico

Fantasy

So here’s the deal—Charlie Hunter can play great jazz guitar, and electric jazz guitar at that. But he likes to get out there and play rock-influenced stuff as well, not to mention groove-oriented material, jam-band rock, instrumental surf-style rock, free improvisation, you name it. His last trio albums were 2004’s Friends Seen and Unseen and 2006’s Copperopolis, and they featured his old guitar-sax-drum trio with John Ellis on sax and some keyboards and Derek Phillips on drums. 2005 found him with the working group Garage a Trois (Hunter, Mike Dillon, Stanton Moore, and Skerik) on the soundtrack Outre Mer. In 2006 he played with Bobby Previte on Coalition of the Willing, an album of tight instrumental rock grooves that spanned surf rock, roadhouse boogie, and art rock. He and Previte also formed Groundtruther, an improvisational avant-garde duo that would record each album with an additional guest artist.

Hunter has seemed to edge closer to a rock sensibility with each recent release, and with Mistico, his first release with the Concord Music Group’s Fantasy label, he seems to have pushed himself farther than ever into rock territory. The results are sometimes groove-based, sometimes sound like the jammy adventures of Medeski Martin and Wood, and sometimes recall the grandeur (depending on your point of view) of progressive rock. Despite the reassuring moniker the Charlie Hunter Trio has changed completely personnel wise, save for its leader. Ellis has departed, replaced by full-time keyboardist Erik Deutsch. Phillips has also been replaced in the drum seat by Simon Lott. With no horns left, Hunter is even more out front than previously. Deutsch plays piano, Fender Rhodes, and CasioTone on Mistico, but he is rarely more than a sideman, never pushing or conversing with Hunter the way Ellis did. He does, however, bring some new textures to the group.

Hunter has changed a bit, too, playing 7-string guitar instead of his old favorite 8-string. His tone and attack seem different too; less bright and sharp, though he plays with more overt blues inflection than he previously did. At times the new trio really rocks out, as on the funky “Special Shirt” where Deutsch’s bluesy piano solo breaks down into Hunter’s solo, accompanied by Lott’s hard-driving drums and Deutsch on overdriven Rhodes. The whole vibe here is very loose, and that really helps the album overall. When things start to bog down a bit, you realize that the group is playing in the moment and it’s all very ‘real.’

Hunter continues to search for the perfect hybrid, the essence of the many genres that Hunter has played and studied. Mistico seems much closer to that goal than his last few releases, but it’s unlikely to prove to be any kind of resting place. For a restless artist like Hunter, it’s more likely to be about the journey than the arrival. Mistico is an arresting journey for anyone who likes challenging rock, ‘outside’ funk, progressive rock, or just plain adventurous music.