You’d think after Cheap Trick devised the guitars that form its menagerie of eclectic instruments there wouldn’t be much ground left to cover in terms of devising strange axes. Jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter, however, has ventured where few pickers have gone before. Thanks to his custom-made Novax seven-string, a hybrid of three bass strings and four standard guitar strings, Hunter can craft an acutely signature sound in line with the feeling of an organ.
Raised since age 4 in the San Francisco music scene, Hunter, 41, has spent his career studying jazz and improvisation, notably under the tutelage of formidable ax man Joe Satriani during Hunter’s high school years. The guitarist has since collaborated with musicians as diverse as Soulive, Mos Def and Norah Jones, released a 1997 work that covered Bob Marley’s Natty Dread on the Blue Note label and collaborated with drummer Bobby Previte on the ongoing, highly improvisational Groundtruther project; Altitude (Thirsty Ear), the series’ latest installment, features John Medeski of Medeski, Martin and Wood in the mix.
Baboon Strength (Spire Artist Media), Hunter’s 17th studio album, follows along the similar lines of his 2007 solo effort Mistico (Fantasy), in that it hones in on a boutique, harmony-centric set of tunes, marking a starkly different direction for a musician who started his career by emulating the Hammond B3 organ. Further, the album places Hunter deeper into the true-blue jazz coterie, despite the fact that early in his career he had been lumped into the set of bands loosely connected to the jam band circuit.
Hunter, currently touring in support of Baboon Strength, will perform with his trio at the Westcott Theater, 524 Westcott St., on Thursday, March 26, 9 p.m. (Tickets are $13; for information, call 299-8886.) During a March 19 phone chat with The New Times, Hunter reflected on his current and past musical glories.
Q: Baboon Strength seems to be a brighter album as opposed to Mistico. Was that an intentional decision?
A: I guess. It’s definitely more song-writery, and I think Mistico tends more to that jazzy kind of style. This one probably doesn’t as much.
Q: Did you use the same band as your backing trio on this album?
A: It’s similar. It’s the same organ player {Eric Deutsch}, but I have a different drummer: Tony Mason is on Baboon Strength. He just is a great pocket drummer, like one of the best, and that’s kind of really what {my} music is about, you know? So that was a big part of why.
Q: On these two albums it seems like you found a particular style or voice. Do you feel that’s true?
A: Yeah, you’re always trying to go for something, and you kind of slowly create your own aesthetic. Those two records were definitely steps in the right direction.
Q: How did you come to name Baboon Strength?
A: Well, my son and a friend of his were in a wrestling match and the grandfather of one of the kids said, “Those kids have baboon strength!” So, that’s where it comes from.
Q: You’re often cited for originally attempting to imitate the sound of a Hammond B3 organ on your early recordings. Why was that effort appealing to you?
A: Yeah, I mean, I don’t do that anymore; that sound, I can’t stand it. I did it enough and I don’t ever want to hear it again {laughing}. It’s just that that’s what I had to emulate in terms of doing both parts, you know? The bass and the treble parts. So that’s kind of where it came out of it, but obviously I’ve kind of evolved into my own thing now. What’s important is getting {the music} to move, you know?
Q: Although you’ve come to be associated with your custom guitar, do you ever switch back to six-string?
A: I did a few times for friends on their records, or just playing bass, but not really. I just don’t really have a voice for that, and I enjoy what I do with my own thing. I don’t really feel compelled {to use a six-string}, you know? I like to play drums, but only for my own edification, really. I can get those sounds out of the instruments, solo. You can get enough of the bass drum from the bass lines you’re playing, and you can get enough of the high hat or the snare drum kinds of sounds with your hands.
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Q: In previous interviews you’ve often said that you attempt to write music based on rhythm more than on solos. What’s your reasoning behind that decision?
A: I think that I enjoy the idea of thinking vertically—improvising vertically—instead of in a linear way, which is great, but that’s jazz. Most of it is that linear improvisation thing. Early jazz is more vertical, kind of, and I like the idea of a rhythm’n’blues feel, but with the improviser’s mentality. None of it’s right or wrong: It’s just aesthetic, you know?
Q: For some period of time the jam band scene adopted you. What did you feel about the hippie crowd?
A: Basically, there are so few avenues for people like me to make a living. It’s just incredible how little opportunity there is. So when you have an audience like that, where maybe 10 percent to 20 percent of them get what you’re doing and are into it, I’ll play!
But that music is not my thing. I don’t really consider it music for music’s sake. It’s more music for the party’s sake. It’s not party music like something great like Chuck Brown or Trouble Funk or Plena Libre or some great bands that are just these consummate, incredible band’s bands. It’s more music that you can tune out while you hang out with your friends and do your various substances.
Q: What contemporary jazz musicians are you most interested in?
A: I have a friend named Doug Wamble, who’s a fabulous guitar player and singer. Bobby Previte is one who’s always doing something really interesting. There’s this guy named Dan Allison, a bass player. I like his writing. I think it’s really cool music.
But mostly, to be totally honest, I don’t really listen to modern jazz music. I’m pretty much a fuddy-duddy. I just listen to my records—and I actually mean records! Most of it is 1960s rhythm’n’blues and old blues.
My friend, Ron Miles, a great trumpet player and someone else who I really like his music, says, “Those guys took care of it.” And they did take care of it, and that’s why I listen to what they did.
Q: Most of your upcoming dates are in New England. Do you prefer to play in that area over others?
A: Oh, no! Not at all. I go everywhere, for sure. I live in Jersey so it’s easier {to play up there}, but I think I’m out on the West Coast and the Midwest just as often.
Q: Do you have any plans for an upcoming album?
A: I’m still trying to figure out what my next recording thing is going to be. You just write music and see where it takes you kind of, you know? The more you write, then things happen and you’re like, “Wow! OK, so I wasn’t planning on this, but this is kind of cool so I’ll just follow it and see where it goes.”
