Charlie Hunter
Hunter at SPACE, Portland, Maine, February 25, 2006
Background information
Born	(1967-05-23) May 23, 1967 Rhode Island, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, jazz fusion, acid jazz, jazz rock, funk, blues
Occupation(s)	Musician, Producer
Instrument(s)	Guitar
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Blue Note, Ropeadope, Concord Records, SideHustle Records
Member of	Garage A Trois, Groundtruther, SuperBlue
Formerly of	T. J. Kirk
Website	www.charliehunter.com

Charlie Hunter (born May 23, 1967) is an American guitarist, composer, producer and bandleader. First coming to prominence in the early 1990s, Hunter plays custom-made seven- and eight-string guitars on which he simultaneously plays bass lines, chords, and melodies. Critic Sean Westergaard described Hunter's technique as "mind-boggling...he's an agile improviser with an ear for great tone, and always has excellent players alongside him in order to make great music, not to show off."^[1] Hunter's technique is rooted in the styles of jazz guitarists Joe Pass and Tuck Andress, two of his biggest influences, who blended bass notes with melody in a way that created the illusion of two guitars.^[2]

Biography

Charlie Hunter performs at the Bennett Alliance Music Fest in Rochester, New York (July 21, 2007)

Charlie Hunter's affinity for guitars was cultivated from a young age, largely due to his mother's profession as a guitar repairer. ^[3] He and his mother and sister lived for several years on a commune in Mendocino County, California, then settled in Berkeley. Hunter attended Berkeley High School and took lessons from rock guitarist Joe Satriani. At eighteen he moved to Paris.^[3] He has stated that busking in Paris gave him on the job training.^[4] Returning to San Francisco, he played seven-string guitar in Michael Franti's political rap group, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. In 1992, they were one of the opening acts for U2's Zoo TV Tour.

For his self-titled 1993 debut album, Charlie Hunter Trio (PrawnSong 1993), Hunter played a seven-string guitar for the duality effect, locking down the bottom with drummer Jay Lane and mixing melodically with saxophonist Dave Ellis (saxophonist). But on his trio’s 1995 sophomore release, Bing, Bing, Bing! (Blue Note, 1995), he unveiled his custom-made Novax eight-string guitar. Designed by Ralph Novak, the instrument featured fanned frets and separate pickups for its guitar and bass portions. Picking bass notes with his right thumb while fretting them with his left index finger (while at the same time fingerpicking guitar chords and single notes with his right hand’s remaining four digits as he frets with his left hand’s other three fingers), Hunter achieves the real sound of two-for-one.

Hunter played with the side group T.J. Kirk in the mid-’90s, a band that derived their name from the cover material they exclusively played: Thelonious Monk, James Brown, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. T.J. Kirk released a self-titled 1995 debut and their 1996 follow-up, If Four Was One received a GRAMMY nomination. Hunter’s next project was an instrumental remake of Bob Marley’s Natty Dread album in its entirety. Also featuring saxophonists Kenny Brooks and Calder Spanier, the 1997 release beat the odds by becoming arguably Hunter’s best album. Teaming with vibraphonist Stefon Harris and percussionist John Santos, Charlie Hunter & Pound for Pound released Return of the Candyman (Blue Note 1998). A departure from Natty Dread, mainly due to the work of Harris, the disc featured a vibes-heavy cover of Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle.”

He performed on three songs on D'Angelo's album Voodoo (2000), including "The Root".^[5] He has stated that the session for the song was the most challenging session he has worked on.^[5]

In between tours he recorded a 1999 duo album with drummer/percussionist Leon Parker and a self-titled 2000 album that featured Parker and an otherwise ensemble cast. Hunter also contributed greatly to the 2000 comeback album by drummer Mike Clark (drummer), Actual Proof. Hunter concluded his run at Blue Note with 2001’s Songs from the Analog Playground, which saw him collaborating with vocalists for the first time, ranging from labelmates Norah Jones and Kurt Elling to Mos Def. 2003 found Hunter with a new label (Ropeadope) and two new bands (the Charlie Hunter Quintet) on Right Now Move, and the beginning of Groundtruther, a partnership with percussionist/composer Bobby Previte. They released Come in Red Dog, This Is Tango Leader before adopting the Groundtruther moniker. In 2003 he released Friends Seen and Unseen, with drummer Derrek Phillips and saxman John Ellis (saxophonist), both members of the Quintet. By now, Groundtruther had taken on a life of its own, with Hunter and Previte joined by a rotating third member. Latitude was first, in 2004 with saxophonist Greg Osby, followed by Longitude with DJ Logic in 2005.

In 2006, the Charlie Hunter Trio resurfaced with Copperopolis. After recruiting Erik Deutsch on keys and Simon Lott on drums, the trio released Mistico in the summer of 2007.

Equipment

Hunter currently plays 6 and 7 string guitars made by Hybrid Guitars Co. Hybrid Guitars was founded in 2015 when he teamed up with luthiers Clay Conner and Wes Lambe to produce fanned-fret instruments to his specifications. www.hybrid-guitars.com Previously, Hunter played custom-made seven-string guitar/s made by Jeff Traugott, eight-string guitar/s made by luthier Ralph Novak of Novax Guitars. He played chords and lead guitar solos on the bottom five strings (tuned ADGBE), and simultaneously played bass lines on the top three strings (tuned EAD). With the addition of a Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere (a Leslie rotary speaker simulator), his unique style produced a sound similar to that of a Hammond organ—an instrument he set out to imitate.^[6]

In 2006, Hunter removed the top guitar string and had the neck of his guitar reworked and now plays a modified 7-string on the formerly-8 string body. Hunter has mentioned that because of his small hands, he had to move out of position to make use of the 8th string and thus wasn't using it much. A change in Hunter's style away from the organ sound into a more blues and distortion based sound happened at the same time. After removing the 8th string, Hunter retuned all of the strings up a half step: F-Bb-Eb on the bass and Bb-Eb-Ab-C on the guitar. As of 2008, he had once again retuned up another whole step: G-C-F on the bass and C-F-Bb-D on the guitar.^[7]

Discography

Videography

• Right Now Live, (Ropeadope DVD, 2004)
• Solo Inventions, (Shanachie DVD, 2005)
• In Repair: One Song, One Day, playing 8-string with John Mayer (Aware 2006) (iTunes download)
• Solos: the Jazz Sessions, (Original Spin Media DVD, 2011)

Filmography

• Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1997)
• SOLOS: the jazz sessions (2004)
• Rochester, New York Jazz Festival (2009)
• JazzTown (2021)
• Who Killed Jazz (2022)

References

External links

• CharlieHunter.com
• Charlie Hunter collection on the Internet Archive's live music archive
• Charlie Hunter at IMDb