Artist: Charlie Hunter
Charlie Hunter is an American guitarist, composer, 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." Hunter's technique is rooted in the styles of jazz guitarists Joe Pass and Tuck Andress, who blended bass notes with melody in a way that created the illusion of two guitars.
On his debut album, Charlie Hunter Trio (1993), he played seven-string guitar with Dave Ellis on saxophone and Jay Lane on drums. On the next album, Bing, Bing, Bing! (Blue Note, 1995), he played an eight-string guitar custom built by Ralph Novak. In the 1990s, Hunter played in the band T. J. Kirk, which got its name from three musicians whose music it covered: Thelonious Monk, James Brown, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. The band released two albums before breaking up.
Hunter co-founded Garage a Trois, a jazz fusion band with Stanton Moore and Skerik, and Groundtruther with Bobby Previte.
Hunter currently plays 6 and 7 string guitars made by Hybrid Guitars Co. Hybrid Guitars begin in 2015 when he teamed up with luthiers Clay Conner and Wes Lambe to produce fanned-fret instruments to his specifications. 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.
Further information about Charlie Hunter is found at CharlieHunter.com.
Photography credit: William P. Gottlieb, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons
This content was excerpted from the Wikipedia article, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Hunter, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/).
Charlie Hunter PDX Jazz Fest 2012 2-25-2012 FULL SET
Charlie Hunter: Videos
Charlie Hunter & Carter McLean: 2018-04-08 - Nod Hill Brewery; Ridgefield, CT (Complete Show) [4K]
Charlie Hunter - Charlie Hunter: Recess (Live 2002)