CHARLIE HUNTER ARTICLE IN EYE MAGAZINE

[Marky]

Charlie changes his tune

CHARLIE HUNTER

With Bobby Previte, DJ Logic. Sat, Oct 30. Opera House, 735 Queen E. $25 from Ticketmaster. Go to www.tojazzseries.com for more information.

BY ERROL NAZARETH

"I've really changed my modus operandi," says guitarist Charlie Hunter from his New York pad. This is not what I want to hear him say.

If you're familiar with Hunter, who's known for playing bass notes and guitar leads simultaneously on his custom-made eight-string axe, you can't be faulted for assuming that he's embraced orthodoxy and switched to a regular guitar.

Given how few truly creative souls reside in the guitar world or in contemporary jazz (the category that Hunter's often lumped into), this is not welcome news.

"I was trying to play [a standard] eight-string guitar, which is more difficult, technically, than a [six-string] guitar," he says. "I was trying to play with a set-up that would be hard for a six-string guitar, so it was kinda ridiculous. Also, I was so into trying to sound like Wes Montgomery and Grant Green -- I wanted to have that giant, thick jazz kinda sound.

"And then I realized that not only was it hurting me to play but it

wasn't really me," Hunter says. "I was kinda denying all of the other stuff I like about guitar like Jimi Hendrix and Robert Johnson and country-picking and African guitar-playing."

At this point, I need confirmation that Hunter hasn't abandoned his unique instrument and gone mainstream on us, so I just blurt out, "You're still playing your eight-string, right?"

"Oh, yeah!" he responds, much to my relief. "I'm refining my voice right now and even though it's not the easiest instrument in the world to play, it's a lot easier on my hands. I'm just using much lighter-gauge guitar strings and my set-up is easier to play. I'm just trying not to be macho and to just let the music happen."

Considering his talents, Hunter could've easily chosen to blind audiences with histrionics since he began playing his eight-string nine years back, but he's remained the same humble, all-about-the-music cat I bumped into when he was with the Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy in the early '90s.

Proof of that is in the eclectic records he's released this year: the groove-heavy Friends Seen and Unseen, recorded in a mere two days with a kickass trio, and the more adventurous Latitude, with drummer Bobby Previte and saxophonist Greg Osby. Then there's the as-yet-unreleased collaboration with Jamaican guitar legends Ernest Ranglin and Earl "Chinna" Smith.

At his Oct. 30 Toronto date, by the way, Hunter will be joined by Previte and DJ Logic.

"Bobby and I have this co-op group where we have a rotating third member which could be Greg Osby or DJ Logic," Hunter says. "It's completely improvised but it's not outside. The idea is to improvise but to create songs and moods. It's some of the most challenging stuff I've done because you don't have anything to rely on but your imagination."

Hunter's perceptivity has never been in question -- not since leaving the Disposable Heroes or his former label, Blue Note Records, where he released seven acclaimed discs.

Asked about his departure from the label, Hunter says he found corporate culture stifling.

"I asked myself how I could truly be served by a major corporation at the end of the day, even though the people at Blue Note would like to think of themselves as a small label," he says. "But no matter how good their intentions are, they have to report to some big guy and he has to report to another big guy. And so, all the decisions are made based on this type of plantation hierarchy and all the stress gets shouldered by the people at the bottom of the ladder -- who are the musicians.

"I can sell between 10,000 and 20,000 records and I'm happy with that," he says. "I don't need to involve myself with all the negative aspects of being part of a cultural strip-mining, depleting corporation."

Hunter isn't just wary of working for corporations -- he feels they're helping shape his country's political agenda and he sounds genuinely frightened by the direction in which the US is headed.

"I'm worried, man," Hunter says. "I feel like there's this really radical right-wing movement afoot in my country that's taking us far away from the basic tenets of our constitution and the basic values of our society and it's emboldening this fringe element. If these powerful corporations somehow manage to pull it off again in this election, the US and the world is in for some serious strife."

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