Charlie Hunter Trio jazzes it up

By Jon Juliano
Collegian Staff
February 14, 2007

Let me start this article by saying this is a very hard concert to review. This is a concert where there is no singing, no exact set list and where drummers predominately use metal brushes instead of wooden sticks to play their drum set. This, readers, is a jazz concert.

The show in question was that of the Charlie Hunter Trio at the World Café. Charlie Hunter has made 17 albums with a revolving door of different jazz musicians. Other than John Scofield, he is one of the greatest jazz guitarists today and is known for playing an eight string guitar instead of the traditional six.

His eight strings let him play bass and guitar virtually at the same time. On Sunday, Feb. 11, I got to see how he actually did it. He played the musical breakdowns with the bottom three bass strings, and then played solos with the guitar part.

Hunter was the most praised for his solos on Sunday, but the musicianship among the trio was so evident through the music they played and how they acted on stage. They wore smiles like uniforms and looked at each other in awe when one of the other members was soloing.

At one point in the show, the drummer, Simon Lott, started soloing with his brushes and then switched to sticks to play a mesmerizing bit of percussion that was as big as his white afro. When he stopped, even the famous guitarist Hunter had to shake his hand.

This to me seems to be what jazz is: organized improvisation between three talented musicians all while sticking to a set list. The three on stage nodded to every note. It was apparent that they were doing something they loved, and that speaks volumes.

Sadly, however, the audience was not listening to these volumes, and the vibes the band was feeling didn’t seem to spread to the crowd. The World Café seemed to be a place where sport jackets were worn, drinks were brought around by waitresses and the music is just an addition to the scenery.

I imagine Hunter is used to playing for an audience of young college kids dressed in tie-dye at summer festivals, not middle-aged people wearing sport jackets.

The place seemed uptight compared to other concert venues. There was no room to enjoy yourself, let alone dance, and the audience, although they liked the band, did not seem to truly appreciate the music. At times, they even conversed while the band was playing. I think they expected the trio to be background atmosphere and got more from the music than they could handle.

I enjoyed what I saw, and luckily, the Charlie Hunter Trio is playing at The World Café every Sunday until the end of the month.

julianoj3@lasalle.edu