Republic of Jazz: Charlie Hunter - Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth (2016)

Sunday, July 24, 2016

Charlie Hunter - Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth (2016)

By MIKE AYERS / WSJ

For Charlie Hunter’s new album, “Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth,” the New York City-based guitarist had a very specific vision. “My idea for this record was a real improvising blues record and not a modern jazz record,” he says. “All the cues I take from this record are in my way of thinking from the blues more than anything else.”

Hunter wrote the material for the album over the course of three months last winter. He did something rare, too, in his 20-plus-year career, recording with a quartet. Joining Hunter on “Punched” are his longtime collaborator drummer Bobby Previte, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and cornetist Kirk Knuffke.

For Hunter, who plays a seven-string guitar that simultaneously acts like a bass and standard guitar, a quartet provides a big challenge. “Because of the way my instrument works, I usually play in small groups. For me, a trio is a big group. And a quartet is unfathomably massive,” he says.

Since his 1993 debut, “Charlie Hunter Trio,” Hunter has been quite prolific, releasing close to twenty albums as a leader and more with other musicians. He’s also been an in-demand session player over the years, working with the likes of D’Angelo and Frank Ocean.

With “Punched,” which takes its title from a Mike Tyson quote, the music came easy. “Most musicians will tell you that music is not what we worry about,” he says. “It’s everything else that’s the problem.”

“Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth” is out July 22 on GroundUP Music.