Charlie Hunter Trio: Mistico
By Team JamBase Nov 20, 2007 • 12:00 am PST

Heavy and solid, Charlie Hunter and his 7-string guitar have created yet another groovy album with Mistico (Fantasy). Backed by touring musicians Erik Deutsch (Fat Mama) on piano, Fender Rhodes and Casiotone (which creates a retro-future sound on selections like “Speakers Built In”) and Simon Lott on drums, Hunter expresses his funky finger patterns with incredible ease. “Lady!” begins the disc with a fresh, steady groove that alternates between piano and forte dynamics. He’s the master of transitions, changing time signatures and building up a moment with genuine skill. Just when one thinks he’s run out of ideas, a fresh clatter of chains in a zombie-walk pattern ambles in (“Estranged”) or scattered free jazz becomes heavy fusion (“Spoken Word”). He just keeps flowing. From a darkened cave emerges the title track with abstract chimes that become nestled in a 7-minute-long magnum opus of mysterioso and straightforward drums. Listening to this disc, one might as well be at a Trio show. The rough edges hit with the professional polish of each performer and not just studio magic.
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