It only takes a few seconds of watching Charlie Hunter, a 35-year veteran onstage, play guitar to realize you’re in the presence of a master musician. What you’ll notice between songs is that Hunter is also a fine storyteller with a wicked sense of humor. The Charlie Hunter Trio will be joined by the magnificent vocalist Lo Steele (celebrating her new release, Only a Drop) at The Kuumbwa Jazz on March 16th.
Legend has it that Hunter grew up in a retro-fitted school bus on a commune in Northern California. The young lad lived and breathed the kind of hippie “back-to-the-earth” movement that this current crop of crystal-carrying, VW-driving, patchouli-smelling, tie-dyed folk can only dream of.
In record store bins across the country, Hunter is most often pigeon-holed as a jazz musician. But the unsung truth is that Hunter was a pivotal pioneer in launching the now ubiquitous universe and spherical mega-industry of jambands.
Back in 1994, Hunter had a residency at The Elbow Room in San Francisco. Playing with drummer Jay Lane (who would end up in Dead & Co) and Dave Ellis (Bob Weir’s cohort in Ratdog) on sax, this trio was one of the ur-jambands. This trio is the Rosetta Stone for, let’s say, Goose or insert your favorite new jamband that blends genres, thinking they’re a modern-day Leif Erikson.
What is now thought of as “progressive” is because that early Hunter trio was swinging a machete through the brush that existed between jazz, rock, improvisation, funk, blues and soul.
Five years later, in 1999, Hunter joined Medeski Martin & Wood (MMW) at the Bowery Ballroom, NYC. Whatever Hunter hadn’t already forged a path towards, MMW showed everyone there were no limitations on what could be explored musically and sonically. One only needs incredible talent and a curious mind.
While Hunter did open for The String Cheese Incident in 2002 and loves collaborating with everyone, the fifty-eight-year-old has zero intention of ending up in the jamband record store bin. His school bus roots glowed bright when the subject of jamband was brought up. “Oh. How not to be political? Well. Do you mean the cultural arm of the soft white supremacy movement? Or whatever this commodified, wealth-oriented kind of thing is. “It’s just not my culture,” says Hunter from his home somewhere in America.
One thing that comes across on the 60+ plus albums that Hunter has put out solo, or collaborated on, is authenticity. A jazz take on Bob Marley, with The Charlie Hunter Quartet’s Natty Dread album, released in 1997, would sound janky in lesser hands. Hunter puts that to rest with complete devotion to the essence of the music, Bob’s Rastafarian spirit, and through that, bringing in new generations of jazz listeners. Hunter seems to break ground in every endeavor.
Hunter’s most recent collaboration, Only a Drop, with Portland’s Lo Steele, is a beautiful gem of an album. Lo Steele was born into the music royalty of the great Northwest. Her mother, LaRhonda Steele is known as Portland’s First Lady of the Blues. “And my dad’s an incredible piano player and songwriter,” says the coolly exuberant Steele from the road.
“We grew up playing in family bands and singing backgrounds, then eventually graduating to singing leads. We were doing all of the local festivals. I’ve been singing from the age of 8,” Steele proudly explains.
Growing up under the tutelage of her critically acclaimed, and cherished by a large community, mother, the new release, Only a Drop, is a family affair. “She’s excited. She’s on the album. It’s interesting ’cause usually, we’re doing the Waterfront Blues Festival and I’ve been joining her onstage. It’s been the LaRhonda Steele Band. So, we had a conversation about if this year it was the Lo Steele Band? Like, how do you feel about that? We have to sort of negotiate occupying different spaces, and having our own moment. She said, ‘Thank you for asking me. That means a lot. I’m excited for you.’ And this year I’m also releasing an album. If something goods happening to me, something goods happening to her,” Steele laughs.
Only a Drop was a dream collaboration, with an incredibly fluid musician whom Steele completely appreciates. “Charlie has such, despite his incredible skill, such an appreciation for space and storytelling. He really listened to my lyrics and my melodies. I never felt like we were in competition. I felt like he like clicked into the story and he honored the story and made it musically interesting – while not distracting from the message and the lyrics. It also brought out a more groove based, like funkier, bluesier side of what I do. So the album kind of lives in that space, which is really exciting for me,” Steele concludes.
Charlie Hunter has stayed true to the ethos of inclusiveness and has collaborated with musical auteurs like Norah Jones, Mos Def, and D’Angelo. And also, surprisingly, Dead & Co lead guitarist, John Mayer.
“I think guitar playing, especially the electric stuff, is kind of a side hustle for him in a way,’ Hunter begins, talking about working with Mayer. “I think that the thing, that I think he does best, is write songs and play them solo on acoustic guitar. That is, to me, that’s his wheelhouse. And he does a really good job of that and actually plays some really great guitar when he’s playing acoustic alone, and just doing his thing. But I’m biased towards that kind of thing. So that’s just me,” the iconoclastic Hunter concludes.
The Charlie Hunter Trio will play on Monday March 16th at 7:00pm and 9:00pm, at the Kuumbwa Jazz Center, 320-2 Cedar St, Santa Cruz. Tickets are $40 and $21 for students. More info at kuumbwajazz.org
