Friends Seen & Unseen

Charlie Hunter | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 13, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Artemis Records
• ASIN: B0002ABT4Y
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,408 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. One for the Keepers

2. Freedom Tickler

3. Lulu's Crawl

4. Darkly

5. Sowero's Where It's At

6. Shuffle

7. Slow Blues

8. Bonus Round

9. My Son The Hurricane

10. Moore's Alphabet

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars There was a time . . ., July 16, 2004

By 

Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Friends Seen & Unseen (Audio CD)

. . . when Charlie Hunter could get by with this kind of thing sheerly on its novelty value.

That time is past.

Thank goodness.

Since he first began plying his trade as one of the very few practitioners of eight-string, bass 'n' rhythm/comping/lead guitar playing in the history of jazz, he has staked out territory almost exclusively his own. Everyone from casual listeners to professional guitarists scratches his head in amazement at both the brain ordering and manual dexterity necessary to play both bass and guitar lines simultaneously.

But the time eventually comes when the novelty wears off. What then? Unless an iconoclastic artist like Hunter can develop an authentic voice worth hearing, there's not a whole lot left.

With his last two discs, Right Now Move and esp. this one, Friends Seen and Unseen, Hunter has honed his approach to a point where he transcends the limitations of his instrument.

A question regarding Hunter has always either been directly in play or at least hanging on the fringes of any encounter with the man or his music, namely, Why don't you just hire a bass player and concentrate on developing your guitar technique? Friends Seen and Unseen, I believe, definitely answers that question.

Stripped down to a trio format, with longtime mates John Ellis (tenor sax, bass clarinet, and flute) and Derrek Phillips (drums) on board, this group on Friends . . . stakes out and defines a kind of bloozy/funky territory all its own. Hunter has been slowly working his way up to producing a disc of this magnitude, and, after nearly a decade, has finally nailed it. All the effort honing his approach, integrating his brain and fingers, has finally delivered the kind or relaxed, entirely pleasurable, impossible-to-gainsay disc that fans of his have, lo these many years, yearned for.

What vaults this disc ahead of Right Now Move is the results he achieves with the minimal sound palette. In a way, it's a lot easier to make a memorable statement with a larger ensemble of players, e.g., recent efforts by Mike Brecker, Wayne Shorter, Josh Roseman, and others. That I believe he did with his last disc. Having the confidence gained from its nearly universal success both commercially and popularly, Hunter took a chance and returned to the paired-down format of bass/guitar, sax, and drums. Perhaps it's just that after doing this kind of thing for the last decade has finally enabled him to reach critical mass; perhaps the stars were somehow serendipitously aligned; perhaps these players have achieve a kind of group simpatico that only occasionally visits those who've been faithful to their muse. I don't know. What I do know is that this is one smokin' disc.

I confess that I prefer Hunter in a more adventurous setting, as with, e.g., Garage a Trois, but this disc, if carefully attended to, graces the thoughtful listener with its own unique pleasures. Not to be missed.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I think less is more, July 22, 2004

By 

John Terry "musiclikerguy" (Kansas City, Mo) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Friends Seen & Unseen (Audio CD)

I think the stripped down feel of this album suits Charlie well. He's still playing bass with that 8th string. There are still times he sounds more like he's playing the organ instead of the guitar. However, there's more of an overall "guitar" sound. Also there's a variety of styles and bit of a harder edge to the proceedings. A very fine effort that shows Charlie belongs in the same league as "Sco", Metheny and Frisell.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a great jazz combo, January 8, 2006

By 

Justin (California, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Friends Seen & Unseen (Audio CD)

I smile every time I listen to this album.

Charlie Hunter really has it together in the 10 tracks of Friends Seen and Unseen. If you've heard some of his older material, you'll notice how tight his bass + guitar sounds relative to his [already good] earlier work.

This album was the first time I'd heard John Ellis. He has a great sound, and I especially like his bass clarinet work. My favorite moment in the entire album is the bass clarinet solo about 1:15 in on My Son the Hurricane. If you liked John Ellis' One Foot in the Swamp, then you should really like this album.

Derrek Phillips lays down a solid beat--very jazz.

Altogether, the three make for a great combo.

Relative to Charlie Hunter's other work: this album is more conventional than Garage à Trois, but slightly more innovative than Steady Groovin'. It's good music to play when hanging out with friends.