Customer Reviews

Ready Set Shango!

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Play this energetic album during your next party and guests will undoubtedly compliment your smart music tastes. Play it while sitting alone and you'll soon realize why he's a pioneer in today's jazz/fusion scene. It's my favorite Charlie Hunter album (and I own them all). SHANGO!

Charlie Hunter showcases his very impressive technical skill on this album, as well as his ability to imitate terrific organ playing with the guitar. Tracks that are particularly good are 'Ashby Man' and 'Thursday the 12th', both featuring excellent saxophone solos. A good purchase for someone who wants to hear something a little different but without compromising quality.

"Ready ... Set ... Shango" by almost any other contemporary jazz guitarist would be their best. But, this is not just any Jazz guitarist.

Charlie Hunter has been quietly setting himself apart from his contemporaries with his groove driven, funk and rock inspired tracks. His approach to composition is pure entertainment and very accessible, with little of the obfuscation and dense noodling that some contemporary jazz falls prey to. Charlie Hunter strains to bring jazz back to the popular perch it occupied in its heyday; probably not achievable, but a laudable goal nontheless. He probably owes as much to John Frusciante as to Wes Montgomery, and this shows in his execution.

Although not his best, this album has its highlights, and a large vision of what's to come. The opener, Ashby Man is particularly enjoyable. Neither Charlie nor his partners on the album show the confidence of later albums, notably "Friends, Seen and Unseen", but I can wholeheartedly recommend this album anyway. Shango on!

From its opening bars this wonderful "jazz-blues" record grabs you by the collar and carries you along through 50 minutes of rolling guitar & sax based fun. This is "good time" music at its best... catchy melodies, virtuoso musicianship and clever arrangements that make you want to be up there playing with them! Like David Grisman's "Hot Dawg", the complexity of what's going on is never allowed to destroy the enthusiastic, laid-back feel that permeates the album. Tracks flow seamlessly into one another, taking you from up-beat jazz improvisations through slow blues work-outs and back again, and... before you know where you are it's over - time to hit the replay button once again!

from what i heard this can only be the start of something big. trad jazz (eg Thad Jones & normal 3/4-tets must be paying Jimmy Smith & Captain Jack the same dues finally that Joey DiFrancesco is getting, playing also cornet, because this organ stand-in "six string bass" guitar is using what rock has dropped for decades - WAH-WAH pedal as a judicious organ stop. This is no acid jazz, this hip rhythm collective reaches back to the original rhythm section of the standard trio to pull out some funk & rescue the lowly hendrix pedal from oblivion. No label, this is straight ahead. i followed it up from Christian Jacob/Steve Swallow, another rock transfer (Chuck Mangione, or was it "Larry Coryell"?), & can only describe what can't be summarized - listen w/ caution, it is uncommon rare.

One of a handfull of CD's that would go with me to a desert isle