Charlie Hunter Trio 9/16/18 Cafe 9

I was dismayed to see that this Sunday afternoon show was billed as "sold out" on the C9 website minutes before I was due to leave. Intrepid, I rode my bike the 6 minutes to the venue. As I was locking the bike, I spot Charlie chatting with some hipsters outside. In my usual kook fashion, I pull out some old Charlie Hunter story and ask him to put me on the guest list. He obliges by saying he has no friends on the list, so I'm it. Two sets of guitar wizardry ensue. The trio was not the usual lineup. Instead, Charlie on guitar, Kei Okawa on drums, and young female vocalist Lucy were the group. Charlie is a musical omnivore and it showed. Some old blues standards, Soul of a Man, a Ruth Brown tune, Angel Eyes popularized by Sinatra or Bennett, were split up with George Michael's Faith, a Roxy Music tune among others. At one point Charlie says the crowd is ready for the drummers solo on Porkestra. That's right Kei played two squeezy pig toys while performing his solo, which gave a surreal beatbox effect. At the set break, I congratulated Kei on his innovative solo, he said he had a spare pig in the car if he busted one. On Charlie's early aught Analog Playground release, he enlisted a little known Norah Jones to sing Roxy's More Than This. While Lucy was no Norah Jones, her capable vocals were a welcome addition to the afternoon. Closed with a great version of Lucinda William's Can't Let Go and encored with an excellent version of Howlin Wolf's ( or maybe Cream's) Spoonful. Another example of the power of positive kooking.