Charlie Hunter with Scott Amendola 11/17/21 Cafe 9

 I guess I am a super fan of Charlie, seeing him play many times and following the arc of his career from the late 90s to present. It all started with his groove take on Nirvana’s Come as You Are, the complete re-working of Bob Marley’s Natty Dread, the stellar duo with percussionist Leon Parker, helming the group T.J. Kirk which played the music of Thelonious, James Brown, and Roland Kirk, fantastic dabbling with the members of Galactic, plundering the wealth of public domain songs, just to name a few offerings of this omnivorous guitar slinger. The “guitar” component is worth a YouTube foray. Charlie plays 8 and 10 string guitars, often with modified fret boards, that allow him to play bass and lead guitar parts simultaneously. On this outing, he is joined by longtime drumming accomplice, Scott Amendola. Capable, but not flashy, Scott adds subtle shading to Charlie’s lead. These two could literally play the phone book, and the two sets meander through hot jazz, soundtrack music, songs by the Cars, plus snippets of many things along the way. A great percussive reading of Lorde’s Royals was a highlight. I will continue to support this fascinating artist.

Lettuce 11/12/21 College Street Music Hall

 Lettuce, that genius “vegetable” that you put on your burger to make you think that you are actually eating a vegetable. No, we are talking about the funk outfit from Boston. I have not seen this band since the departure of chapeaued hollow body guitar wizard Eric Krasno. Rising from the ashes of the band Soulive, Kras’ version of Lettuce was guitar centric, and a vehicle for him to display his chops. The current incarnation, while no less funkified, was more of an egalitarian offering. Bass, guitar, drums, keys, two saxes, and a trumpet was the geometry. The keyboard player sang a bit, but this band is primarily a clatch of instrumental virtuosos. I am struck by the varied nature of funk. This band gave us dubby bass inflected funk, blaxploitation film score choogling, even some sappy 70s smooth jazz. The crowd was in constant motion, egged on by the frenetic light show. Two full sets culminated with an excellent take on Curtis Mayfield’s Movin On Up which strayed into a deconstructed dub-wise Everybody Wants To Rule the World and back to Curtis. Happy music for happy people.