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.