for the New Zealand racehorse trainer and driver see: Charlie Hunter }} Charlie Hunter (born May 23, 1967) is an American guitarist, composer and bandleader. First coming to prominence in the early 1990s, Hunter has recorded 17 albums. Hunter plays custom-made seven and eight-string guitars, on which he simultaneously plays basslines, rhythm guitar, and solos. Critic Sean Westergaard[1] describes Hunter's guitar technique as "mind-boggling ... he's an agile improviser with an ear for great tone, and always has excellent players alongside him in order to make great music, not to show off." ContentsBiography Equipment Discography Filmography References External links Biography Hunter was born in Rhode Island. When he was four his mom packed him and his younger sister in an old yellow school bus and headed west. After several years living on a commune in Mendocino County they settled in Berkeley, California. Hunter graduated from Berkeley High School and took lessons from famed guitar teacher Joe Satriani. At eighteen he moved to Paris. Returning to the Bay area, Hunter played a seven-string guitar and organ in Michael Franti's political rap group, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. In 1992, they were one of the opening acts for U2's Zoo TV Tour. Since the debut of his self-titled Charlie Hunter Trio (which included Dave Ellis on sax and Jay Lane on drums) in 1993, Charlie Hunter has recorded seventeen albums. He co-founded Garage A Trois, a jazz fusion band with Stanton Moore and Skerik. He has collaborated with Bobby Previte for an ongoing project entitled "Groundtruther." He also recorded and toured for Bobby Previte's The Coalition of the Willing in 2006.[2] He appears on acclaimed jazz bassist Christian McBride's Live At Tonic. On both The Coalition of the Willing and Live at Tonic he plays 6-string guitars. His earliest known released recording without unusual guitars is as a guest bassist for the band Sweet Potato from California's East Bay. The song "Crankshaft" can be found on the Ubiquity Records compilation Mo Cookin from 1994 and the song "Monkey Wrench" can be found on the Ubiquity Records compilation Still Cookin from 1995. He also played guitar on the track "Me and Chuck" from the Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel album, Highball with the Devil, released in 1996. Charlie played in the band T.J. Kirk active 1990s that merged the music of Thelonious Monk, James Brown, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. T.J Kirk is: Will Bernard - Guitar, John Schott - Guitar, Charlie Hunter - 8-string guitar and Scott Amendola - Drums. Three recordings of the time are called: T.J. Kirk August 8, 1995, If Four Was One September 24, 1996 and Talking Only Makes it Worse released in 2005. Hunter contributed to three songs for D'Angelo's Voodoo (2000), including "The Root".[3] In the summer of 2007, Charlie toured with a trio that included New York keyboardist Erik Deutsch and New York/New Orleans drummer Simon Lott. This trio recorded the July, 2007 Fantasy release Mistico. In 2008, Hunter recorded his first self-release, Baboon Strength. Featured on the record are Erik Deutch on keys and Tony Mason on drums. Hunter will return to the studio in Fall of 2009 to record with drummer Eric Kalb. In 2008, eminent clarinetist and composer Ben Goldberg put together a project entitled "Go Home" with Charlie on guitar(s), Ron Miles (trumpet) and Scott Amendola (drums). The alternately funky, beautiful, spacious and deep compositions showcase all the musicians. The group will be performed at the Jazz Standard in New York from October 29 to November 1, 2009 with Curtis Fowlkes on trombone, replacing Miles on trumpet. Hunter was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel to support independent artists.[4] Charlie Hunter is represented by Tree Lawn Artists, Inc.[5] EquipmentHunter currently plays a custom-made, seven-string guitar made by Jeff Traugott. Previously, Hunter played a custom-made, eight-string guitar made by luthier Ralph Novak of Novax Guitars. He plays the lead guitar on the top five strings (tuned ADGBe) and bass guitar (tuned EAD) on the bottom three strings simultaneously. With the addition of a Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere (a Leslie rotary speaker simulator), his unique style produces a sound similar to that of a Hammond organ -- an instrument he set out to imitate. In 2006, Hunter removed the top guitar string and had the neck of his guitar reworked and now plays a modified 7-string on the formerly-8 string body. Hunter has mentioned that because of his small hands, he had to move out of position to make use of the 8th string and thus wasn't using it much. A change in Hunter's style away from the organ sound into a more blues and distortion based sound happened at the same time. After removing the 8th string, Hunter retuned all of the strings up a half step: F-A#-D# on the bass and A#-D#-G#-C on the guitar. As of 2008, he had once again retuned up a minor 3rd: G-C-F on the bass and C-F-A#-D on the guitar. Discography Charlie Hunter performs at the Bennett Alliance Music Fest in Rochester, NY (July 21, 2007) 1993 - Charlie Hunter Trio - Prawn Song 1995 - Bing, Bing, Bing! - Blue Note 1996 - Ready, Set...Shango! - Blue Note 1997 - Natty Dread - Blue Note 1998 - Return of the Candyman - Blue Note 1998 - All Kooked Out! (Stanton Moore) - Fog City 1999 - Duo - Blue Note 1999 - Mysteryfunk (Garage a Trois) - Fog City 2000 - Voodoo (D'Angelo) – Cheeba Sound 2000 - Charlie Hunter - Blue Note 2000 - Solo Eight-String Guitar - Contra Punto 2001 - Songs from the Analog Playground - Blue Note 2003 - Emphasizer (Garage a Trois) - Tone-Cool 2003 - Right Now Move - Ropeadope 2003 - Come In Red Dog, This is Tango Leader (with Bobby Previte) - Ropeadope 2004 - Friends Seen and Unseen - Ropeadope 2004 - Latitude (Groundtruther) - Thirsty Ear 2005 - Steady Groovin' - Blue Note 2005 - Longitude (Groundtruther) - Thirsty Ear 2005 - Outre Mer (Garage a Trois) - Telarc 2005 - Earth Tones (with Chinna Smith and Ernest Ranglin) - Green Street 2006 - The Coalition of the Willing (Bobby Previte) - Ropeadope 2006 - Live at Tonic (Christian McBride) - Ropeadope 2006 - Copperopolis - Ropeadope 2007 - Mistico - Fantasy 2007 - Altitude (Groundtruther) - Thirsty Ear 2008 - Baboon Strength - reapandsow 2008 - Fade - (Tim Collins featuring Charlie Hunter & Simon Lott) - Ropeadope 2010 - Gentlemen, I Neglected To Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid - Spire Artist Media / reapandsow Filmography SOLOS: the jazz sessions (2004) Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1997) Rochester, New York Jazz Festival (2009) References External links CharlieHunter.com Charlie Hunter collection on the Internet Archive's live music archive da:Charlie Hunter de:Charlie Hunter fr:Charlie Hunter pt:Charlie Hunter

Source: Wikipedia.org