CHARLIE HUNTER TRIO - FRIENDS SEEN AND UNSEEN

When you don’t fancy yourself a part of any particular subculture, you tend not to know its heroes. Apparently, jazz guitarist Charlie Hunter is one of those heroes, but for jam band fans. Perplexed? Me too. Hunter’s a jazz man, through and through. Does he defy specificity? Yes. But that’s jazz, man. Absolute musical freedom; just plain letting go.
For the first time in about a decade, Hunter returns as pilot of a jazz trio, manning his eight-string weapon of choice. (For those of you not in the know, it’s a bass/guitar that allows him to play both parts simultaneously. Yes, simultaneously.) Joining him on the record are Derrick Phillips (drums) and John Ellis (tenor sax, bass clarinet, flute)-- two musicians who, like Hunter, navigate through the boundless universe of jazz sound with effortless ease.
Friends Seen And Unseen is ten diamonds and zero rough. \"One For The Kelpers\" is a chill, soulful cut that introduces an eerie sort of timelessness in the trio’s sound; as if the ghosts of countless jazz greats were being resurrected through their instruments. Two tracks later, the shuffling \"Lulu’s Crawl\" puts you in a dark New Orleans jazz bar. Hunter and company jump moods again to keep it interesting, bringing a slow, sensual atmosphere to the disc with \"Soweto’s Where It’s At\", and serving up some straight cold blues on the appropriately titled \"Slow Blues\", where Hunter proves you can outplay the best of them with absolute subtlety.
Somehow, even after a decade-plus of recording, collaborating, and touring, Hunter manages to not repeat himself, instead making a new jazz album as cool and fresh as originators like Milt Jackson sounded the first time you heard them.