A Conversation with Charlie Hunter  (continued)

CH: Well, I mean, corporate music America. What can you say? Three major companies...

PM: Own it all.

CH: And then, right now, it's just all the ridiculous moves they're making with trying to combat recordable CDs, and it's just embarrassing how out of touch they are with reality.

PM: And they're trying to kill internet radio.

CH: They're out of touch. They should just look at history and take a chill, you know?

PM: Yeah, right. "Remember when you guys freaked out about cassettes, too? Take it easy."

CH: Exactly. "And remember when you put CDs out, and then never lowered the prices as it got cheaper and cheaper to make them?"

PM: Yeah, right, as they turned into thirty-five cents, but they're still $15.99.

CH: Exactly, exactly. It's incredible. So I don't know, I think there are more creative ways of doing stuff, especially for someone like me who's so low on the totem pole as far as the kind of capitalistic music community is concerned.

PM: And on the other hand, so important to the jazz scene, if you ask me.

CH: Oh, well, that's nice of you.

PM: Because there aren't that many cats that are really bridging audiences the way your act is.

CH: Oh, well...

PM: And the way some people say, well, Joshua Redman is, to some extent.

CH: Right.

PM: They say he's kind of dipping into the jamband scene, or like that. But I think you're bringing, you know, a lot of hipsters into the field of jazz music. And I think that's really, really important. Who would you say tops the wish list of guys with whom you'd like to record?

CH: Oh, man. Well, I'm going to be doing some gigs with Idris Muhammad, coming up, as a duo, just the two of us. And that, to me, is definitely way up there on the wish list.

PM: You know, I know the name, but I don't know the man's work.

CH: Well, he's probably up there with Hal Blaine and those guys, like Earl Palmer, one of the drummers who's probably played on the most recordings. Pretty much every organ record on Blue Note was him playing drums on it. And he also did a lot of soul and funk stuff. I mean, it's endless. His credits are pretty much endless.

PM: So how did you come to get next to him and be in a position to record with him? What's that relationship?

CH: Well, I don't know if we're recording. I mean, I hope we are. But we just played a gig together in New Orleans at Jazz Fest that someone put together, like a jam kind of thing, with me, him, and Donald Harrison and Wilber Arden.

PM: Oh, where were you? Because I was down there for Jazz Fest. Where were you guys playing?

CH: It was at the Blue Nile. It was like really late. It didn't start until two in the morning.

PM: Yeah. Yeah, I went down there to see my old friend Steve Kimock play a gig at Tipitina's. They don't start until around one o'clock. It's unbelievable.

CH: Yeah, it was really like that. There are a lot of people that were my idols that have passed on, that I'm really bummed I never got to see or play with. Roland Kirk would be one. Billy Higgins, who just recently passed away. I never got a chance to play with him. I got to play with Pat Martino, and he's a real hero.

PM: And he's very up and at it these days, right?

CH: Oh, yeah. He's kicking butt.

PM: Yeah. After coming back from a stroke and all that.

CH: Yeah. He's amazing.

PM: How do you get that organ sound on the top strings?

CH: Well, if you're lucky, you get to use a Leslie speaker. But I also use this thing called a Hughes & Kettner Rotosphere. And that does it. But even without the sound, I make it kind of organ-istic, you know, the voicings and the comping, and stuff like that.

PM: Right, what you're playing.

CH: Exactly.

PM: Huh. Now, when you're not using either the Leslie or the Rotosphere, what other ways do you like to process those top strings?

CH: Oh, very minimally. I use like a tape delay.

PM: Whose?

CH: Whatever -- I mean, I had a Space Echo for a long time, but that thing hit the junk pile. Now I'm using this Guyatone Space Delay. Or if I have a real small gig, I'll bring my Aquapuss Analog Delay and a volume pedal. And sometimes I'll bring my old 70s Ross Phase Shifter out.

PM: They're nice.

CH: And other than that, Amp Tremolo.

PM: Right. So you keep it pretty minimal. It's about what you're playing.

CH: Yeah, I just like the real sound of the amp, whatever the amp is, to be out, which sometimes is bad when you're renting amps.

PM: Yeah, it sucks. They're never giving you the good one.

CH: No, you always get a Twin that's been through hell.

PM: Yeah [laughs], right, with a JBL.

CH: If you're lucky, you get a JBL, because at least the speakers aren't blown. continue

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