Virtuosity visits with simian strength
It certainly doesn’t take 17 albums for an artist’s music to start to run together and sound the same; just listen to Dave Matthews. Guitarist Charlie Hunter has recorded 17 albums, but he kept things fresh with his latest by self-recording the collection, 2008’s Baboon Strength.
“[Self-recording] works a lot better in this day and age,” he said. “[Otherwise] you spend a lot of money, but you can’t sell a lot of records.”
Hunter preferred recording Baboon Strength independently over working with a label, despite the inherent financial risk.
“It is easier than [working with] a recording company,” he said. “You don’t have to answer to anyone but yourself. With a recording company, there is red tape, and all these people want a say.”
Hunter is likely to play songs from Baboon Strength when he hits Iowa City at 8 p.m. on Saturday. The show is at the Picador, 330 E. Washington St., and tickets are $15.
He named his latest album after hearing a friend talk about his kids wrestling with “baboon strength,” and he liked the phrase. The guitarist believes his CD has baboon strength as well.
“You just have to listen to it to make up your own mind about it,” he said when pressed for more detail. “You can’t describe music. You have to listen to it for yourself. It is such an intangible thing.”
He recorded the album with Eric Deutsch and Tony Mason. Deutsch played combo organ, Casiotone, and echoplex, and Mason played bass drum, snare, and toms. The music inspired Hunter while he was writing the record.
“You just sit around and play year after year, day after day, and let it come to you,” he said.
While he skirted classifying his sound, his MySpace identifies the guitarist’s tunes as a mix of jazz, funk, and blues. He is known for his ambidextrous playing style and eight-string guitar, although he currently plays a seven-string.
“With the seven-string guitar it is easier to get to a lot more music,” he said. He doesn’t brag about his ambidextrous guitar abilities but recommends YouTube for curious listeners and viewers.
“I am floored by what he can do with a stringed instrument. It’s phenomenal,” said Picador production manager Kevin Koppes. “He is known all over the world for what he does. He is kind of a guitar freak. In the last couple of weeks, we have had people come in to make sure it is the Charlie Hunter.”
The Picador is trying to make a more intimate setting for the guitar virtuoso, as Koppes described him, by using softer lighting and more seating.
“It’s not a straight rock show,” Koppes said. “It appeals to music nerds. People in the music department, people who are interested in music theory and instrumental technique.”
Last September, Hunter participated in Jazz for Obama to help raise money for the then-candidate’s campaign.
“Well, I wasn’t going to participate in jazz for George Bush, now, was I?” Hunter said. “I believe that instrumental music is for everybody. Music is supposed to bring people together. I obviously have my own ideas about politics, but I’m not playing to make political statements.”
Audiences expecting a straight-forward performance might be surprised.
“[Hunter’s music] is so complicated,” Koppes said. “To listen to the records is one thing, but to see him perform is another.”
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