Album Review: Charlie Hunter Quintets "Right Now Move" (long)

[Jp Pagan <jpl_pagan@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey all,

  my review rather obviously focuses alot on the
harmonica aspects of the album, so be warned ;)


  the Charlie Hunter Quintet?s "Right Now Move," with
Gregoire Maret on chromatic harmonica: 

     Anyone who likes funky jazz should be able to dig
on this album. And for harmonica players looking for a
sample of how their instrument fits into a
contemporary music context, I?d say you could hardly
do better than this. The Charlie Hunter Quintet?s
"Right Now Move" is a great album all around. That it
happens to include the sound of a harmonica is just
icing on the cake for some of us. 
     The lineup is 8-string guitar, drums, trombone,
sax/bass clarinet, and harmonica. The harp is fairly
represented, in terms of the time it gets compared to
other instruments. It also has a tendency to stand out
above other instruments when played in unison. (My
girlfriend commented at one point that she couldn?t
hear anything BUT the harmonica, to which I responded
by calling her crazy ;)
     Gregoire?s sound is firmly rooted in the Toots
Thielemans tradition, and while his phrasing and tone
were excellent, his sound on this album can come off a
bit one-dimensional. I found it hard not to imagine
what a player more steeped in Little Walter or George
Harmonica Smith might have played. Maret never uses
any octaves, intervals, or tongue-slaps, and rarely,
if ever, bends a note or trills. Even sticking to the
one-note formula, a little of the hipness and raw
energy of, say, Stevie Wonder, would have helped a bit
here, especially considering the inventiveness of the
other musicians and of the music in general.
     Overall, the tunes are solid jazz, with heavy
currents of funk and latin. The first track sounds a
bit like the Brazilian-style theme from the "Sex in
The City" ads. The second is built on a funky, bumpy
bass groove. There?s an exploration of the traditional
tune "Wade in the Water," and other tunes that
variously show Middle Eastern, Cuban, and Soul
influences.  It?s hard to pick stand-out tunes since
all of them have something wonderful to offer, but I?d
say the groove of "Oakland," the salsa of "Changui," 
the funk of "Try," the classic jazz sound of "Winky," 
and the playful "Bateau Ivre" are the ones I?ll listen
to again and again. Many of these tunes are also
Maret?s best, in my opinion. 
     Charlie?s guitar playing sounds impossible to my
ear, as though he had 4 hands. I don?t know if he
overdubs his parts, but from reading some of his
interviews, I doubt it. As for the sound: his bass
lines pound  and the timbre of his lead lines are
often indistinguishable from that of an organ. The
other horn players are very solid, and the blares of
the trombone are especially interesting, I think, in
context with the other instruments. The smoothest
sounds, however, come from the bass clarinet, which
made probably the best partner for the chromatic
harmonica in terms of tone colors. 
     Again, I feel this is a great album overall, and
I think most jazz lovers should be able to appreciate
it. As a harmonica player, it may or may not be your
bag depending on your musical leaning, but the
harmonica is certainly well represented here. My one
hope is that jazz chromatic players start branching
out from the one-note formula of playing and start
using some of the more interesting, perhaps off-color
sounds they can produce. Other jazz musicians have
embraced similar qualities in their instruments for
decades; it would be nice to see us do the same, using
our full capabilities to make music. 


          --Jp


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