Charlie Hunter’s latest effort (and my first exposure to his music) called Mistico is a modern mix of traditional jazz, fusion and rock. The moniker used for the band is the Charlie Hunter Trio, Charlie on guitar, drummer Derrek Phillips and keyboard player, Erik Deutsch. On Mistico feels more in tune with the rock genre rather than the jazz but done in a way that jazz fans will like. I consider the rock portion to a pure rock ‘n roll not the modern stuff.
The are so many highlights on the album, mainly due to the wealth of styles Charlie Hunter explores are the swing-time sounds on (Lady!), driving funk (Speakers Built In). he covers all the entire spectrum of the jazz genre.
I must admit, it took me awhile to warm up to the music, mainly because I’m fairly new to the jazz world. After awhile and many weeks later, it dawned on me that this album, Mistico was growing on me enough that I can honestly say this is a must have for jazz/fusion/rock fans.
Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on October 14th, 2007
