Charlie Hunter Quintet – Right Now Live

 

Picture: B-     Sound: B-     Extras: C-     Concert: B-

 

 

I had never heard of the Charlie Hunter Quintet, but there’s nothing like a good DVD to make such introductions.  On The Charlie Hunter Quintet – Right Now Live, we get a quality concert recording (from November 30, 2002) in what is pretty much an intimate setting at Media Bureau Studio B in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  However, as the track listing below shows, almost half of the tracks are Hunter on his own, for whatever reason:

 

Solo:

1)     Recess

2)     Someday We’ll All Be Free

3)     Stars Fell on Alabama

4)     Too High

Quintet

5)     Mall

6)     Meatre Tata

7)     Oakland

8)     Changul

9)     Try

10)  20^th Century

 

 

Hunter holds his own very well, making the Quintet all the more interesting when they arrive.  Each song and even the end credits have the same animated introduction that breaks up the concert too much.  This becomes annoying and counterproductive to a concert that otherwise is good for the pretty-much all-instrumental ninety-minutes-long period of time it runs.  This is good, solid, straight-out classy Jazz.  They are so good that I get the impression we will be hearing from them again soon.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is from a video source that is not as sparkling as digital High definition should be, but could be such a source.  As much as I thought the picture was not bad, I thought it could have looked better.  No credit was given as to the video source.  The sound is available in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo with Pro Logic surrounds and a better 5.1 AC-3 mix that brings the detail of the Jazz home better.  Too bad this was not in DTS, as this concert could have benefited from it.  Extras are few, but include multi-angle (2 to choose from) segments for the Quintet tracks, a stills section, and very brief biography information on the musicians.  They include Hunter on guitar, John Ellis on tenor saxophone and bass-clarinet, Derek Phillips on drums, Gregoire Maret on chromatic harmonica, and Curtis Fowlkes on trombone.

 

Jazz, especially this style, might not be for everyone, but Right Now Live is real music by real musicians with real talent, and these days, that is always welcome.  If you are interested, do not hesitate to pick it up.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo