Rating: NNNN
Charlie Hunter is known for fancy guitar work, jazz music and leading a trio that included a sax.
On his new effort, Mistico, he pulls away from his past, replacing the sax with a keyboard and jazz with rock. But don’t worry — Hunter hasn’t gone all Steve Vai on us. His version of a rock riff is still rooted in jazz the scales just have more distortion.
Luckily, the changes haven’t damaged Hunter’s genius. As usual, he’s unpredictable, pulling out a Doors-like number here, a funk track there and a Jimi Hendrix-inspired tune somewhere else.
Despite the rock and the lack of sax, Mistico is easily as good as, if not better than, the rest of his oeuvre.