Charlie Hunter's
Everybody Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Mouth is not only his first recording for a major label in nine years, but his first with a larger-than-trio-sized band since 2003. His personnel include drummer
Bobby Previte, trombonist
Curtis Fowlkes (who both played on 2015's
Let the Bells Ring On and 2003's
Right Now Move), and cornetist
Kirk Knuffke. The album's title paraphrases a quote by former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. It's a metaphorical reference to the contrast between an envisioned plan for living and the reality that transpires later.
Hunter saturates his approach in blues and vintage R&B here. To get the vibe right, the band recorded live in a Hudson, New York studio; there are no overdubs -- everybody walked the tightrope. First single "No Money, No Honey" opens with a guitar hammer on, but the band quickly establishes a funky
Meters-esque vamp that gets inverted by knotty jazz syncopation. They all flow back to the groove with
Previte holding the center.
Hunter's solo signals a call-and-response with the brass, who play in Stax-like tandem and add individual fills in the turnarounds. The title track commences as a slow, steamy jazz-blues with gorgeous melodic flourishes, a fine solo from
Fowlkes, and a front line that references
Bobby Blue Bland,
Quincy Jones, and
Oliver Nelson. The slow stroll on
Bill Broonzy's "Big Bill's Blues" contains a gorgeous early New Orleans jazz feel in the contrasting harmonic dialogue between
Fowlkes and
Knuffke (though they play the tags in unison), while
Hunter's playing is pure mid-'50s Chicago. "Leave Him Lay" is a choogling 12-bar swagger with
Hunter's fills stinging through the horn player's vamps.
Previte signals various cadence and time shifts as
Knuffke takes a languid solo that provides a nostalgic look at early jazz sans artifice. Second single "Latin for Travelers" (titled after
Previte's band of the same name) is a sultry, jazzy blues based on a rhumba. There are subtle colors through the horns' harmonies that evoke brass inventions from
Willie Colon,
Eddie Palmieri, and
Wardell Quezergue.
Hunter's own break is sharp, in the pocket, and full of soul. The funky NOLA side returns during the intro to closer "The Guys Get Shirts," but doesn't stay there.
Previte guides the group through Chicago blues, '20s jazz, and '50s and '60s R&B. The arrangements lock in, offering many twists and turns, but never leave the groove behind. This album is an excellent return to the majors for
Hunter. All killer, no filler. ~ Thom Jurek