Charlie Hunter: Friends Seen and Unseen

The offbeat, start-and-stop movement of "One For the Kelpers" gets things started, boasting an adventurous Hunter solo that builds in intensity as Phillips swells the groove and Ellis comps. The upbeat "Freedom" offers a saxophone line oblique to Hunter's lines for effective counterpoint. The leader solos over a bubbly shuffle groove, before Phillips adds a lilting drum solo that hints at the song's melodic movement and returns it to the head. Ellis adds a growling tone to the tight unison melody of the leisurely "Lulu's Crawl" and bleats an old-timey tenor solo, with note choices approaching dissonance. His flute shifts tones for "Darkly," sounding airy over the subdued playing of Hunter and Phillips. Hunter stretches out with a gnarly sound over Phillips' up-tempo, burbling drums on "Running in Fear'" and plays a more traditional blues on "Eleven Bars for Gandhi."

Drawing influences from '70s funk, New Orleans second-line drumming, and the classic Hammond B-3 merchants, this trio certainly grooves. By shifting tempos and styles between (and within) tunes, they ensure that there is no sound-alike repetition. Instead, the trio offers an original statement that should leave you smiling—or maybe even dancing.