Jazz Articles about Andy Hunter

SPOKE: (r)anthems

by Dan Bilawsky
October 25, 2014

According to the members of SPOKE, this album--the band's third to date--"is both musical rant and anthem." So what does that mean? Well, it means that there's an intentional balancing act between the raw and refined, the focused and the untamed, and the grand and rowdy. Nothing ever goes off the rails and nothing is ever too sedate or bland, as the members of SPOKE continually switch gears and change hats. There's also enough stylistic diversity at play--pop, bop, spicy ...

Andy Hunter: Think Like A Mountain

by Dan Bilawsky
October 19, 2012

Trombonist Andy Hunter has taken a seat in many of the most important big bands of the past decade, yet many are still unaware of his skills. He sadly suffers from “section man syndrome": that ailment that afflicts those who are heard by many, yet never truly seen for who they are. Hunter, who has resided in Brooklyn for the better part of a decade, has put his round and occasionally robust horn to good use in bassist Dave Holland's ...

Spoke: Spoke

by J Hunter
May 21, 2009

In his liner notes to Spoke's self-titled debut disc, Matthew Lima wrote that this Brooklyn-based quartet is “constantly refining the art of the compromise... not into a concession or lowering of standards, but an intermediate between different things." He's half right: There are no concessions whatsoever on Spoke; however, the differences are what it's all about.

The thought that went into the set's twelve pieces is literally mind-bending. Classical music isn't just one of the musical sub-cultures Spoke visits on ...