Charlie Hunter next up for ASC Jazz Café series

See one of the world’s most innovative jazz musicians at UAB’s Alys Stephens Center Nov. 17.

Innovative jazz musician Charlie Hunter performs next in the new ASC Jazz Café series at UAB’s Alys Stephens Center with one show only, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 17, 2011.

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The ASC Jazz Café series presents outstanding jazz performers in the intimate setting of the plush, 350-seat Sirote Theatre in UAB’s Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Enjoy cocktail hour in the lobby at 6:30 before each ASC Jazz Café show. Next up in the ASC Jazz Café series is songstress Lalah Hathaway, Dec. 15-16.

Hunter will perform with his long-time collaborator, drummer Scott Amendola. Tickets for Hunter’s ASC Jazz Café show are $42.50, $34.50, $25.50; student tickets are $20. For tickets or for more information, call 205-975-2787 or visit http://www.alysstephens.org.

With exquisite, expressive technique and incredible improvisation skills, Hunter has recorded 17 albums playing custom-made seven- and eight-string guitars. A former student of the legendary guitarist Joe Satriani, Hunter is known for wowing audiences as he often simultaneously plays bass lines, rhythm guitar and solos. His technique is often called “mind-boggling,” while the sounds his guitars create are fresh and surprisingly complex. Guitar Player magazine described Hunter as a man who has built his reputation “by conquering hairy bass lines and heady post-bop melodies simultaneously on custom eight-string instruments… Hunter is still a musical beast.”

Hunter’s recent work was inspired by his love for early blues and jazz. His latest release, “Public Domain,” contains a series of jazzed-up, old-time favorites that have outlived copyright and entered the public domain. Downbeat magazine said of the record: “Curated by Hunter's 99-year-old grandfather, ‘Public Domain’ is a yesteryear romp that accounts for 1920s foxtrots, Al Jolson nuggets and nods to an era when the Ziegfeld Follies ruled the entertainment roost. Because of its dedication to focus and celebration of bounce, the entire thing is a hoot.”