The Second instalment of lockdown studies from my quartet is out now, with the wonderful edition of Hervé Perez’s sound design and Gillian Whiteley’s artwork. Check it out on Bandcamp!

… and also…

REVIVAL ROOM DEBUT ALBUM OUT ON EFPI RECORDS, 31/07/2021 – Bandcamp

Featuring a selection of Manchester’s top improvisers, Revival Room is comprised of three musicians closely associated with the Efpi family, and with the city’s burgeoning creative improvised music scene – Adam Fairhall (Hammond B3 organ), Mark Hanslip (tenor saxophone), and Johnny Hunter (drums). The band is the culmination of a series of long-held friendships: often playing together in various combinations in other projects, the trio were drawn together by shared principles of collaboration. “It’s a genuinely cooperative band, where we all have an equal say”, Mark explains. This deeply creative debut album is the sound of a group at once bedding in and breaking out.

The organ trio format has a rich and varied history. The iconic sound of the Hammond organ has historically graced an array of genres, inspiring performers from Larry Young to Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Yet the format has often been overlooked as a medium for exploration, particularly as a vehicle for improvisation and free playing. Revival Room are on a mission to change that, following such contemporary organists as Alexander Hawkins, John Medeski and Daniel Formo. As Adam notes; “I’d been exploring other keyboard instruments for a few years, and the Hammond organ was one that I was trying to get into. I needed to play with people, and Johnny and Mark are both great at jazz, but also have a very inclusive perspective on improv too. The idea was that we tried to explore the possibilities of an organ trio in improvisation, bringing in non-jazz vocabularies as well as referencing parts of the tradition.”

That combination of tradition and exploration becomes an important guiding principle for the group. Thoroughly acquainted with the musical languages of not just organ trios, but the entire post-bop vernacular, Revival Room spin vibrant new tunes with a distinct sound in this exciting study of the format.

Happy New Year!!

During this pandemic, I’ve enjoyed being forced into different ways to think about composition, and the different purpose behind it. Back in October and November, I was meeting trumpeter Graham South outside to make some music in the cold. We would meet each week in forests, parks, under bridges, and by rivers, to rehearse and record a new piece. As I obviously couldn’t take my drum kit, I decided to just use my snare drum and brushes – which was challenging! You can download the results from my Bandcamp here:
https://johnnyhuntermusic.bandcamp.com/album/duos-for-distancing-1-5
 
I hope you enjoy it. I’ve made it pay-what-you-can as I’m aware a lot of people can’t afford to spend any extra money at the moment. If you can afford it, then buy me and Graham a virtual drink!  I promise to only spend the money on alcohol.

I have also been recording a new EP of ‘Studies in Lockdown‘ with my quartet (Graham South, Mark Hanslip and Seth Bennett). This was recorded in realtime over the internet, the compositions being designed to take into account the limitations of doing so.

* * * * *

Outside of my own music, I have also been busy. We have done a couple of sessions with Sloth Racket over the internet using JackTrip – I am not going to pretend I know how it works, all I know is that Dave Birchall turned up on my doorstep with a little device that I can plug a microphone into then Tom Ward does something with the dark arts and now I’m able to play almost in time Seth Bennett who is over 200 miles away!

There is a Revival Room album on due to be released on Efpi Records very soon! Revival Room is Adam Fairhall’s organ trio with me and Mark Hanslip (you can hear a sample HERE).

I went up to Newcastle to record an album with the lovely John Pope. His quintet album will be coming out on the new label, New Jazz and Improvised Music Recordings (buy it HERE).

Adam Fairhall and I have also recorded a duo set for Limefield Studio’s upcoming concert series! More information on that another time, but here’s a Christmas tune we did in 2019…

The last few months have been very strange, to say the least. Here’s what I have been up to.

Towards the start of the lockdown, I was keen to use the situation as a reason to find new approaches to writing and playing, and not just try to find ways to approximate our usual music. Recording separately and layering up each musician’s parts to a click or guide track is very common and works well for other forms of music; however, in jazz and improvised music, I feel that this approach sacrifices the group interaction and combined groove. At the time, layering up each musician’s contribution was the only available option in the circumstances, so I devised these three studies to explore different methods for groups of musicians to create music remotely whilst retaining the chance and spontaneity that is so key to improvised music. The results were released on Efpi Records, and has been broadcast on a number of different radio shows, including BBC Radio 3’s Freeness. You can hear the full EP, with Mark Hanslip (tenor sax), Graham South (trumpet) and Seth Bennett (double bass), here:

I then took part in the Manchester Jazz Festival, being interviewed by Efpi Records’ Ben Cottrell, discussing these studies. You can watch the full interview here:

I then found a way of performing together with people over the internet, albeit with heavy latency. As the studies that I’d written had taken into account the various problems with making improvised music over the internet, for all intents and purposes, the music still worked. I got together a group of musicians to try this; you can watch the full performance with Graham South (trumpet), Dee Byrne (alto sax) and Huw V. Williams (double bass) here:

In other news, I have a new album with my quartet (with Bennett, Hanslip and South), recorded last year, coming out on Efpi Records soon! We’re not sure when yet as everything is up in the air at the moment, but it’s likely to be this year!

I am also on the debut album of the Graham South Quartet which will also be released on Efpi Records later this year. I have heard the final version of it and it sounds really great! I am really happy to have been a part of it.

Anyway, I hope you’re all doing well, given the circumstances, and I hope to see you all at a gig in the not too distant future!
x

My most recent release!  Pale Blue Dot was recorded live at ‘Jazz at the Lescar’, Sheffield, to a full house.  It was a really special concert and I am really happy to be able to share it with you.

“A genuinely impressive piece of work that combines its various elements subtly and effectively.” – The Jazzmann

It features the wonderful talents of Gemma Bass (violin), Aby Vulliamy (viola), Michael Bardon (cello), Seth Bennett (double bass) and Mark Hanslip (tenor sax).  It was recorded by my brother, Anton Hunter, and mixed by Alex Bonney.

“This has so many dimensions, from simply laid emotional reflections to robust agony, over the witness to what humans have done to this world.” – Big Beautiful Noise

It also includes sleeve notes written by the smiliest man in Jazz promotion, Jez Matthews!  It can be purchased now from Bandcamp.

Realising that my last post was in January, I thought I’d better updated the millions of people who want to keep track of my music…

Firstly, my main achievement of 2019 was my successful participation in Sound and Music‘s New Voices programme.  This is an incredible scheme designed to help composers make changes to, and effect development within their work.  I used my time on the programme to translate my ideas that I’ve been developing with Fragments and other small groups to a larger setting.  Here’s a sample of what I did!

I’ll be releasing the full, hour-long performance before the end of the year so please subscribe to my YouTube channel to keep updated about that.

Also:

• I toured a couple of times throughout the year with my quartet and we recorded our third album.  It’ll be released at some point in the new year.
• Fragments released our first album (available on Bandcamp) on Northern Contemporary.  It has been describe as “stunning and impossible to ignore” by Big Beautiful Noise (although people are doing their best…), “an absorbing and compelling listening experience” by The Jazz Mann, and a “dense, imaginatively detailed and uncompromising diary of a virtuosic Improv group” by Jazzwise.
• Imminently due for release, also on Northern Contemporary, is my piece Pale Blue Dot, recorded live at Jazz at the Lescar and with liners notes written by Jez Matthews.  You can actually already pick up a pre-release copy at the Lescar, Sheffield, on that brilliant Wednesday Jazz night.
• In October I went on tour by myself, visiting different cities and playing with the brilliant local musicians the UK has to offer.  I performed in Birmingham, Glasgow, Keighley, London, Manchester, Norwich, Salford, Sheffield and Todmorden, with Mick Beck, Seth Bennett, Tony Bevan, Matthew Bourne, Olie Brice, Chris Dowding, Mark Hanslip, John Jasnoch, Dave Kane, Simon Prince, Cath Roberts, Alan Wilkinson and Andrew Woodhead!  I documented each gig and will be uploading to YouTube an extract from each gig every month next year, so please subscribe to my channel if you’re interested in hearing any of that!

I have loads of exciting things lined up for next year, but I’ll save that for another post!