Van Morrison calls him "the best-kept secret in British R&B": James Hunter is working-class London's answer to the Commitments. He unapologetically embraces music from what is often assumed to be a simpler time, the 1950s and early 1960s; but (here is the point, perhaps?) it was actually a much more difficult time for most people in race-divided America and class-divided Britain. Which is probably why they naturally assumed that one of the main purposes of music was to make them feel better.
Sam Cooke, Al Green, James Brown, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, Booker T., Ray Charles, Smokey Robinson, Lowman Pauling, the Memphis Horns. They played their hearts out, marrying the blues to gospel and making it swing. Hunter's singing voice is uncannily worthy of this tradition--and it's a bit shocking when you hear him speak in a cockney accent. He and his band not only faithfully reproduces the sound of this era, but if anything distills it into an even purer form: the sax and organ solos are choice, and Hunter's guitar playing and showmanship contain a few surprises of their own. His performance is no joke or parody, but it verges on tongue in cheek at times--this is about having fun.
It was a pleasure to see this band in the intimate confines of the Polish Hall in Edmonton on Friday March 13, 2009. It was relatively easy for everyone who wanted to dance or get close to the stage to do so. If Hunter's star keeps rising, that may become a rare privilege indeed.
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