Getting Frank with Charlie Hunter

Charlie Hunter, photography by Wyatt Kostygan.

CHARLIE HUNTER, PHOTOGRAPHY BY WYATT KOSTYGAN.

Tuning up his custom seven-string Jeff Traugott, jazz guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter ponders the night’s upcoming show. “We just want to have a nice time with the audience and hopefully have a little communion together,” says the man whose multi-decade career has seen him playing with the likes of John Mayer and Norah Jones. Nearby, Keita Ogawa of the Grammy-winning New York-based jazz collective Snarky Puppy rigs an intricate and offbeat percussion playground on his portion of the stage, but featured singer Silvana Estrada will not be joining the Charlie Hunter Trio at Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center this night, as the Mexican singer/songwriter/instrumentalist saw her visa request denied. “It’s easy to believe these days,” he says, as anger gives way to resignation. “It is what it is.” On short notice, the award-winning, multilingual and genre-hopping vocalist Lisa Woodward stepped up and took the mic for the tour. “She’s wonderful,” says Hunter, a grin spreading across his face before turning back to his seven-string. “It needs some love,” he says.

 

The Andrew Collins Trio Bring Folk with Flair 

Andrew Collins Trio, photography by Wyatt Kostygan.

ANDREW COLLINS TRIO, PHOTOGRAPHY BY WYATT KOSTYGAN.

At 23 years old, Andrew Collins bought his first mandolin. “The floodgates opened,” he says, and the music never stopped flowing since. Touring now with the five-time Juno-nominated and seven-time Canadian Folk Music Award-winning Andrew Collins Trio—three musicians, nine instruments and at least as many genres—the world-renowned “mando maestro” swung through Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center this past January and found a vibrant folk-hungry audience he didn’t reckon he’d find, but was excited to indulge. “It’s quite a cool venue to play,” says Collins. “I felt really at home.” Next up for the tuneful trio? A pair of matching concept albums entitled Tongue and Groove, one all vocals and the other all instrumental.