Charlie Hunter, Lucy Woodward bring da funk to the Bay Area
Former Bay Area seven-string guitar maestro Charlie Hunter has been keeping company lately with the versatile, soul-powered vocalist Lucy Woodward, a creative partnership that brings out the funk in both artists.
Their recently released album “Music!Music!Music!” draws on a deep well of haunted songs associated with blues matriarch Bessie Smith, soul queen Nina Simone, bluegrass legends Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard, R&B pioneer Ruth Brown and alt-country goddess Lucinda Williams (with a dash of Terence Trent D’Arby grease thrown in for seasoning).
The London-born, Los Angeles-based Woodward was initially signed to Atlantic in 2003 as a pop ingenue. She released four albums for the label, but she’s impossible to pin down. Over the past 15 years, she’s toured and recorded in jazz, pop, rock and soul contexts, including an extensive run with Pink Martini. She also made a memorable appearance on Snarky Puppy’s Grammy Award-winning album “Family Dinner-Volume 1” (Ropeadope).
Joined by New Orleans drummer Doug Belote, Woodward and Hunter play a series of gigs around Hunter’s former stamping grounds, kicking off Aug. 8 at the Mission District’s Make Out Room. Friday brings the trio to Albany’s Ivy Room. Saturday afternoon, they play the Hammer Theatre as part of San Jose Jazz’s Summer Fest and close out their run Sunday at Novato’s HopMonk Tavern.
Details: 7 p.m. Aug. 8 at Make Out Room, San Francisco; $25; 415-647-2888, www.makeoutroom.com; 9 p.m. Aug. 9 at the Ivy Room, Albany, $25, 510-526-5888, www.ivyroom.com; 1 p.m. Aug. 10 at Hammer Theatre Center in San Jose, part of San Jose Jazz Summer Fest; $30 for all-day festival day pass; summerfest.sanjosejazz.org; 6 p.m. Aug. 11 at HopMonk Tavern, Novato, $20-$25; 415-892-6200, www.hopmonk.com/novato.