Charlie Hunter Quartet to Perform Nov. 17 in Center for the Arts

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo Center for the Arts will present an evening with The Charlie Hunter Quartet. The performance will be held at 8 p.m. Nov. 17 in the Mainstage theatre of the Center for the Arts on the North (Amherst) Campus. Media sponsor for the concert is WBFO-FM.

Returning to UB by popular demand for the third consecutive year, Charlie Hunter plays a unique eight-string guitar that allows him to simultaneously cover deep, rich bass lines with chordal accompaniment and single-note melody lines in a synthesis of jazz, fusion, funk, blues and rock.

The guitarist-bandleader recorded his first Blue Note album in the early 1990s and has gone on to explore different musical territories in each subsequent release, including the just-released "Songs from the Analog Playground," his first recording to feature vocalists.

Hunter will appear at the Center for the Arts in a quartet setting with conga player Chris Lovejoy, drummer Stephen Chopek, and saxophonist John Ellis. The quartet has been together for more than a year, and has played more than 200 shows. Reaching a very diverse audience, Hunter continues to explore what he calls "improvisational-oriented pop music," expanding the palette and reach of jazz to a new generation.

Tickets for The Charlie Hunter Quartet are $16.50 for the general public and $14 for UB students. Tickets are available noon to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday in the Center Box Office and at all Ticketmaster locations, including Kaufmann's and Movies Plus. To charge tickets, call 852-5000; in Canada 1-416-870-8000. For group sales, call 645-6771. For more information call 645-ARTS or visit the center's Web site at http://www.arts.buffalo.edu.