Today much of what is popular follows the alternative rock conventions, but the group the Charlie Hunter Trio has found a way to continue making its unique brand of jazz, mixing in some of those classic alternative rock standards.

When Charlie Hunter was 16, he decided that music was his passion, due in large part to his mother making guitars where his family lived in Berkley, Calif. When he turned 18, however, he discovered the joys of jazz music when he heard albums by artists Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. In the early ’90s, Hunter customized his own seven-string guitar and toured through the streets of Paris playing. He returned in 1993 to the states, and after a few months of touring with the band Disposable Heroes, he encountered two fellows who would become the core of his band.

He met up with his old elementary school friend Dave Ellis, who had been the first chair tenor of the Berkley High School Jazz orchestra. They began jamming together, working on jazz sessions to tune into each other’s sound. A little later on they met Jay Lane, a drummer. Together they formed the band the Charlie Hunter Trio.

“We want our audience to know that we are from the 20-something generation, that we share the same experiences as a lot of people our age,” Hunter says on his website, www.charliehunter.com.

After the release of their second album, Bing, Bing, Bing Lane left the band to pursue his own career. He was replaced by drummer Scott Amendola. With the new trio in place, the group began to work on their third project, the new album Friends Seen and Unseen.

This album is yet another great creative achievement for Hunter. The band has come to create a sound that is unlike any other. Their combination of rock and jazz unravels a sound that is compelling to listen to and equally hard to turn off. The combination of the smooth jazz style drumming, the 7-string guitar and a swooning saxophone come together in exact musical harmony. They have created what seems to be a new genre of jazz-rock so fluidly that one might believe it existed from the beginning of jazz.

The track “Darkly” opens with high notes on the saxophone and smooth, soft brush drumming. The guitar plays softly along with the saxophone’s calm intonations in the background. The guitar seems almost non-existent but you can hear it every so often being plucked along. The drums build to a crescendo as the saxophone starts to recede into the background. Soon the guitar comes a little to the forefront, plucking a few notes, before again receding into the background to be replaced by the high pitch of the saxophone. The piece is melodic, not upbeat, but definitely not sad. The drums, while somewhat quiet, are fast enough to give the piece a nice driving beat while the sax, hitting a series of high notes, makes the song a little more mellow, lending the piece a nice, balanced combination.

On the track “My Son the Hurricane,” a soft tapping of the drumsticks on the rim of the drums begins the piece, making it sound like a harder pat. The saxophone is much deeper on this track, more typical of upbeat jazz fare. The guitar seems to become like the saxophone, for the notes played are deep and completely in syncopation with the notes played by the saxophone. When the guitar does play off on its own, it becomes stronger and progresses slightly higher up the frets, evoking a more rock sound. The saxophone takes a backseat for the guitar, which comes in the middle for a solo that is high, fast and intricate, reminiscent of the Allman Brothers’ guitar solos. The drums sticks skate on the symbols and tap along the sides, creating a sound that is a combination of rock, and the drums add a slight sound of jazz, which isn’t overpowering and is almost forgotten by the quite tapping of the drums.

While the jazz sound might not be for everyone, the Charlie Hunter Trio has found a way to make it appealing to rock fans by adding that harsher rock sound and combining it with the more upbeat sound of jazz. The Charlie Hunter Trio is on its way to creating a whole new way to hear the sound of jazz music.