Home » Jazz Musicians » Malcolm Hunter

Malcolm Hunter

Keyboardist Malcolm Hunter was born in Queens, NYC, and began playing the piano at 6. He attended Ithaca College on a music scholarship, and performed as a singer/songwriter. He was highly sought out as an accompanist for hire, and subsequently wrote music for dance, film and avant-garde theatre.

After returning to New York City, he performed with the Last Band on Earth, Trancetown Road Show, and Tycoon Dog, in addition to various studio projects and his own gigs over the last 25 years.

He wrote and released "WUNDerground Radio" with Producer Steve Ward, and then, "Tryin' to Sort It All Out", while working in the trio, CoreNYC.

A period of contemplation and soulsearching followed and the inner voices of music turned mute for a while. Familiar with life on the margins, he migrated between the flames and shadows of Hell's Kitchen and the remnants of the East Village squatters scene. Hunter escaped the lure of a blue funk and wrote "Nostalgia In My Square Head."

An homage to Mingus' "Nostalgia in Times Square", NIMSH is a funky, jazz-gospel record about Hell's Kitchen; a journey through the corners of alleys, crash pads and lost time, which features the Makeshift Dream Orchestra.

The Makeshift Dream Orchestra is drummer John Digiulio (from Little Anthony & the Imperials), Victor Wooten prodigy Michael Tiny Lindsey on bass, (most recently on the road with Ryan Shaw), guitarist Jamie Fox, trumpeter Michael Leonhart and guitarist Jon Herington (most notably of Steely Dan). Rounding out the stellar band is all-reed working man Tom Smith, vocalist Melissa Hamilton, blues singer Adira Amram, reggae sensation Meshach, bassist Ivan "Funkboy" Bodley, and trumpeter Rob Henke.

Tags

141
Album Review

Malcolm Hunter: Nostalgia in My Square Head

Read "Nostalgia in My Square Head" reviewed by Gina Vodegel


Every once in a while an album emerges that, in its final form, only seems to touch briefly on the full story behind its inception. Nostalgia in My Square Head is one of those albums. Songwriter/keyboardist Malcolm Hunter may not be known to the public at large as a musician and blues poet, but he has trodden the streets of New York--Brooklyn and Manhattan in particular--as an entertainer since his childhood days in Queens.The sound of the city ...

Read more articles

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Nostalgia in My...

Head Bopping Syndrome
2011

buy

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.