Carnival of Soul

Back in 2008, Van Hunt had an album ready to be released. Called “Popular,” it was his third album but his first on Blue Note Records, the legendary jazz label.

But, then, it didn’t happen. At the time, media conglomerate EMI (which owned Blue Note) launched a restructuring plan that meant laying off a large number of employees. And, sadly, singer-songwriter-multi-instrumentalist Van Hunt and “Popular” got lost in the shuffle. “Blue Note and I are not seeing each other anymore,” Hunt wrote on his MySpace blog about the situation.

Cut to 2017. “Popular” was finally released digitally, mostly thanks to contemporary jazz artists like Nicholas Payton and Jason Moran saying they were fans. Hunt was relieved the album finally saw the light of day and also glad other artists spoke up about it. “Both of them said they look at the album as bridges between the jazz world that they came from and the new kind of R & B/soul/futuristic music that they were heading towards.” Hunt says, on the phone from Atlanta.

The Dayton, Ohio native has always been a performer whose unpredictable nature has made him a cult fave among artists and listeners. His first two albums, his self-titled 2004 debut and “On the Jungle Floor” in 2006, had him dipping into various genres — rock, funk, soul, jazz — that most likely had record execs wondering how they were going to market this guy. But, for Hunt (who has written and produced songs for such artists as Rahsaan Patterson and Dionne Farris), it’s always been about seeing where the music takes him.

“When I’m sitting down writing,” he explains, “I don’t utilize any of those rules about whether or not, you know, the guitar is distorted or whether it’s a clean guitar or whether the beat is something that is black, per se. I honestly look for things — that sound — that resonate with me, and I assume that they will resonate with other human beings. And I know that I’m right about that. It’s not a matter of doubt about what I’m feeling and whether or not it will connect with other people. It is whether or not it will connect with them in the time in which you might need to sell a record.”

These days, the 49-year-old Hunt is taking all this music stuff in stride, especially now that he’s an independent artist and has learned more about the industry. “The larger part is that I understand more of the interactions now between myself and my music and the music as marketing and promotional product,” he says. “I understand so much more about the business, things that probably should’ve been explained to me before going into a major-label system. Things that, had they been explained to me, probably would’ve made for a healthier kind of association and relationship — not just for me, but for other artists as well.”

Hunt has also recently re-recorded some previous material. His latest release, “Trim (The Reimagined Van Hunt)” is basically a remixed, stripped-down version of his debut album. “It was an idea my current manager had, because I think he felt that if I were to remake those songs, he could find some space with which to license them and work those songs,” he says. “Because that record — the masters are still owned by, you know, a corporation and, sometimes, that makes it difficult to move the music around and get it into movies and things. So, I think, for him, it was just an opportunity to say, ‘Hey, it’s the 15th anniversary. You should go in and recut these tunes.’ I’m sure he didn’t think I was gonna go in and completely redo them and make some of them unrecognizable.”

Even though he has gone back and redone his old music in a new, lo-fi, low-budget fashion, Van Hunt believes that, whether you’re on a major or doing it all yourself, you’re always going to have to work getting you and your music out there. You just have to make sure you’re taking the best route for yourself.

“Even now, as an independent artist, I’m not even anywhere near where I started before I was as a major-label artist,” he says. “All three of those transitions, from being an unknown artist to a major-label artist to an independent artist, they are really very different. It’s hard to compare them, to be honest. I know that I’m happier than I’ve ever been before — more satisfied and gratified.”

Craig Lindsey is a Houston-based writer.

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