Jubu Jubu Smith

• 1Hamster Wheel04:58
• 2Jubu’s Poem06:37
• 3Carroll Drive05:52
• 4Kwik-Way Nostalgia07:32
• 5Organizations Sake05:04
• 6EG Is Here08:03
• 7Extreme Pleasure05:12
• 8At Long Last03:40
• 9McLeansville Blues05:56
• 10Totally Convicted08:19
• Total Runtime01:01:13

Info for Jubu

Sought-after artist teams with Charlie Hunter for new album on Little Village

Jubu Smith’s journey in the music industry is a testament to his exceptional talent and versatility as a guitarist. At the age of 19, Jubu embarked on a remarkable decade-long tenure as the guitarist for Tony Toni Toné, laying down infectious rhythms and captivating audiences with his soulful melodies. Following this, he embarked on a prestigious world tour with Whitney Houston, further cementing his reputation as a sought-after musician.

For the past 15 years, Jubu has been a constant presence on the international music circuit, mesmerizing audiences with his performances alongside Frankie Beverly & Maze. His contributions extend beyond the stage, as he has lent his talents to recording sessions with renowned artists such as Luther Vandross, Mary J. Blige, Boyz II Men, Toni Braxton, George Duke, and George Benson. In addition to his collaborative work, Jubu has also pursued solo endeavors, emerging as a solo artist and fronting his soul-blues bands, including Legally Blynd & The Jubu Smith Experience. These projects showcase his musical depth and feature a lineup of exceptional musicians, including his brother Eric “Pik Funk” Smith and Carl Wheeler.

In 2024, under the Little Village, Jubu embarked on a new musical venture, teaming up with GRAMMY-award winner drummer Calvin Napper (notably MAZE with Frankie Beverly, Stephanie Mills, Donnie McClurkin) and three-time GRAMMY nominated guitarist/producer Charlie Hunter to create an authoritative groove guitar album titled “Jubu.” This collaborative effort highlights their mastery of the guitar and their innovative approach to groove-based music, further solidifying Jubu’s status as a true luminary.

Jubu Smith, guitar
Charlie Hunter, guitar
Calvin Napper, drums

John “Jubu” Smith
has worked as a sideman for 41 of his 45 years, beginning as a harmony vocalist in his father’s Oakland gospel quartet before adding bass, then guitar, to his responsibilities in the group. At 19, he began playing guitar for the Oakland R&B band Tony Toni Toné, whose front man, Raphael Saadiq, he’d known since both were kids playing on the local quartet circuit.

Smith spent a decade with the Tonies before going on the road for a year and a half with Whitney Houston. For the past 15 years, he’s been touring internationally eight months per year, primarily on weekends, with Maze, featuring Frankie Beverly. Those credits don’t include countless recording sessions with the likes of Luther Vandross, Mary J. Blige, Boyz II Men, Toni Braxton, George Duke and George Benson.

Jubu, who moved from Los Angeles to Atlanta two years ago with his wife and three children, is establishing himself as the front man of his own soul-blues band, Legally Blynd, a sextet that includes his brother Eric “Pik Funk” Smith (Rihanna’s bassist for the past eight years) and others who work as sidemen for Stevie Wonder and Saadiq. He’s cut way back on doing sessions, although he has recorded during the past year with Eric Benet, K. Michelle.

Charlie Hunter
As a young guitarist growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Charlie Hunter was looking for a way to stand out in the ’80s. His primary influences were jazz great Joe Pass and the fluid Tuck Andress (of the guitar/vocal duo Tuck & Patti), both six-string guitarists who were adept at blending bass notes into their standard guitar melodies to make themselves sound like two musicians at once. But Hunter wanted to take it one step further, and set out to find an instrument on which he could simultaneously function as both a guitarist and a bassist. For his self-titled 1993 debut CD, Hunter played a seven-string guitar for the duality effect, locking down the bottom with drummer Jay Lane and mixing melodically with saxophonist David Ellis. But on his trio’s 1995 sophomore release, Bing, Bing, Bing!, Hunter unveiled his custom-made Novax eight-string, the guitar that finally allowed him to realize his capacity. Designed by Ralph Novak, the instrument featured special frets and separate signals for its guitar and bass portions. Picking bass notes with his right thumb while fretting them with his left index finger (while at the same time fingerpicking guitar chords and single notes with his right hand’s remaining four digits as he frets with his left hand’s other three fingers), Hunter achieves the real sound of two-for-one.

Hunter played with the side group T.J. Kirk in the mid-’90s, a band that derived their name from the cover material they exclusively played: Thelonious Monk, James Brown, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Initially wanting to call themselves James T. Kirk before being threatened by the Star Trek TV and film series, T.J. Kirk released a self-titled 1995 debut and the 1996 follow-up, If Four Was One, before disbanding. Hunter took drummer Scott Amendola with him for his next project, an ambitious instrumental remake of Bob Marley’s Natty Dread album in its entirety. Also featuring saxophonists Kenny Brooks and Calder Spanier, the 1997 release beat the odds by becoming arguably Hunter’s best album. After Spanier died from injuries sustained from being hit by a car, Hunter moved east to New York, taking Amendola with him. Teaming with vibraphonist Stefon Harris and percussionist John Santos, Charlie Hunter & Pound for Pound’s 1998 CD Return of the Candyman is dedicated to Spanier. A departure from Natty Dread, mainly due to the work of Harris, the disc featured a vibes-heavy cover of Steve Miller’s “Fly Like an Eagle.”

Hunter’s modus operandi had now become shifting personnel changes, and in between tours he recorded a 1999 duo CD with drummer/percussionist Leon Parker and a self-titled 2000 CD that featured Parker and an otherwise ensemble cast. Hunter also contributed greatly to the 2000 comeback CD by drummer Mike Clark, Actual Proof. Hunter concluded his run at Blue Note with 2001’s Songs from the Analog Playground, which saw him collaborating with vocalists for the first time, ranging from labelmates Norah Jones and Kurt Elling to Mos Def. 2003 found Hunter with a new label (Ropeadope) and two new bands (the Charlie Hunter Quintet) on Right Now Move, and the beginning of Groundtruther, a partnership with percussionist/composer Bobby Previte. They released Come in Red Dog, This Is Tango Leader before adopting the Groundtruther moniker. For 2003’s Friends Seen and Unseen, it was back to the Charlie Hunter Trio, with drummer Derrek Phillips and saxman John Ellis, both members of the Quintet. By now, Groundtruther had taken on a life of its own, with Hunter and Previte joined by a rotating third member. Latitude was first, in 2004 with saxophonist Greg Osby, followed by Longitude with DJ Logic in 2005.

In 2006, the Charlie Hunter Trio resurfaced with Copperopolis and almost immediately announced that it was disbanding as Ellis wanted to further pursue a solo career. What to do? Form another trio! After recruiting Erik Deutsch on keys and Simon Lott on drums, they released Mistico in the summer of 2007, Hunter’s first album for Fantasy. ~ Bill Meredith & Sean Westergaard

This album contains no booklet.