The James Hunter Six

From Essex, England, the James Hunter Six function as a soul-blues ensemble whose warm, earthy sound supplies refined instrumental support to the ensemble’s singer, songwriter, and guitar-wielding leader. His voice, at once weathered and smoothly buttery, has turned the group into a sensation on both record and stage. The current roster comprises drummer Jonathan Lee, keyboardist and percussionist Andrew Kingslow, baritone saxophonist Lee Badau, tenor saxophonist Damian Hand, and bassist Jason Wilson. Although the musicians have worked together since the 1990s, they first appeared as the James Hunter Six upon signing with Daptone and issuing the Gabriel Roth–produced (credited as Bosco Mann) Minute by Minute in 2013. The band tracked 2016’s Hold On! straight to eight-track tape at Penrose Recorders in Riverside, California, then repeated the method for 2018’s Whatever It Takes.

Following an extensive and highly successful world tour, Hunter relocated to New York and reconfigured the personnel. Before traveling to California to record at Daptone’s Penrose Studios with producer Bosco Mann, he replaced his British sidemen with an American unit drawn from jazz and R&B circles. Behind Hunter’s own guitar and vocals, the refreshed James Hunter Six consisted of Victor Axelrod (piano, under the alias “Ticklah”), Adam Scone (organ), Rudy Albin Petschauer (drums), Myles Weeks (bass), Michael Buckley (baritone saxophone), and Freddy DeBoe (tenor saxophone). The album Nick of Time was announced in December via the rhumba-drenched single “I Can Change Your Mind” and surfaced on Daptone the following March while the group toured the U.S. and U.K., augmented on keyboards by guest Matt Slocum. In late 2021 the James Hunter Six reconvened with Mann to lay down a set of ballads and love songs that Daptone released as With Love on Valentine’s Day 2022.