Freckles and Filigree

At times the pianist sounds like Oscar Peterson or early Dave Brubeck, as he lays down a firm base of intricate rhythms and unpredictable chord progressions. The right hand produces a steady, lilting melodic line that can flow from originals to classic themes--as in Chopin Prelude/ How Insensitive, which leads from an E minor prelude into a bossa nova favorite with a similar mood and melody. Pretty good for a 15-year-old. As Critic Leonard Feather puts it, by the time Craig Hundley is old enough to shave, he might well be the best-known pianist in jazz.

Ninety pounds of boyish energy, red hair and freckles, Hundley is the most sophisticated new jazz artist now playing on the West Coast. Since forming his own trio last May, he has made one swinging LP, Arrival of a Young Giant (World Pacific), and on a single day last July he appeared on three major network programs: Showcase '68, the Today show and Johnny Carson. He was a smash at the Hollywood Bowl and the Monterey Jazz Festival. Last week the Craig Hundley Trio * set off on a tour of the Midwest with Singer Johnny Mathis and his band. As they say in show biz, Craig Hundley is on a hot roll.

Precocious. The streak has been going for nearly seven years. In 1961, a Los Angeles photographer spotted Craig and his younger brother Chris, then four and every bit as much of a freckled carrottop, and put them into commercials. Soon both boys were in demand as child actors. Craig has had child leads in Gunsmoke, Lassie and Run for Your Life, and in October he appeared in Star Trek. As actor and pianist, Craig has earned well over $200,000 so far, and he owns an apartment house in the Los Angeles suburb of Sherman Oaks.

Craig lives with his family in Van Nuys, gets top marks in the tenth grade of Grant High School. His father, a onetime jazz saxophonist, recently gave up his job as an insurance agent to manage his son's business affairs. A precocious student (his IQ is 184), Craig started taking classical piano lessons at nine, switched to jazz at twelve after listening to the cool, cerebral playing of Bill Evans. Soon there were other models: Peterson, Peter Nero, George Shearing. "For a while," Craig admits, "I sounded like those guys, but now it's my own sound."

Political Activist. Not quite. There is still a lot of Peterson to be heard when Craig's fingers embellish a tender ballad with filigree tinsel. But there is a lot of Mozart in early Beethoven too, and nobody complains much about that. As a pianist, Craig lacks only the maturity that age will bring. And nobody in the music world doubts his ability to get exactly what he wants.

To prove it, his parents like to recall his days as a political activist. During the 1964 presidential campaign, Craig went to work for the Lyndon Johnson campaign headquarters in Van Nuys. Later, Craig dropped the President a note: "I'll support you again in 1968, if you'll promise to support me in 1988." Sure enough, Craig was invited to the inauguration. When he stepped off the plane back in Los Angeles, half the student body from his school was there to meet him with signs reading "HUNDLEY FOR PRESIDENT--1988." Craig liked that. As he is well aware, careers in show business did nothing to harm the political ambitions of George Murphy and Ronald Reagan.

* Gary Chase, 15, on drums, Wilford Chapron, 16, on bass. Wilford joined the trio on the Mathis tour, replacing Craig's original bassist, Jay Jay Wiggins, 12.

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