There are 18 frets on the short-scale neck of the Fender Mustang electric bass guitar. Multiply that by the four strings and you get 72 different fingering positions with which to play 12 notes of the scale.

Now. How many frets on a upright bass? Or a bass viola? Or, for that matter, a tuba?

That’s a complication. Those instruments — although they share the same bottom end tonal properties as the Mustang – don’t have frets.

In other words, although James Hunter, the popular New London native who’s played and taught bass professionally for decades, started out on a Mustang when he was in high school, and long ago moved on to the other instruments, it’s impossible to calculate how many resonant notes his calloused fingers have plucked.

A million isn’t out of the question.

“I don’t mean this in a bad way,” he said over lunch earlier this week, leaning forward so as not to offend anyone nearby, “but I guess I’m a bit of a music whore.” Then he broke into laughter as rich and resonant as the sounds he’ll make Sunday when his J Hunter Group takes its regular onstage rotation in the lounge at Mystic’s Steak Loft restaurant.

Talking with Hunter is a thoroughly enjoyable experience. While his onstage persona is understated and focused, and he is typically quiet and thoughtful, he gets happily animated when talking about music or sharing anecdotes and observation from his career.

Now 69, Hunter continues a professional music career that includes fluency in jazz, classical, blues, R&B and Latin sounds. In addition to his own band — which has a rotating cast but centers around pianist Rufus Davis, saxophonist Steve Marien, drummer Randy Cloutier and vocalist Dawn Dumas — Hunter has over the years performed with a dizzying list of well-regarded names throughout the region. They include the Florence Adams Quartet, the Eastern Connecticut Symphony Orchestra, Jack Madry, the Chris Leigh Band, Kirk Edwards, Lisa Marien, Cedric Mayfield, the Charlie Holland Big Band, Andre Danford, the String of Pearls Big Band, Pat Todd, Tuxedo Junction and many more.

Marien, who’s played over four decades with Hunter in a variety of settings besides the J Hunter Group, has great affection and respect for the bassist. He said, “James is a true student of music. His mastery of his instrument and ability to interpret music from other genres of music in the African-American tradition of jazz is inspiring.

“He has a unique perspective on jazz and his interpretive techniques bring people who have varying backgrounds and musical tastes together through this powerful language. Southeastern Connecticut communities are blessed to be able to enjoy his important contribution to local culture and I am proud to be a part of that.”

In addition to his body of performative work, Hunter taught music to kids in the New London, Groton and New Haven school systems for as long as he’s been onstage. And though he’s retired from the classroom, he still gives private lessons at New London’s String School of Music.

“It’s sort of interesting how it all happened,” Hunter said. “My original idea was just to play music — to be a musician full-time.”

Hunter’s fascination with the art form began when he was a kid listening to the omnipresent radio hits of Aretha Franklin and James Brown — and focusing on the irresistible, shark-bite grooves holding down the bottom end of those songs.

The blue Mustang

And though the New London native started playing piano in the third grade, and still plays keyboards, by the time he entered New London Junior High School — now Bennie Dover Jackson Middle School — Hunter realized, as he said, “Piano isn’t a real social instrument. In order to play with other people, you had to join the band. So that reinforced my desire to play bass.”

In the school music department, the closest he could get to bass guitar was a tuba, which, he figured, might be a short route to bass viola — and by then maybe his folks would figure out they needed to get him a bass guitar.

“They didn’t make that jump,” Hunter laughed over lunch recently. “I had to find my own solution.”

Working part time at Connecticut College in high school, Hunter saved enough to buy a used blue Fender Mustang electric bass and an amplifier and speaker cabinet.

“I paid $300 for it, which doesn’t sound like a lot of money now, but it was then,” he said. “I hadn’t asked my parents, so I decided I’d sneak it in the house. I’m not sure what I was thinking because you were going to be able to hear it, and of course Mrs. Hunter” — his mother — “was going to know if anything new was in her house. ‘Wait till your father gets home!’”

It turned out that both parents were supportive. “I should have asked them first. I was just so focused,” Hunter said. He practiced and listened constantly, picking up on the sophistication of Cole Porter pop, the seductive riffs fueling Elvis and the Rolling Stones, and definitely classical music.

“I loved it all. I’d love to get up on Saturday mornings and watch ‘Leonard Bernstein’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra.’” He laughed. “Occasionally the camera would even do a close up of the bass player!”

To teach or play?

When it was time for college, Hunter earned a scholarship to a music conservatory, and his parents were impressed by his commitment and accomplishments. Still, they were concerned about the shifty stereotypes associated with musicians’ lifestyles.

“What they had seen were drunks and questionable people — and they were certainly out there — and they were understandably protective of me about that,” Hunter said.

He ended up going to Central Connecticut State University in Hartford studying for a music degree and a teaching certificate.

“I was a little naïve,” Hunter said. “I thought the education program in music was just as good as attending conservatory. What I didn’t realize is that I could have put a lot more time in on my instrument if that’s all I had to focus on — like the conservatory players. But if studying to make good grades in math and psychology and even sociology meant exposure to a broader curriculum, it still meant less time on music.

“At Central, they were making music teachers, not performers. But I did spend a lot of time sneaking over to the Hartt School to see what was going on with the REAL bass players!”

While he was at Central, Hunter formed his first band, which played at a local coffee house. He wrote out charts for his band members — mostly material he already knew since there were no computers and he had limited access to recordings of new songs that might be learned.

“I kept it to what we knew because, even though I was unexperienced, I didn’t want people in the audience to watch us and think, ‘What the heck are they DOING?’”

Defining ‘music’

After graduation, wanting to get out in the world a bit, Hunter went to Eastern New Mexico State to study music theory — only to discover he wasn’t particularly interested in “writing it all down,” that he was more determined to learn jazz and the art of improvisation. He was accepted to the music school grad program at the University of Michigan.

“I was starting to think a lot about music, what it IS and means,” Hunter said. “To me, a real good answer is that music is ideas being made or performed as they happen. If you write that down, it becomes a composition, which is fine, but if you’re making music in the moment with other players, it can be improvisation. That’s the exciting part.”

One other epiphany occurred to Hunter after he’d advanced to a real music program in Michigan. “The best bass players I met were not in music school.” That laughter again. “The were out playing.”

‘You’ll never work again!’

A break came when Hunter was offered a gig in a band playing Mexican music — polkas and mariachis — for a company that booked tour overseas. Hunter was joining a band that would play Korea, Japan and Hawaii.

At the first stop in Korea, things were fine until, suddenly and for no reason Hunter could discern, they were put on a plane back to the States. “We were met at the airport by reps from the booking agency I thought maybe they were going to congratulate us or offer a bigger gig or something,” Hunter said. “Instead, they called us the lowest scum they’d ever worked with. I had no idea what they were talking about, and I thought, ‘I didn’t play THAT badly, did I?’”

It turned out that two of the musicians were orchestrating a scheme to bring illegals back to the states for a quick and fraudulent marriage/divorce scam.

“It was pretty early in my career to hear someone tell me, ‘You’ll never work in music again!’” Hunter said, grinning and shaking his head.

With that, Hunter headed back to New London and set about establishing a two-pronged career. Over 37 years, he taught kindergarten, elementary and middle schoolers all manners of chorus, strings, band and general music. And in terms of performance, he became an in-demand player who stayed — and stays — as happily busy as he wants. He’s been married, has three adult sons, and had mostly great times.

Jack Madry, pastor at Madry Temple in New London and a superb professional pianist whose repertoirs extends from bop to standards to gospel, said, “I’ve been performing with James as well as attending his classical performances over 30 years. As great as he is he’s forever learning. Simply never stops !”

And Lisa Marien, a music teacher/choral director for the New London Public School System and a highly regarded jazz/pop vocalist, said, “All of the solo/duet concerts (my husband) Steve (Marien) and I did for the Norwich Arts Center from the 1990s through about 2010 were backed by some iteration of the J Hunter Group,” vocalist Lisa Marien said. “Jim is a humble leader who embraces the value of EVERY musician he works with — from beginner to seasoned pro — while continually working to hone his own craft.”

“There were a few moments in the ’70s when I went through what I like to call American Apartheid — when I could tell patrons or band leaders or whomever didn’t like the color of my skin,” he said, “but overall it’s been a wonderful experience. Musicians love people and there’s just something about music that makes people happy. I think I’ve been lucky to see that in schools and with children and of course just onstage, playing.”

If you go

Who: The J Hunter Group

When: 5-8 p.m. Sunday

Where: Steak Loft, 27 Coogan Blvd., Mystic

How much: Free

For more information: streakloftct.com, (860) 536-2661