Andrew Hill

[JSngry]

Whatever gets you through the night, man.

[David Ayers]

Hair has a lot to answer for - that's all I'm saying...

[mrjazzman]

Example: "A New Perspective" by Donald Byrd, now there is a set where the voices are in tune and compliment the music as opposed to detract from it

[Hoppy T. Frog]

I've never gotten into Andrew Hill, period. But then, I haven't listened to much beyond Point Of Departure. Still, I'm glad to have seen him solo live shortly before his death.

[JSngry]

Example: "A New Perspective" by Donald Byrd, now there is a set where the voices are in tune and compliment the music as opposed to detract from it

Well hell, if that's what you want, try some Bert Kaempfert!

[Guest youmustbe]

I haven't heard that one in awhile but I dug it at the time.

Andrew sounds better with each passing year. I was close to him for a minute or so...we went to the first Ali-Frazier fight together after hearing Ahmad Jamal at the The Top Of The Gate playing the Fender Rhodes. Andrew couldn't believe that Ahmad would switch.

I remember hearing Andrew with Robin Kenyatta, another of my budies, Woody, Richard Davis, Chambers etc and the few other gigs he did around that time...with Manny Boyd, Charlie Haden, Marvin Patillo etc.

My fantasy is that Andrew had done 10 albums with John Gilmore...Totally sympathico...although Joe Chambers told me that Andrew was full of shit..I asked Joe..'Well how come you took the money and did the dates?...LOL!

[Chuck Nessa]

I knew Andrew a minute too. I was with him when his mother died. He called to thank me in the morning. The 10 dates with Gilmore sound nice. I'll live with the Andrew/Von stuff I have.

edit to say i probably shouldn't have posted this. i may delete it later.

Edited May 17, 2009 by Chuck Nessa

[B. Clugston]

I'm a big fan of Lift Every Voice. "Hey Hey" is a great opener. I find a lot of people criticize this one and Grass Roots for not meeting their expectations of how such sessions should sound. That's not the point with Andrew Hill.

[Chuck Nessa]

I'm a big fan of Lift Every Voice. "Hey Hey" is a great opener. I find a lot of people criticize this one and Grass Roots for not meeting their expectations of how such sessions should sound. That's not the point with Andrew Hill.

these session are Andrew being Andrew. Do what you want with the results.

[David Ayers]

Since people keep mentioning Grass Roots, I'll throw in my 0.02 and say that I love this album. It is always surrounded with apologetics, even in the original liner notes. I don't really understand why. Grass Roots and Lift Every Voice get lumped together as both iffy. Personally I'd put Grass Roots pretty high on the scale of Hill albums. Sure it is more inside than much of his work, but there are some subtle solos from Hill and some great work from the front line on both the sessions included on the CD. The recorded quality is clear and attractive. I'd hate to think anyone was put off hearing this by loose talk!

[Teasing the Korean]

I have a Blue Note Rare Grooves compilation that contains a previously unreleased version of "Soul Special."  Does anyone know anything about this version or the session for which it was recorded?  It clocks in at 8:50.  Recorded April 19, 1968.  The group includes Woody Shaw, Frank Mitchell, Jimmy Ponder, Reginald Workman, and Idris Muhammad.  

[mikeweil]

27 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

I have a Blue Note Rare Grooves compilation that contains a previously unreleased version of "Soul Special."  Does anyone know anything about this version or the session for which it was recorded?  It clocks in at 8:50.  Recorded April 19, 1968.  The group includes Woody Shaw, Frank Mitchell, Jimmy Ponder, Reginald Workman, and Idris Muhammad.  

This session was included as bonus to the CD reissue of Grass Roots, looks like a first attempt at the material_

 

Woody Shaw (tp) Frank Mitchell (ts) Andrew Hill (p) Jimmy Ponder (g) Reggie Workman (b) Idris Muhammad (d) [aka Leo Morris (d) ]

 Englewood Cliffs, N.J., April 19, 1968

2094 Bayou Red (first version)         Blue Note 5-22672-2 [CD] Grass Roots

2095 Venture inward (first version)                -

2096 Soul special (first version)                     -              , B1-35636, 8-35636-2 [CD]

2097 (tk 32) MC                                              -

2098 (tk 33) Love nocturne                             -

[clifford_thornton]

I like that extra material a heck of a heck of a lot.

[Rooster_Ties]

2 hours ago, clifford_thornton said:

I like that extra material a heck of a heck of a lot.

Only recorded session of Hill's entire career that ever included guitar, iirc.

[Shrdlu]

Nice to see a thread about Andrew Hill get bumped.

I still remember a friend bringing "Judgment" and "Point of Departure" around. The "feel" of it reached me staight away and I had to buy my own copies. That was when Rudy pressings were still in print (about 1968): they were just very good LPs then, not holy grails. Both sessions are top-level performances.

I got the Mosaic set when it came out. Its mastering is great. The "Point of Departure" session is haunting, and it leaves the sound of that bass clarinet ringing in my ears. I really miss it when I get to the next session.

Dare I say that I like "Grass Roots" (I only have the CD). That contra-alto clarinet* on "Diddy Wah" is nice, and the session has Ron Carter's superb sound.

___________________________________________

* That size of clarinet is an Eb instrument, a fifth below the regular Bb bass clarinet. I prefer to call it an Eb contrabass clarinet. Since they call the common Bb clarinet a "soprano" clarinet, and since there is an Eb "alto" clarinet a fifth below it, why not continue carrying over the saxophone names? The common Bb "bass" clarinet corresponds to the tenor saxophone (and the reeds of the two are nearly identical) and should be called the tenor clarinet; after all, its top note (easy to get) is the first Bb above the treble clef. Its range is nearly four octaves. This would permit the "contra-alto" clarinet to be called the baritone, and the Bb "contrabass" clarinet (an octave below the Bb "bass" clarinet) could just be called the "bass". Hey, this will all be on the final test.

[Teasing the Korean]

11 hours ago, mikeweil said:

This session was included as bonus to the CD reissue of Grass Roots, looks like a first attempt at the material_

Thanks.  I don't have that album.  This track doesn't sound like any of the Andrew Hill that I have. 

[sidewinder]

‘Grass Roots’ is damn funky, especially in the initial version. One of my favourite Andrew Hill recordings.

[Guy Berger]

I'd put GRASS ROOTS ahead of DANCE WITH DEATH, if we're talking AHBN Phase 2

[clifford_thornton]

11 hours ago, Rooster_Ties said:

Only recorded session of Hill's entire career that ever included guitar, iirc.

that seems right to me also.

I would buy an LP version of the alternate "Grass Roots" in a heartbeat. 

[soulpope]

2 hours ago, sidewinder said:

‘Grass Roots’ is damn funky, especially in the initial version. One of my favourite Andrew Hill recordings.

Frank Mitchell (!!) ....

[Rooster_Ties]

33 minutes ago, Guy Berger said:

I'd put GRASS ROOTS ahead of DANCE WITH DEATH, if we're talking AHBN Phase 2

Every one of those AHBN Phase 2 dates has something going for it, far as I'm concerned (different things, for different sessions clearly).

I was about to try and detail them all, and what stands out to me on each one -- but based on a quick glance, there's literally 2 or 3 really standout things about each and every one of them.  Some of the most off-kilter contexts you'll ever hear Lee Morgan in, to some of Woody Shaw's most fiery and angular playing of his entire career*.  To Charles Tolliver, certainly in a context that pushed him as well.  (Clearly I love trumpeters playing like they do with Hill.)  The vocals on the two Lift Every Voice sessions take some getting used to, but those dates are so ambitious -- and I still can't fathom if they did the vocals live with the band, or if they were (perhaps?) overdubbed.  String quartets, and that rare piano-trio session from the select.  And those two later dates with Sam Rivers (one of which also has Woody Shaw) -- OMG!  The one with Woody and Sam from Oct 31, 1967 -- even more than a bit under-rehearsed -- is still one of my all-time favorite sessions out of the entire Blue Note catalog (from the Hill BN Select, disc #3).  And Passing Ships, also one of his very best (imho), a few warts and all.

His earlier output for BN is probably the more significant, historically -- but I often find Hill's later BN output the more interesting, simply because he pushes himself (or someone pushed him) more outside of his comfort zone.  (Or did Andrew even ever have a comfort zone?)

*Years ago, I once made a CDR with all of Woody Shaw's solos specifically from all his Andrew Hill appearances -- just the solos, mind you -- and I strung them all together, back to back to back.  I think the whole thing came to about 40 minutes, iirc.  A little surreal, but it was fascinating to hear the ideas just pouring out of him that way.

[felser]

Hill's "Lift Every Voice" is probably my favorite "With Voices" album.  I'm not fond of the genre, but this one is really well done, and well outside the safety zone for those sorts of sessions.