Andrew Hill--composer

[bertrand]

1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Cal Massey left behind a really solid body of work, but only had one record under his own name. He had to depend others recording his work, and although he had some amazingly heavy hitters doing that.. they all had their own careers and music's to take care of.

Archie Shepp probably(?) was the most regular advocate, but... 

I was surprised Blue Note never put together a 'Blue Note plays Cal Massey' compilation CD. They did a Beatles one.

Yes, it is too bad Cal rarely got to record his music but he was well served by the heavy hitters. Is it possible they did not quite play it the way he intended it to be played? Maybe. But when you have Wayne tearing it up on Assunta like he does, I can't imagine it played any better. Whew.

Zane Massey has a project called Cosmic Surf Club that mostly plays Cal's music. I doubt that is the way Cal intended it to be played 😀

[Milestones]

Conrad Herwig has done many albums based on single composers--doing it with the "latin side" method: Coltrane, Miles, Shorter, Silver.  Maybe Hill and Mingus are on the horizon.  

[JSngry]

2 hours ago, bertrand said:

Yes, it is too bad Cal rarely got to record his music but he was well served by the heavy hitters.

He was, but the lack of a leader presence kinda leaves a diffuse picture of who "Cal Massey" was, doesn't it? It's almost he was a songwriter, not a singular composer.  

[bertrand]

Have you heard the Black Liberation Movement Suite, a release that Fred Ho supervise? Definitely highlights Cal as a composer.

[Holy Ghost]

Reminding myself, what an incredible artist he is (still is), and what an impact he has had on my musical enrichment. Still blows my mind to this day:

[Holy Ghost]

2 hours ago, Holy Ghost said:

Reminding myself, what an incredible artist he is (still is), and what an impact he has had on my musical enrichment. Still blows my mind to this day:

But I am ahead of myself, now:

 

 

[Rooster_Ties]

Just happened to listen to Dance With Death on my hour-long walk to work this morning.  My “Billy Harper” Pandora station randomly served up the last DWD track to me, so then I streamed the entire thing.

The best thing about Hill — especially his entire first run on Blue Note — is how even after 30 years of listening to Hill, even now I can’t anticipate where individual solos are going from moment to moment (unless I can remember where they’re going).

Nothing obvious, and his music (and the solos of his collabators) are almost entirely bereft of clichés.  Hill is almost always like a breath of fresh air.