But Andrew Hill

Anyone familiar with Andrew Hill's music will find the cover to Andrew!!! a little bizarre, to say the least. Hill was one of the most intense and cerebral musicians on Blue Note's roster, incorporating avant-garde and modal techniques into his adventurous post-bop. The cover to Andrew!!! apparently is an attempt to humanize Hill. ~ AllMusic

Andrew Hill - Smoke Stack (1963) {Blue Note Japan TOCJ-4160 rel 1994}
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© 1963, 1994 Blue Note / Toshiba-EMI Japan | TOCJ-4160
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

A fantastic session by this groundbreaking modernist – essentially a piano trio album, but recorded with two bass players – Richard Davis & Eddie Kahn – one of whom plays rhythm, the other who solos along with Hill. The result is one of Hill's darkest piano outings, brought even deeper by the bass accompaniment, and the lack of any other horns to support the set. The album includes Hill's brilliant "Ode to Von", dedicated to Von Freeman, one of his early teachers – plus the tracks "Verne", "Not So", "Wailing Wall", and "The Day After".

For this quartet date, the great and innovative pianist/composer Andrew Hill performs "Here's That Rainy Day," and his powerful 25-minute opus "Divine Revelation," and three more concise originals with a quartet; an alternate take of "July 10th" was added to the CD reissue. In addition to Hill, bassist Chris White and drummer Leroy Williams, the set features a completely obscure but reasonably talented altoist (Jimmy Vass) who also is heard on soprano and flute and seemed to have really dug into the essence of Andrew Hill's complex but logical music.

Andrew Hill - But Not Farewell (1990) {Blue Note CDP 7 94971 2}
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© 1990 Blue Note / Capitol | CDP 7 94971 2
Jazz / Post Bop / Piano

This is a recommended set of stimulating post-bop jazz. Andrew Hill's highly distinctive piano playing and unusual compositions hint at the past while following their own rules. The feeling of polyrhythms is present in several of Hill's seven compositions on this CD. The tightness of the bass-drum team (Lonnie Plaxico and Cecil Brooks) is quite impressive, as is the blend of Robin Eubanks' warm trombone and Greg Osby's alto.

Andrew Hill - Compulsion (1965) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD UCCQ-5118 rel 2015} (24-192 remaster)
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© 1965, 2015 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | UCCQ-5118
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

Features SHM-CD format and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. One of the most dynamic albums that Andrew Hill ever cut for Blue Note – a record of long tracks, played by a largeish group who seem perfectly suited to Hill's most creative musical ideas! There's an approach here that almost predates some of the more righteous soul jazz ensemble sides of the 70s – as Hill's piano leads a octet that features Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, John Gilmore on tenor and bass clarinet, Cecil McBee and Richard Davis on basses, Joe Chambers on drums, and Nedi Quamar and Renaud Simmons on percussion. The percussionists roll out with quite a bit of presence in the set – not so much as on some of the Art Blakey percussion sides for Blue Note, but more with a pronounced sense of "bottom" that you might not always hear from Hill – an earthy, sometimes organic way of riffing that then allows freer solo work from the horns and piano on the top!

Andrew Hill - Grass Roots (ft. Lee Morgan) (1968) {2000 BN Connoisseur CD Series}
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© 2000 Blue Note / Capitol | 7243 5 22672 2 4 | 24-bit remaster
Jazz / Post Bop / Piano

As the '60s drew to a close, Blue Note spent less time than ever with adventurous music, since it didn't sell as well as soul-jazz or mainstream hard bop. So, it may seem a little strange that the label invited Andrew Hill back to record in 1968, two years after he last cut a session for the label. Hill's work for the label stands among the most challenging cerebral post-bop of the '60s, but there was another side of Hill that wasn't showcased on those records: He also had a knack for groove and melody, as indicated by his composition "The Rumproller," a hard-grooving hard-bop classic made famous by trumpeter Lee Morgan.

Augmenting his rhythm section of bassist Richard Davis and drummer Elvin Jones with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, pianist Andrew Hill records an excellent set of subdued but adventurous post-bop with Judgment. Without any horns, the mood of the session is calmer than Black Fire, but Hill's compositions take more risks than before. Close listening reveals how he subverts hard bop structure and brings in rhythmic and harmonic elements from modal jazz and the avant-garde. The harmonic structure on each composition is quite complex, fluctuating between dissonant chords and nimble, melodic improvisations…

Andrew Hill - The Day the World Stood Still (2003) {Stunt Records STXCD 20412}
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© 2003 Stunt Records | STXCD 2041
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

When Rossini was asked for his opinion of Wagner, he replied, “Wagner has some beautiful moments, but many boring hours.” At first hearing Andrew Hill’s latest, recorded because he won the Jazzpar Prize, I was tempted to be equally flip about the CD. But there’s an inherent danger in commenting on first hearings, particularly when there’s so much going on in the music. There is always a gap between innovation and acceptance. Think about the 1913 premiere of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” Fistfights broke out at the Paris concert hall; today its language sounds pretty tame. The language of this recording is so highly personal, so mystical, it requires careful, repeated listening until the fog lifts.

Andrew Hill - Andrew!!! (1964) {Blue Note Japan SHM-CD UCCQ-5115 rel 2015} (24-192 remaster)
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© 1964, 2015 Universal Japan / Blue Note | BN 75th The Masterworks | UCCQ-5115
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

Reissue. Features the high-fidelity SHM-CD format (compatible with standard CD player) and the latest 24bit 192kHz remastering. Quite possibly our favorite album ever from pianist Andrew Hill – a really unique outing that features the vibes of Bobby Hutcherson and a rare non-Sun Ra appearance by tenorist John Gilmore! The presence of Hutcherson brings a real "new thing" energy to the album – a feel that's similar to Bobby's classic Dialogue album, of which Hill was such an important part. But the searching tenor of Gilmore also brings a striking new level to the session as well – and his solos open up with a raw, earthy quality that really shades in the album with a great deal of feeling. Gilmore's role here is a bit like that of Joe Henderson on his freer Blue Note material – but his sound still undeniably unique, at a level that really makes us wish he'd recorded more albums like this at the time. The tracks are all originals by Hill, and include the titles "Duplicity", "Black Monday", "The Griots", and "Le Serpent Qui Danse". CD features 2 bonus alternate takes too!

Andrew Hill - Dance With Death (1968) {2012 Blue Note Japan BNLT Series TOCJ-50282}
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© 1968, 2012 Blue Note / EMI Music Japan | TOCJ-50282 | 24bit remastering
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Piano

Andrew Hill's Dance with Death, recorded in 1968 with a stellar band, was not issued until 1980. In the late 1960s, Blue Note was no longer the most adventurous of jazz labels. While certain titles managed to scrape through – Eddie Gale's Ghetto Music did but only because Francis Wollf personally financed it – many didn't. The label was firmly in the soul-jazz groove by then, and Hill's music, always on the edge, was deemed too outside for the label's roster. Musically, this is Hill at his most visionary. From hard- and post bop frames come modal and tonal inquiries of staggering complexity.