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!
We find this excellent French pianist here in August 1972 in very good company with double bassist Richard Davis and drummer Billy Cobham. Ray Barretto, rather discreet on congas, is there on 3 tracks. Six compositions by Michel Sardaby, as always very melodic themes, great elegance, a fine touch ("Someone Came into My Life"). Richard Davis is still as good as his solo on "The Panther of Antigny" proves. Billy Cobham has the stroking brush and the light wand here. He shows us his rhythmic talent in the intro of "Coulies' Dance" joined by a phenomenal Davis. This record, which is rather melancholic in its first pieces, ends in rhythmic apotheosis (unfortunately interrupted at the end).
This 1974 LP marked a comeback for Jimmy Raney, following his long layoff from the music business in order to make a full recovery from alcoholism. Accompanied by bassist Richard Davis and drummer Alan Dawson, the guitarist is in terrific form as he explores several standards, a bossa nova-flavored "Nobody Else but Me," and a driving take of "Just Friends." He composed the other two works heard on the date. His piece, "'Momentum," is a reworking of an earlier original he called "Motion," both of which are obviously based upon the chord changes to "You Stepped Out of a Dream." "We'll Be Together" is an original ballad…