Two Tone

One thing that must be said right from the beginning is that, for most of the tracks, it's very different to their previous collaboration 'Loops & Beats'. It is a live album, except the last piece, the tracks being taken from two performances and sound rather improvised. One of these performances was in a church and great use was made of the organ! The first track opens with chord after chord layered on top of one another but before long a sequence can be heard low in the mix. This gradually forces its way to the surface and mutates slowly throughout the piece, reminiscent of Klaus Schulze at times…

Oblique is one of only two quartet sessions the great vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson recorded for Blue Note (the classic Happenings being the other). Both albums featured the seminal pianist Herbie Hancock and drum master Joe Chambers, with the only variable in the line-up here being bassist Albert Stinson. Hutcherson’s breezy opener “‘Til Then,” Hancock’s tremendous “Theme From Blow Up,” and Chambers’ adventurous “Oblique” are standouts of a session that, taken as a whole, is an incredible journey from hard bop grooves to exploratory sonic tone poems. Recorded in 1967, the album wasn’t first released until 1979.