Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Andrew Hill: A Beautiful Day

165

Andrew Hill: A Beautiful Day

By

View read count
Andrew Hill: A Beautiful Day
"There is plenty going on," designated cheerleader Stanley Crouch informs the reader, on composer / pianist Andrew Hill's latest album, A Beautiful Day, which showcases Hill's sixteen-piece big band in a concert performance last January at New York's famed Birdland nightclub. "With a vision given to great plasticity," Crouch writes, "[Hill] has found his own ways to reinterpret 4/4 swing, the blues, the romantic or meditative ballad, and the Afro-Hispanic rhythms that have almost invariably connected one generation of Jazz musicians to those who preceded them... [he] loves to imply the obvious and allude to the profound as much as he enjoys any particular form or groove." In other words, the more impenetrable the prose, the less likely it is that the band will swing. Granted, Hill is a respected musician—has been for years—so he must surely have a game plan.

While some may find his approach to big-band composition fresh and exhilarating, others (this listener included) may be left scratching their heads and wondering what the... is happening. There is, as Crouch affirms, "plenty going on." The question is, exactly what does it mean? There is ample huffing and puffing, banging and braying, but to what purpose? There's not much in the way of engaging melody anywhere to be found, nor is there any indication of a steady rhythmic pulse that one can readily put his or her finger on.

On the other hand, if one wishes to ascertain the upper and lower limits of the baritone sax, he (or she) need only listen to J.D. Parron's over-the-top discourse on "J Di." Hill's "Divine Revelation" is more earthy than sacred, while "A Beautiful Day" is besmirched by murky ensemble passages and tedious solos by tenor Greg Tardy, trumpeter Dave Ballou and altos Marty Ehrlich and John Savage. "Faded Beauty" does have its moments (lovely flute work by Savage, appropriately restrained comments by Ehrlich, on bass clarinet, and Hill) but "Bellezza," after an auspicous start, quickly jumps the track and careens wildly toward adversity, escorted by trumpeter Ron Horton and tubaist Jose D'Avila.

"5 Mo" takes up where "Bellezza" left off, with brass, reeds and rhythm producing an abundance of noise but not much entertaining music (our opinion, of course, as is everything else in this review; please listen for yourself and draw your own conclusions). Hill does have a well-developed sense of humor, we're told, which may account for why the album's cover photo is upside down. Even more meaningful, to me, is Crouch's assertion that Hill approaches the work of composition "using the improvisational languages of John Coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman and Don Ellis"—I never understood any of them either.

Track Listing

Divine Revelation, Faded Beauty, Bellezza, 5 Mo, New Pinnochio, J Di, A Beautiful Day, 11/8.

Personnel

Aaron Stewart: tenor saxophone.

Album information

Title: A Beautiful Day | Year Released: 2002 | Record Label: Palmetto Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.