Jazz Articles about Andrew Hill

Andrew Hill: Judgement!

by John Kelman
September 20, 2005

Recorded two months after Black Fire and two months before Point of Departure, Andrew Hill's Judgement!--finally receiving the Van Gelder remastering treatment--demonstrates just how prolific the envelope-pushing pianist was during the '60s. While prolific doesn't necessarily mean good, what is most remarkable about Hill's seemingly endless output on Blue Note between '63 and '69--strangely eluding the accolades he deserved at the time, but finally finding his audience in recent years--is how incredibly consistent it was.

Whether using larger ensembles on ...

Andrew Hill: Mosaic Select

by George Harris
September 7, 2005

After having previously released all of Andrew Hill's 1963-66 work in a seven-CD set, and doling out previously unreleased gems from the Blue Note vaults one at a time, producer Michael Cuscuna has scraped every last piece of remaining music that Hill's fertile mind recorded for Alfred Lion and put it in this limited box set. Some of the finds are nuggets, others sound like scrapings.

The moods are roughly divided into thirds. One third is comprised of ...

Andrew Hill Jazzpar Octet + 1: The Day the World Stood Still

by Rick Bruner
June 27, 2005

Every year the Danish Jazzpar Prize is awarded to a jazz musician selected by the Jazzpar Committee, and a series of concerts is produced to celebrate and showcase the artist. In 2003, Andrew Hill was selected for the award. Stunt Records, a Danish label, has issued a selection of these live performances at venues in Denmark and Sweden. Pianist and composer Andrew Hill's trio with bassist Scott Colley and drummer Nasheet Waits is featured with a stellar group ...

Andrew Hill: Hommage

by John Kelman
March 22, 2005

The wealth of jazz recordings originally released only in Japan, especially during the '70s, has long been a source of angst for collectors, especially given that for many years--outside of the occasional store prepared to bring in these expensive imports--they were virtually unobtainable in North America. Of course, with the advent of the internet, it has become much easier, albeit no less expensive, to obtain such recordings. The good news is that, while there is still a surprising number of ...

Andrew Hill: Mosaic Select 16

by Jim Santella
March 16, 2005

Andrew Hill Mosaic Select 16 Mosaic Records 2005

All but six of the 31 tracks on this 3-CD boxed set from Mosaic have never been issued before. Recorded between 1967 and 1970, the mainstream jazz on Andrew Hill's Mosaic Select 16 represents the last remaining unissued sessions from his Blue Note years. All the compositions are Hill's.

Using a sextet, trio and septet format, the pianist creates torrents of improvised sounds that ...

Andrew Hill: Dance With Death

by John Kelman
December 7, 2004

In a little over seven years beginning in '63, pianist Andrew Hill recorded over a dozen albums as a leader for Blue Note, yet it is only in recent years that the importance of these recordings is being recognized. Although he was overshadowed at the time by more eminently approachable pianists including Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner, the truth is that while Hill's somewhat more oblique style kept him from reaching a broader audience, time and Blue Note's reissue of ...

Andrew Hill: Passing Ships

by Germein Linares
January 17, 2004

As told on Michael Cuscuna's liner notes, the music on Andrew Hill's Passing Ships has gone unheard for 34 years. Thanks to the efforts of both Hill and Cuscuna, the tapes of this 1969 session were properly restored and revived. This music is available for the first time as a limited edition 24-bit re-mastered CD.

Much like the music of Thelonius Monk, Hill's art seems to have always been fully conceived at its inception, requiring little, if any, ...