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Bobby Hutcherson

Bobby Hutcherson is an NEA Jazz Master

NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician.

Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, "I only played piano for my own enjoyment." Returned to the vibes after hearing the music of Milt Jackson. "One day I was walking down the street and I heard one of his records and that started it I have never tried to directly copy his style, but he's been a great influence on me…” He briefly studied the vibes with Dave Pike.

While still a teenager, Hutcherson worked around Los Angeles with such top musicians as Charles Lloyd and Curtis Amy. In 1960 he toured the country with a group led by AI Grey and BilIy Mitchell before settling in New York in 1961. He worked on and off with Jackie McLean for a year, quickly earning a reputation for his full, fresh sound on an instrument that was still a rarity in jazz. From the 1960's he played with some of the leading New York players, such as Hank Mobley, Archie Shepp, Eric Dolphy, Charles Tolliver, Herbie Hancock and Grachan Moncur, III. He began recording as a sideman during this period, appearing on records with Eric Dolphy, Dolly McLean, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Dexter Gotdon, Andrew Hill, McCoy Tyner and Grant Green.

In 1964, at the age of 23, Hutcherson won the Downbeat critic's poll as "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" on the vibes. The following year he played with Gil Fuller's big band at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and cut his first recording as a leader, Dialogue, on the Blue Note label. He continued to record with Blue Note for the next twelve years. During this time Bobby released two masterful recordings for Blue Note Records “Stick Up!” and “Dialogue” that would define the vibraphone as a jazz instrument for decades to come.

From 1967 to 1971 he led a quintet with Harold Land. Among those who belonged to the group as sidemen were the pianists Chick Corea, Stanley Cowell, and Joe Sample; the double bass players Reggie Johnson and Albert Stinson; and the drummers Donald Bailey and Billy Higgins.

Hutcherson moved to San Francisco in 1971 and won the International Jazz Critic's Poll as the "World's Best Vibest." During the '70s and '80s he performed and recorded regularly as a guest or co-leader, appearing on records with McCoy Tyner, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. He signed with Columbia in 1978 & and recorded the highly acclaimed “Highway One Conception: The Gift of Love” and “Un Poco Loco”. In 1979 he performed as part of an all-star jazz group at the historic Havana Jam Music Festival in Cuba. From 1981 he toured internationally and made recordings as a member of the Timeless All-Stars, with Harold Land, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Buster Williams and Billy Higgins.

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Album Review

Tony Williams: Life Time & Spring Revisited

Read "Life Time & Spring Revisited" reviewed by Maurizio Comandini


Tony Williams è uno dei più importanti batteristi della storia. Non solo del jazz, ma della musica in generale. Solitamente questa considerazione, ampiamente condivisa, fa riferimento alla sua lunga esperienza come batterista dei quintetti di Miles Davis della seconda metà degli anni sessanta ed eventualmente al suo ruolo di leader del gruppo Tony Williams Lifetime nato nel 1969 e durato un paio d'anni. Due contesti di assoluta eccellenza che quindi giustificano il giudizio dal quale siamo partiti. Questa ottima ristampa ...

8
Album Review

Anthony Williams: Life Time & Spring Revisited

Read "Life Time & Spring Revisited" reviewed by Chris May


Drummer Tony Williams' first two albums as leader, recorded for Blue Note in 1964 and 1965--Life Time when he was only eighteen years old, Spring when he was nineteen--still sound delightfully fresh all these years after their original release. At the time he made them, Williams was a rising star with Miles Davis' second and third quintets, the first a short-lived unit with saxophonist George Coleman, the second a longer lasting one with Wayne Shorter. One of ...

26
Album Review

Joe Henderson: The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions

Read "The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions" reviewed by Scott Gudell


If an artist stamps his jazz passport with any one of these labels--Blue Note, Verve, Milestone--it's pretty much a guarantee that you've arrived in style. Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson has traveled with all three and more. The 2021 reissue from the prestigious Mosaic Records focuses on Henderson's 1960s tenure with Blue Note offers a new opportunity to experience an abundance of rich and creative jazz from the decade. Big band and bop were duking it out in the ...

1
Radio & Podcasts

New sounds and a focus on Bobby Hutcherson

Read "New sounds and a focus on Bobby Hutcherson" reviewed by Bob Osborne


Three classic tracks from vibes master Bobby Hutcherson plus new music from Angelika Niescier, Matthias Spillman and Ocean Fanfare, with a selection of other jazz treats. Playlist Angelika Niescier “The Surge" from New York Trio (Intakt) 00:00 Matthias Spillmann “Peace" from Live at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club (Clean Feed) 09:53 Ocean Fanfare “We Can't Stop Now" from First Nature (Barefoot Records) 16:06 Regina Carter “Day Dreaming on the Niger" from Reverse Thread (E1 Entertainment) 21:37 Stefano Bollani ...

4
Live Review

Bobby Hutcherson tribute at SFJAZZ Center

Read "Bobby Hutcherson tribute at SFJAZZ Center" reviewed by David Becker


Bobby Hutcherson tribute SFJAZZ Center jny: San Francisco CA January 21, 2017 I still can't quite believe he's gone. No, not that contemporary American icon. I'm talking about Bobby Hutcherson, one of the greatest practitioners ever of the curious art of making the vibraphone sing and a jazz composer of unparalleled wit and invention. Hutcherson laid his mallets down for good last August, and the world has seemed a measurably ...

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Interview

Bobby Hutcherson: A Life In Jazz

Read "Bobby Hutcherson: A Life In Jazz" reviewed by AAJ Staff


This interview was first published at All About Jazz in February 1999. Listen to any one of Bobby Hutcherson's albums for Blue Note during the mid-'60's and '70's, he made well over thirty, and you will see just why he is the best vibraphonist in jazz. Dialogue with Andrew Hill, Components with a fiery Joe Chambers, and Live at Montreux, all superb. It was a personal honor to get an opportunity to sit down and chat with Hutcherson. ...

2
Album Review

Bobby Hutcherson: Somewhere In The Night

Read "Somewhere In The Night" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


The elder statesman of the vibraphone and the fastest gun in organ town don't seem like ideal partners on paper, but on record they gel quite well. Blue Note vibraphone icon Bobby Hutcherson and the fleet-fingered Joey DeFrancesco initially teamed up for the organist's Organic Vibes (Concord, 2006), and their chemistry was so strong that they couldn't just let that be a one-off pairing. Somewhere In The Night finds them sharing stage space while entertaining adoring fans at ...

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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!

NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, “I only played piano for my ...

1

Recording

Bobby Hutcherson: Oblique

Bobby Hutcherson: Oblique

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

It's so hard to understand why great albums weren't released soon after they were recorded. When the release of superb music was delayed by years, the reason was likely a marketing decision. The decision to delay a release may have been too many albums by the leader or sidemen already in stores. Or an album already out by the leader may selling through the roof and a new release hitting stores too soon would only undercut the former's sales. Or ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!

NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, “I only played piano for my ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!

NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, “I only played piano for my ...

Video / DVD

Five Videos of Bobby Hutcherson

Five Videos of Bobby Hutcherson

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Bobby Hutcherson was one of the finest vibraphonists of the 1960s. His Blue Note albums remain an adventure into modal jazz and the African-American jazz perspective. Here are five videos of Hutcherson in action over the years. He died in 2016 [photo of Bobby Hutcherson by Francis Wolff (c) Mosaic Images] Here's the majestically stormy pianist McCoy Tyner and Hutcherson in 1983 performing Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit (from Tyner's 1973 album Enlightenment) and The Seeker (from Tyner's 1980 album Quartets ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!

NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, “I only played piano for my ...

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!

NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, “I only played piano for my ...

1

Recording

Bobby Hutcherson: The Kicker

Bobby Hutcherson: The Kicker

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

It's unclear why Bobby Hutcherson's The Kicker wasn't released by Blue Note until 1999, despite being recorded in 1963. The album is flawless as far as I can tell. It swings, it's engaging, the musicians on the session were spectacular and there don't appear to be any instrumental errors or microphone snafus. If I were guessing, I'd say the reason might have been because Grant Green recorded Joe Henderson's The Kicker on his Solid album in June 1964 (which then ...

1

Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson

Source: Michael Ricci

All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!

NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, “I only played piano for my ...

2

Obituary

Bobby Hutcherson: 1941-2016

Bobby Hutcherson: 1941-2016

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Bobby Hutcherson, whose swinging, ringing modal approach on the vibraphone not only revolutionized the instrument's role and personality but also soulfully mirrored the tumultuous 1960s and early 1970s, died on Aug. 15. He was 75. Of all the jazz musicians who recorded important albums in the 1960s, Hutcherson (and Wayne Shorter, to some extent) captured a feel that perfectly illustrated the era's growing frustration and confusion. During this period, the artistic landscape shifted in favor of pop, leaving African-American jazz ...

"The picture of cool, except for his arms and hands, which were blurs of movement that work magic." —San Francisco Chronicle
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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Complete Joe...

Mosaic Records
2021

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The Best Of Bobby...

Columbia Records
2014

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Enjoy The View

Blue Note
2014

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Somewhere In The Night

Kind of Blue Records
2012

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Anthology

Il Sole 24 Ore
2011

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Videos

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