Articles

New sounds and a focus on Bobby Hutcherson

by Bob Osborne
July 4, 2019

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 ...

Bobby Hutcherson tribute at SFJAZZ Center

by David Becker
January 24, 2017

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 ...

Bobby Hutcherson: A Life In Jazz

by AAJ Staff
August 17, 2016

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. ...

Bobby Hutcherson: Somewhere In The Night

by Dan Bilawsky
October 26, 2012

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 ...

Bobby Hutcherson: Wise One

by Ken Dryden
January 18, 2010

Recently named NEA Jazz Master, Bobby Hutcherson has an extensive discography, though opportunities to record as a leader have slowed a good bit since the dawn of the 21st century. Hutcherson is still very much an important vibraphonist, as this excellent tribute to John Coltrane reveals. All nine songs were either written or recorded by Coltrane, though Hutcherson's choice of instrumentation deliberately moves away from the jazz master's typical groups. Guitarist Anthony Wilson takes the place of a second reed ...

Bobby Hutcherson: Pushing The Vibes Forward

by Robert Iannapollo
October 3, 2009

Grachan Moncur III Evolution Blue Note 1963 John Coltrane / Archie Shepp New Thing At Newport Impulse 1965 Bobby Hutcherson Head On Blue Note 1971 Bobby Hutcherson is now comfortably ensconced in jazz history as one of the great vibraphonists of the post-Milt Jackson generation. He ...

Bobby Hutcherson: Head On

by Chris May
May 23, 2008

A brilliant addition to Blue Note's Connoisseur series, Head On not only resuscitates vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson's fascinating but obscure 1971 album of the same name, it also--with 43 minutes of previously unissued material--reveals another album altogether, made during the second half of the same three-day session, of the same high quality but with a markedly different feel.

Both albums feature Hutcherson's regular quintet of the time--with tenor saxophonist Harold Land and trumpeter Oscar Brashear--augmented by horns and percussion ...