Vijay Iyer and Friends Pay Tribute to Andrew Hill

Eternal Spirit: Vijay Iyer & Friends Celebrate the Music of Andrew Hill
Harlem Stage
New York, NY
March 1, 2024

From the start, "Eternal Spirit: Vijay Iyer & Friends Celebrate the Music of Andrew Hill" was no standard tribute. The show's distinctions crystallized during a sublime, uninterrupted 15 minutes of music near the end of the set—which was the first of two near-sold-out evenings presented at Harlem Stage.

The peak quarter-hour began with a gentle, crystalline opening by pianist Iyer and, with her distinctive articulation and vibrato, flutist Nicole Mitchell, with subtle support from bassist Reggie Workman. Already generationally diverse—Mitchell is 46, Iyer 51, and Workman, 86---the trio were soon joined by two up-and-coming players: Devon Gates a Harvard-Berklee grad who has been in New York only a few weeks, and Yuhan Su, a Taiwan native whose thoughtful playing earned her a spot in the 2023 Downbeat critics' list of rising vibraphone stars.

Gently, the quintet began the beguiling theme to Hill's lilting "Golden Sunset"—arguably among the more melodic and underappreciated compositions of modern jazz—and Su began a long and evolving solo, the effortless range of which belied her age. Then, with drummer Nasheet Waits joining in, Mitchell played another lengthy excursion, teasing and then returning to the piece's theme, before Iyer restated it, too, in tumbling solo variations.

A gem of a composition, a spacious arrangement, distinctive solos, played by an extraordinarily diverse group—three women and three men; three Black players, two Asian ones (Iyer is Indian-American), standard-bearers of the '60s and '70s New York and Chicago scenes along with some of the most promising emerging players of the moment. It was as rich and inspiring as jazz or any other music can be.

As the "Golden Sunset "arrangement underlined, Iyer deployed the talent on the stand as deftly as he'd recruited it, slicing and dicing to create rotating groupings, each lending fresh character and texture to the music. In all, the lineup was an octet, rounded out by Mark Shim on tenor and trumpeter and flugelhornist Milena Casado, who added still more diversity, she being from Spain. Especially affecting was the partnership of Gates and Workman, who doubled up to create a driving but complementary foundation that avoided the overstuffed muddle of some other twin-bass lineups.

The setlist included selections from Hill's early '60s Blue Note excursions and several other albums, including the 1989 triumph after which the evening was named and "Golden Sunset" was drawn, Eternal Spirit (Soul Note Records, 1989). Missing were representations of Hill's many piano trio albums. Though hardly a letdown in such a consistently fine show, it was a bit of a surprise, given Hill's many trio recordings and the fact that Iyer, too, leads an acclaimed trio.

The icing on the evening was the warmth generated by the relationships between Hill and most of the honorers. Workman, Shim and Waits—along with Waits' father, Freddie Waits, a cross-genre drumming stalwart of the '60s and '70s—played with Hill. Iyer considered Hill a "friend, mentor, and supporter," according to the program notes he wrote, which also include possibly the most descriptive and insightful description of Hill's music ever written. And Harlem Stage artistic director Pat Cruz was a friend of Hill's; Iyer even began the show with a solo version of Hill's piece "For Emilio," composed in dedication to Cruz's late husband.

These close personal associations further helped make the evening as much a celebration of community and connections as of a man's music. It also rounded out a New York week for Iyer that was notably busy, even for a guy who seems to thrive on multiple projects, coming less than a week after he performed with Henry Threadgill at the Jazz Gallery.