Andrew Hill - Pax (1965 - relased 2006)

Originally recorded in 1965, and released piecemeal on other collections (ONE FOR ONE and MOSAIC SELECT), the sessions for PAX didn't appear in their entirety until 2006. The revered pianist Andrew Hill is in superb company here, with Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Richard Davis, and Joe Chambers on board to help carve out slices of unique, knotty post-bop. Hill is a master of merging the best elements of the avant garde and the mainstream, and the too-long-shelved PAX is proof positive of that skill. Better a Blue Note gem late than never.

Photographer: Francis Wolff.

Personnel: Andrew Hill (piano); Joe Henderson (saxophone, tenor saxophone); Richard Davis (upright bass); Freddie Hubbard (cornet); Joe Chambers (drums).

Liner Note Author: Michael Cuscuna.

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Andrew Hill - Compulsion (1965)

"Compulsion" is one of Andrew Hill's freest and most "out" albums, here re-released by Blue Note in RVG remastered format. It features Andrew Hill (piano) with Freddie Hubbard (trumpet and flugelhorn), John Gilmore (tenor and bass clarinet), Cecil McBee (bass) and Joe Chambers (drums) with added percussion from Nadi Qamar (African drums and percussion) and Renaud Simmons (congas and percussion). Richard Davis plays bass on one track ("Premonition").

The album takes a more uncompromising stance than other free albums by Andrew Hill (such as the excellent "Judgment" or "Pax") but retains coherence, mainly because of the African pulse of percussion that underpins the music, carrying it forward and adding structure. John Gilmore (seldom heard outside of the Sun Ra context) adds to the coherency, allowing Andrew Hill and Freddie Hubbard to stray as far "out" as they wish.

Overall, this is an involving album with more than a hint of a barely restrained melancholy that somehow can't be kept from breaking through the abstraction at the surface.

As the last re-release in his lifetime, it is a fitting tribute to the memory of this great jazz musician and a measure of the continuing challenge of his music.

Personnel: Andrew Hill (piano); Cecil McBee, Richard Davis [track 3](double bass); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet, flugelhorn); Joe Chambers (drums); Renaud Simmons (conga, percussion); Nadi Qamar (percussion, african drums, thumb piano).

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Andrew Hill - Andrew (1964)

ANDREW finds the avant-garde composer and pianist Andrew Hill following up his landmark 1964 LP, POINT OF DEPARTURE, with a more flowing quintet session, featuring the estimable vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and Sun Ra tenor saxophonist John Gilmore (in a rare appearance outside of the Arkestra). This is the Blue Note sound of the '60s at its best, cutting edge yet beautifully produced with room enough for full, exploratory improvisations by all concerned. Hutcherson in particular provides a warm, fluent foil to Hill's more abstract conceptions, and Gilmore's bright tone and energetically structured solos bring even more fire to the mix. Andrew Hill remained somewhat underrated throughout his career, but few musicians of the time possessed his special intellectual integrity, the mark of a true composer. ANDREW captures him in a peak period.

Liner Note Authors: Michael Cuscuna; Don Heckman.

Recording information: Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (06/25/1964).

Photographer: Francis Wolff.

Personnel: Andrew Hill (piano); Richard Davis (double bass); John Gilmore (tenor saxophone); Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone); Joe Chambers (drums).

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