Andrew Hill - Passing Ships (1969)

This larger group session was recorded for Blue Note in 1969 but had to wait until 2003 to see the light of day. It was worth the wait, since PASSING SHIPS is one of composer-pianist Andrew Hill's most varied and distinctive efforts. Actually, the group here isn't all that big when you check the lineup, but Hill's skillful writing makes it sound as if we're listening to a more spacious ensemble. In addition, he makes most effective use of reedman Joe Farrell's multi-instrumental talents here. Not only does Farrell excel in the usual tenor and soprano saxophone roles but it's his English horn that sings the plaintive theme on the title track and his dusky alto flute that establishes the mood of the exotic "Noon Tide." The writing throughout is fresh and, most of all, coherent, which can't be said for all free-jazz endeavors of the era. But Andrew Hill had a particular knack for making the avant-garde a part of the mainstream. With PASSING SHIPS, he joins the ranks of Mingus and Gil Evans as a great composer-arranger for large forces.

Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on November 7, 1969. Includes liner notes by Michael Cuscuna.


Audio Remixer: Malcolm Addey.

Liner Note Author: Michael Cuscuna.

Recording information: Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (11/07/1969-11/14/1969).

Photographer: Francis Wolff.

Personnel: Andrew Hill (piano); Joe Farrell (soprano & tenor saxophone, alto flute, bass clarinet, English horn); Woody Shaw, Dizzy Reece (trumpet); Bob Northern (French horn); Julian Priester (trombone); Howard Johnson (tuba, bass clarinet); Ron Carter (bass); Lenny White (drums).

JazzTimes (02/04, pp.113-14) - "Hill's writing is excellent, both in terms of the widely varied heads and the backup horn parts that punctuate the solos."

DOWNLOAD HERE

Andrew Hill - Grass Roots (1968)

Words by Andrew Hill: "Before this, I had been trying to gratify myself as a musician. It's inevitable, I guess, in the process of finding yourself as an artist you have to keep on proving yourself, testing your skills. But that kind of self-absorption tends to leave out a large number of people. I felt finally that the time had come for me - and perhaps for jazz - to make an album like this. I'm not proving myself here. I'm not concerned with what may or may not be hip now or in the future. I want to give something. I want to reach out from myself to make people happy who listen to this. That's what grass roots are in music. Getting down to the basics, getting down as deep as you can into feeling."

"I tried to write each [song] as lyrically as possible, but each in a different mood. The title song came to mind when I was in Central Park one day just watching some animals. Looking at them, I thought that human beings consider animals naive, but how naive we are! We are almost down to the question of the very survival of the human race and yet there are people - I call them 'high school intellectuals' - totally immersed in the divisions between people on the basis of color or class or whatever. And then I saw some kids playing together in the park. They were of different races, but they were having a great time. There was no malice, no animosity among them. Where they were, the way they were acting, are to me the real roots of mankind. So, what the song is about is that rather than being consumed by rage or, for that matter, rather than proclaiming 'love' for everyone, I just wanted to tell about life as it really is. And you know, real life isn't bad at all."

Tracks 1-5: Lee Morgan [trumpet], Booker Ervin [tenor sax], Andrew Hill [piano], Ron Carter [bass], Freddie Waits [drums]. Tracks 6-10: Woody Shaw [trumpet], Frank Mitchell [tenor sax], Jimmy Ponder [guitar], Reggie Workman [bass], Idris Muhammad [drums].
Recorded April 19 [6-10] & August 5 [1-5], 1968, at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.

DOWNLOAD HERE