Andrew's Leaving Point

When I first heard Andrew Hill I was not sure what to think.  I thought his piano playing was nothing I never heard before, but he fit the Blue Note mold quite well.  His music was different in such away that he created his own voice with whatever ensemble he played with.  His compositions were complex but room for the other musicians and himself to explore.  I liked the Jazz he had presented to us and I liked the way he brought a fresh and new sound to an era of Jazz that saw a lot of people in the same vein but he was a unique individual with a hell of a talent.

On his fifth album for Blue Note he made his best work.  It's also the album that I recommend to anyone who has an open ear to Jazz.  It straddles the boundary of Avant-Garde and Post Bop and still creates something new and very awesome.  It is an album that once again like so many albums rewards the repeated listenings by the listener.  My first listen of this album took all ideas that I thought about piano Jazz and threw them out the window.  It's change in time signature and shifts in tone and solos not only by Andrew, but by everyone else is amazing.

The sidemen on this album are not any ordinary side musicians, but like a super Jazz group of the era.  You have people like Eric Dolphy, Joe Henderson, Tony Williams and Kenny Dorham and lastly who is one of Eric Dolphy's go to bass players Richard Davis who also played on Van Morrison's Astral Weeks.  The work like a well oiled machine and a group that I only wish made a follow up album.  Sadly Eric died a year before this album came out.  We can only wish right? 

As I listen to this album why writing this post I realize how ahead of time he really was.  The music here is for any Jazz buff and moreover any Blue Note snob, but I'm sure you know about it.  With each listen and I listened to it twice I could hear things that I don't remember hearing the first run through. Songs like "Refuge" have a classic Blue Note style, but then it turns into a classic Andrew Hill complex composition and even more so with Tony Williams awesome drumming. The group knows how to keep it together with it's wonderful music all over the place and it makes it more of a classic.

So if your ready to be adventurous then this is the album for you.  If you know about this album it's time for another look.  If you love this album then you how great addition the Blue Note discography it is.  Andrew's music is all this good too.  His Blue Note albums are chock full of great pieces of music and there are many more to check out.  If you can find his solo piano albums that are not on Blue Note you can see where he really shines.  This is the one to go to.  Enjoy!