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It's hard to believe that pianist and composer Andrew Hill has been playing for almost 50 years now. He first come to prominence in the jazz world in the early 1960s, when he recorded a number of excellent albums for Blue Note, including the classic Point of Departure. He then kept a much lower profile, recording sporadically. But over the last few years, he started performing more regularly and recorded a new sextet recording, Dusk (Palmetto), in 2000. In recent years he has become somewhat of a mentor and inspiration to younger musicians.
He and his sextet performed in Philadelphia twice last year, most recently in a concert at the Painted Bride Art Center on December 8th that was even better than his fine appearance last Spring at the Afro-American Museum during the Mellon Jazz Fest. At the Bride show his band was tight and playing at its peak. Hill seemed in a good mood and took obvious pleasure in introducing the musicians. (However, he didn't announce the titles of any of the compositions.)
The first set featured several of Hill's rich and complex compositions. These long tunes had unpredictable structures—they didn't employ the overly used cliche of head, solos, head. The concert started with Hill playing an angular melody accompanied by rumbling bass notes on the piano. He was soon joined by Scott Colley on bass and then drummer Nasheet Waits. The horns then played the melody line over some sparse piano comping. As the other musicians dropped out, Aaron Stewart and Marty Ehrlich took tenor and alto sax solos employing wriggly phrases with developing momentum. Then the bass and the rest of horns came back in with a cacophony of horns and the piece faded to a close.
The second composition started with the three horns, then the piano came in, followed by a piano and alto sax duet. Hill struck some rich, ringing chords on the piano. Ehrlich's bluesy alto sax solo employed some expressive overtones and split notes. The horns and bass came back in and then the horns dropped out as Hill played a solo accompanied by bassist Colley. Hill's solo was dissonant and disturbing, yet ruminative and ultimately hopeful. After the drums and horns came back, there was a tenor sax solo, then the whole group came back in and the piece ended.
Hill's announcement that the next tune started with solo bass surprised Colley, who gets a nice sound on the bass—with a rich and deep tone. After Colley's solo, the drums and piano came back in and then the horns. Ehrlich switched to bass clarinet and had a solo which reminded me of Eric Dolphy's expressive intervalic playing. Hill then took another piano solo accompanied by bass and drums and was followed by an abstract flurry of notes from Horton's trumpet solo. The rest of the horns came back in; there was a tenor sax solo over bowed bass; then the whole group played the melody over some driving and exuberant drumming. The piece quieted down and the horns dropped out for a drum solo and finally the sextet came back in with the theme.
The group came back after a brief six or seven minute break and played a quiet, almost ballad-like composition. The piece had a piano introduction and then went into a bass clarinet solo played over double bass and drums. The piano came back in for a short solo followed by a driving drum solo that served as the introduction to the last piece as the whole sextet joined in. There was a tenor sax solo, then the horns alternated short solos with the drums using the piece's short melodic phrase and the set came to a close. (Alas, I couldn't stay for the second set.)
Hill's group gave an exhilarating performance of his fascinating compositions. Hilll's playing is quite interesting—sometimes I feel that Hill isn't playing the melody of his tunes as much as discovering it as he picks and probes and explores. This was one of the best jazz concerts of 2002. I'm looking forward to the release of Hill's recently recorded big band recording.
— Alan Lankin, April 2002
Andrew Hill in Concert at the Painted Bride Art Center, Philadelphia, 8 Dec. 2001
Personnel:
Marty Ehrlich (alto sax and bass clarinet) / Ron Horton (trumpet) / Aaron Stewart (tenor sax) /
Scott Colley (bass) / Nasheet Waits (drums)
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last update 27 April 2002