Andrew Hill (June 30, 1931Mandel, Howard (April 20, 2007) "Andrew Hill: 1931–2007" All About Jazz. Retrieved April 20, 2007. During his lifetime, Hill's year of birth was always given as 1937. – April 20, 2007) was an American jazz pianist and composer.
Jazz critic John Fordham described Hill as a "uniquely gifted composer, pianist and educator" although "his status remained largely inside knowledge in the jazz world for most of his career."
Hill recorded for Blue Note Records for nearly a decade, producing a dozen albums.
Biography Early life Hill was born in Chicago, Illinois, to William and Hattie Hill. He had a brother, Robert, who was a singer and classical violin player.Feather, Leonard. Original liner notes to Judgment! Hill took up the piano at the age of thirteen, and was encouraged by Earl Hines. As a child, he attended the University of Chicago Experimental School.Spellman, A. B. Original liner notes to Black Fire. He was referred by jazz composer Bill Russo to Paul Hindemith, with whom he studied informally until 1952.
While a teenager, he performed in rhythm and blues bands and with touring jazz musicians, including Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. Hill recalls some of his experience as a youngster, during a 1964 interview with Leonard Feather: "I started out in music as a boy soprano, singing and playing the accordion, and tap dancing. I had a little act and made quite a few of the talent shows around town from 1943 until 1947. I won turkeys at two Thanksgiving parties at the Regal Theatre," parties sponsored by the newspaper Chicago Defender, which Hill coincidentally used to sell on the streets.
Career In 1950, Hill learned his first blues changes on the piano from the saxophonist Pat Patrick and in 1953, he played his first professional job as a musician, with Paul Williams' band. "At that time", he recalls, "I was playing baritone sax as well as piano." During the next few years, the piano gigs brought him into contact with many musicians, some of whom became relevant influences: Joe Segal and Barry Harris, among others. In 1961, after travelling as an accompanist for Dinah Washington, the young pianist settled in New York City in 1961, where he worked for Johnny Hartman and Al Hibbler, then briefly moved to Los Angeles County, where he worked with Roland Kirk's quartet and at the jazz club Lighthouse Café, in Hermosa Beach.
Hill first recorded as a sideman in 1954, but his reputation was made by his Blue Note recordings as leader from 1963 to 1970, which featured several other important post-bop musicians including Joe Chambers, Richard Davis, Eric Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Elvin Jones, Woody Shaw, Tony Williams, and John Gilmore. Hill also played on albums by Henderson, Hutcherson, and Hank Mobley. His compositions accounted for three of the five pieces on Bobby Hutcherson's Dialogue album.Litweiler, John (1984), The Freedom Principle: Jazz After 1958. Da Capo, pp. 116–118
Hill rarely worked as a sideman after the 1960s, preferring to play his own compositions. This may have limited his public exposure. He later taught in California and held a tenure-track faculty appointment at Portland State University from 1989 to 1996. While at PSU, he established a Summer Jazz Intensive program, in addition to performing, conducting workshops and attending residencies at Wesleyan University, the University of Michigan, the University of Toronto, Harvard University, Bennington College and other schools."Andrew Hill: Biography" Boosey & Hawkes Retrieved August 14, 2008.
Hill's album Dusk was selected best album of 2001 by both DownBeat and JazzTimes; and in 2003, Hill received the Jazzpar Prize. Hill's earlier work also received renewed attention as a result of the belated release of several unissued sessions recorded in the 1960s for Blue Note, notably the ambitious large-group date Passing Ships. In 2004, he appeared on SOLOS: The Jazz Sessions. As a consequence of his renewed prominence, a new Blue Note album titled Time Lines was released on February 21, 2006.
His final public performance was on March 29, 2007, at Trinity Church in New York City.
Private life It was while working at the Lighthouse Café, in Hermosa Beach that he met his future wife, Laverne Gillette,Original liner notes to Smokestack. at the time an organist at the Red Carpet. They married in 1963 and moved to New York.
Laverne died following a long illness in California, where the couple had settled, in 1989. He married dancer/educator Joanne Robinson Hill in Portland in 1992. They moved to New York City in 1995. From 2000, Hill and his wife lived in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Andrew Hill suffered from lung cancer during the last years of his life. He died at his home in Jersey City, New Jersey."The State of Jazz: Meet 40 More Jersey Greats", The Star-Ledger, September 28, 2003, backed up by the Internet Archive as of September 27, 2008. Accessed September 15, 2017. "Andrew Hill -- Pianist and composer Hill, who lives in Jersey City, is an artist who can meld the past modes of jazz with its current streams."
In May 2007, he became the first person to receive a posthumous honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music.
Playing style Hill's main influences were pianists Thelonious Monk, Bud Powell and Art Tatum. "Monk's like Ravel and Debussy to me, in that he put a lot of personality into his playing [...] it's the personality of music which makes it, finally," he said in a 1963 interview with A. B. Spellman. Powell was an even greater influence, but Hill thought that his music was a dead end: "If you stay with Bud too much, you'll always sound like him, even if you're doing something he never did." Hill referred to Tatum as the epitome of "all modern piano playing".
Discography As leader Recording dateTitleLabelYear releasedNotes 1959So in Love Warwick1960Trio, with Malachi Favors (bass), James Slaughter (drums) 1963-11Black Fire Blue Note1964Quartet, with Joe Henderson (tenor sax), Richard Davis (bass), Roy Haynes (drums) 1963-12Smoke Stack Blue Note1966Trio, with Richard Davis/Eddie Khan (bass), Roy Haynes (drums) 1964-01Judgment! Blue Note1964Quartet, with Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Richard Davis (bass), Elvin Jones (drums) 1964-03Point of Departure Blue Note1965Sextet, with Eric Dolphy (flute, bass clarinet, alto sax), Joe Henderson (tenor sax), Kenny Dorham (trumpet), Richard Davis (bass), Tony Williams (drums) 1964-06Andrew!!! Blue Note1968Quintet, with John Gilmore (tenor sax), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Richard Davis (bass), Joe Chambers (drums) 1965-02Pax Blue Note2006Quintet, with Joe Henderson (tenor sax), Freddie Hubbard (cornet), Richard Davis (bass), Joe Chambers (drums) 1965-10Compulsion!!!!! Blue Note1967With John Gilmore (bass clarinet, tenor sax), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet, flugelhorn), Richard Davis (bass), Joe Chambers (drums), Nadi Qamar (conga, percussion), Renaud Simmons (conga) 1966-03Change Blue Note2007Quartet, with Sam Rivers (tenor sax), Walter Booker (bass), J. C. Moses (drums); first issued as Sam Rivers's album Involution 1968-04, 1968-08Grass Roots Blue Note1968Some tracks quintet with Frank Mitchell (tenor sax), Woody Shaw (trumpet), Reggie Workman (bass), Idris Muhammad (drums); some tracks sextet, with Jimmy Ponder (guitar) added; some tracks quintet with Booker Ervin (tenor sax), Lee Morgan (trumpet), Ron Carter (bass), Freddie Waits (drums) 1968-10Dance with Death Blue Note1980 LT series. Quintet, with Joe Farrell (soprano sax, tenor sax), Charles Tolliver (trumpet), Victor Sproles (bass), Billy Higgins (drums) 1969-05, 1970-03Lift Every Voice Blue Note1970With Carlos Garnett (tenor sax), Woody Shaw (trumpet), Richard Davis (bass), Freddie Waits (drums), Benjamin Franklin Carter, Joan Johnson, LaReine LaMar, Gail Nelson, Antenett Goodman Ray, Ron Steward and Lawrence Marshall (vocals) 1969-11Passing Ships Blue Note2003With Dizzy Reece and Woody Shaw (trumpet), Joe Farrell (alto flute, English horn, bass clarinet, soprano sax, tenor sax), Howard Johnson (bass clarinet, tuba), Robert Northern (French horn), Julian Priester (trombone), Ron Carter (bass), Lenny White (drums) 1974-10 Invitation SteepleChase 1975 Trio, with Chris White (bass), Art Lewis (drums) 1974-12, 1975-01Spiral Freedom1975Some tracks quartet, with Robin Kenyatta (alto sax), Stafford James (bass), Barry Altschul (drums); some tracks quintet, with Lee Konitz (soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax), Ted Curson (trumpet, fleugelhorn, pocket trumpet), Cecil McBee (bass), Art Lewis (drums) 1975-02Blue Black East Wind1975Quartet, with Jimmy Vass (flute, soprano sax, alto sax), Chris White (bass), Leroy Williams (drums) 1975-07 Divine Revelation SteepleChase 1975 One track solo piano; some tracks quartet, with Jimmy Vass (flute, soprano sax, alto sax), Chris White (bass), Leroy Williams (drums) 1975-07Live at Montreux Freedom1975Solo piano; in concert 1975-05, 1975-07Hommage East Wind1975Solo piano 1976-01Nefertiti East Wind1976Trio, with Richard Davis (bass), Roger Blank (drums) 1978-10From California with Love Artists House1979Solo piano 1980-06Strange Serenade Soul Note1980Trio, with Alan Silva (bass), Freddie Waits (drums) 1980-06Faces of Hope Soul Note1980Solo piano 1986-07 Shades Soul Note 1987 Some tracks trio, with Rufus Reid (bass), Ben Riley (drums); some tracks quartet, with Clifford Jordan (tenor sax) 1986-07Verona Rag Soul Note1987Solo piano 1989-01Eternal Spirit Blue Note1989Quintet, with Greg Osby (alto sax), Bobby Hutcherson (vibes), Rufus Reid (bass), Ben Riley (drums) 1990-07, 1990-09But Not Farewell Blue Note1991Two tracks solo piano; one track duo, with Greg Osby (alto sax); most tracks quintet, with Osby (alto sax, soprano sax), Robin Eubanks (trombone), Lonnie Plaxico (bass), Cecil Brooks III (drums) 1993-03Dreams Come True Joyous Shout!2008Duo, with Chico Hamilton (drums, percussion) 1998-02Les Trinitaires Jazzfriends1988Solo piano; in concert 1999-09, 1999-10Dusk Palmetto2000Two tracks solo piano; most tracks sextet, with Marty Ehrlich (bass clarinet, alto sax), Greg Tardy (bass clarinet, tenor sax), Ron Horton (trumpet), Scott Colley (bass), Billy Drummond (drums) 2002-01A Beautiful Day Palmetto2002With big band; in concert 2003-04The Day the World Stood Still Stunt2003With Thomas Agergaard (flute, tenor sax), Peter Fuglsang (clarinet, bass clarinet, alto sax), Liudas Mockunas (clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano sax, baritone sax), Staffan Svensson (trumpet), Klaus Löhrer (bass trombone, tuba), Scott Colley (bass), Nasheet Waits (drums), Lenora Zenzalai Helm (vocals); in concert 2005-06, 2005-07Time Lines Blue Note2006One track solo piano; most tracks quintet, with Greg Tardy (clarinet, bass clarinet, tenor sax), Charles Tolliver (trumpet), John Hebert (bass), Eric McPherson (drums)
Source:
Compilations One for One (Blue Note, 1975)[2LP] The Complete Blue Note Andrew Hill Sessions (1963-66) (Mosaic, 1995)[7CD/10LP] Mosaic Select 16: Andrew Hill (Mosaic, 2005)[3CD] Mosaic Select 23: Andrew Hill-Solo (Mosaic, 2007)[3CD]
As sideman With Walt Dickerson To My Queen (New Jazz, 1963) – rec. 1962
With Roland Kirk Domino (Mercury, 1962)
With Jimmy Woods Conflict (Contemporary, 1963)
With Hank Mobley No Room for Squares (Blue Note, 1964) – rec. 1963
With Joe Henderson Our Thing (Blue Note, 1964) – rec. 1963
With Bobby Hutcherson Dialogue (Blue Note, 1965)
With Russel Baba Earth Prayer (Ruda Music, 1992)
With Reggie Workman Summit Conference (Postcards, 1994) – rec. 1993
With Greg Osby The Invisible Hand (Blue Note, 2000) – rec. 1999
Notes
References
External links
Official site Andrew Hill discography Washington Post obituary RBMA Radio On Demand, Andrew Hill Tribute