[NewMusic] Fwd: [JPL] Andrew Hill, 1931-2007 RIP

[Phillip Greenlief]

bListers,

That's the worst news yet. Andrew was a really unique composer and
player in the jazz canon.  Remarkable tunes, great groups and
recordings...his playing was so wholly him - I could always hear
influences, but never anything but Andrew Hill coming out of the piano.

I was invited to play one of the Eric Dolphy memorials at (the old)
Yoshi's many years ago. Andrew was also invited and we were all hanging
out at that guy's house that used to run Jazz in Flight...you know, the
tall guy that looks like a contractor. 

Anyway, I got to hang out with Andrew and play with him and that was
such an honor - I was a big fan of those Blue Note records (Compulsion,
Black Fire, Smokestack, Judgement!, Point of Departure...I transcribed a
lot of those tunes back in the day - they're fantastic!), not to mention
those early Roland Kirk LPs that Andrew played on. 

He invited me to come up to Portland and play, and I took him up on
that. He was teaching up there for several years, I don't think many
folks knew he was so close to our scene. Ben Goldberg also hooked up
with him in those days and did that nice concert of Andrew's music at
Yoshi's. Like many great musicians, he was very open to young players
and encouraging, and I think he took his role as a mentor seriously.
Eventually, he was very disappointed with his agreement with the
university up there and moved back to the east coast. I was just getting
up the nerve to call him again to try to go up there to play with
him...alas, it never happened.

I learned a lot from those sessions, especially with regard to economy.
He was playing a lot "less" (on the surface), his style was changing and
he was doing all these things with big chords that changed slowly...not
a lot of singular notes - big blocks of notes - like big slabs of
harmony, shifting and shimmering like jewels reflecting a distant light.
I found it very hypnotic and intriguing and again, wholly unique in
terms of "jazz piano".

I salute him and am so thankful for all I learned listening to his music
and I wish him well on his journey.


PG

-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Damon Smith 
Subject: [NewMusic] Fwd: [JPL] Andrew Hill, 1931-2007 RIP

Begin forwarded message:

>> From Howard Mandel :
>
>
> I've been asked by composer and pianist Andrew Hill's family to 
> announce to
> the press that he died at 4 a.m. today, April 20, 2007, several years 
> after
> being diagnosed with lung cancer. He was 75 years old and lived in 
> Jersey
> City, NJ.
>
>
> Hill, born June 30, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois (contrary to some 
> previously
> published places and dates dates), had a lengthy international career 
> as
> performer and recording artist, and educator (at Portland State 
> University;
> he also gave master classes at New York University, and elsewhere; he 
> leaves
> a voluminous and highly varied recorded legacy, dating from the 1950s 
> (So In
> Love) to his 2006? trio album Time Lines (Blue Note), named to many 
> critics'
> top ten lists. Hill is survived by his wife Joanne Robinson Hill, and
a
> neice, nephew and cousin, besides a devoted coterie of friends, 
> typically
> creative artists and perceptive fans.?
>
>
> As announced on April 11, Andrew Hill will receive an honorary 
> doctorate of
> music degree from Berklee College of Music at commencement May 12; 
> other
> honorees "for their achievements in the world of music, and for their
> enduring contributions to American and international culture"?this 
> year are
> Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and The Edge; this distinction has 
> perviously
> been extended to Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Quincy 
> Jones
> and Ahmet Ertegun, among a few others. A press release from Berklee is
> attached, or can be obtained.
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++