Andrew Hill

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Point of Departure (1964)

Andrew Hill (born June 30, 1937 in Chicago, Illinois^[1]) is an American jazz pianist and composer.

1 Life and career
2 Discography
3 External links
4 Note

[edit] Life and career

Hill took up piano at 13, and was encouraged by Earl Hines. He was referred by jazz composer Bill Russo to Paul Hindemith, with whom he studied until 1952. While a teenager he performed in rhythm and blues bands and with touring jazz musicians, including Charlie Parker and Miles Davis.

Hill first recorded as a sideman in 1955, but his reputation was made by his Blue Note recordings as leader from 1963 to 1969, 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, and Tony Williams, as well as two of John Gilmore's rare outings away from Sun Ra. Hill also played on albums by Hutcherson (Dialogue, 1965), Henderson (Our Thing, 1963), Hank Mobley (No Room for Squares, 1963), and Sam Rivers (Involution, 1966). His compositions are distinctive and they formed four of the six pieces on Hutcherson's Dialogue. The quality of composition and improvisation on these albums warrants their re-issue by Blue Note Records.

Hill has rarely worked as a sideman since the 1960s. He has preferred to play his own compositions. As a result, his public exposure has been severely limited. He obtained a doctorate in music from Colgate University of Hamilton and served as the university's composer in residence from 1970 to 1972. He later taught in California and at Portland State University. He returned to New York City in 1990.

Hill's compositions have a contemplative mood. He has always been known for the rhythmic and harmonic complexity of his performances and compositions.

Andrew Hill has continued to perform and record, working in the avant garde and modal jazz idioms. His album Dusk was selected as the best album of 2001 by both Down Beat and Jazztimes; and in 2003, Hill received the Jazzpar Prize. As a consequence of his renewed prominence, a new Blue Note album titled Time Lines was released on February 21, 2006.

[edit] Discography

[edit] As Leader

1963 Black Fire
1963 Smoke Stack
1964 Andrew!!!
1964 Judgement!
1964 Point of Departure
1965 Compulsion
1965 Pax
1966 Involution (issued 1976 with previously unissued Sam Rivers album Dimensions and Extensions, which does not feature Hill)
1967-70 Mosaic Select: Andrew Hill (predominantly previously unissued Blue Note recordings, issued 2005)
1968 Dance with Death
1968 Grass Roots
1969 Passing Ships
1969 One For One
1970 Lift Every Voice
1974 Invitation
1974 Spiral
1975 Blue Black
1975 Divine Revelation
1975 Live at Montreux
1975 Hommage
1976 Nefertiti
1978 From California with Love
1980 Strange Serenade
1980 Faces of Hope
1986 Shades
1986 Verona Rag
1989 Eternal Spirit
1990 But Not Farewell
1998 Les Trinitaires
2000 Dusk
2002 A Beautiful Day
2003 The Day the World Stood Still
2006 Time Lines