eMusic Review
Pianist and composer Andrew Hill was one of the great jazzmen of the '60s yet was often overlooked, perhaps because his elusive music never fit comfortably on either side of the bop/free-jazz divide. He wrote in a distinctively knotty style somewhat similar to Eric Dolphy's, working in complex extended harmonic territory, but never discarding tonality entirely. Dusk, released in 2000, was Hill's first recording in ten years, and was unexpectedly named best album of the year by both Downbeat and Jazztimes. The set of eight originals is performed by a supple, virtuosic sextet of highly regarded younger players, who smoothly navigate Hill's thorny three-part horn harmonies, and sound fluidly assured on "Sept" and "15/8," two exhilarating odd-meter workouts. The standout is reedist Marty Ehrlich, who turns in an impassioned, searching alto solo on "Sept." Still, the most intriguing of all the soloists is Hill himself, whose playing is full of cryptic dead-end phrases, and lines that turn sharply back in on themselves with cannibalistic verve.
