aworks :: "new" american classical music

Compulsion (1965). Andrew Hill /links/

1. Destination: OUT - It’s simply the most thrilling four minutes of Andrew Hill’s entire illustrious career.
2. All About Jazz - Any opportunity to hear longtime Sun Ra tenor saxophonist John Gilmore outside the Arkestra context is a special occasion and doubly so here on ample bass clarinet.
3. Amazon - Guitarist Nels Cline is adamant this is not a "tribute record" but just "a view": I'm not sure what the distinction really means, but I guess it's just his way of pointing to the fact that he's not setting out to render these compositions "faithfully".
4. Piero Scaruffi - This was as close to free jazz as Hill would ever get, as if the great hard-bopper had finally exhausted the possibilities of the genre.
5. Dusty Groove - One of the most dynamic albums that Andrew Hill ever cut for Blue Note -- a record of long tracks, played by a largeish group who seem perfectly suited to Hill's most creative musical ideas!
6. Clifford via Bagatellen - I've always found Hill's music "cold," and yet I also am a Hill-60s-completist.
7. Rhapsody Online

Hope (1966). Andrew Hill /jazz harpsichord/

I'm listening for the first time to the late Andrew Hill's Hope from his Changes album. From allaboutjazz:

Available for the first time in its entirety, the aptly titled Change is a rich and complex collection reflecting the gradual shift in Hill's writing from advanced traditional structures to outré forms.

The surprise for me is that Hill switches between piano and harpsichord. I've had to listen to the track three times to warm up to the idea.