RIP Bobby Hutcherson

[Alyn_Shipton]

Died yesterday according to SF jazz website.

[Alyn_Shipton]

Requests to JRR welcome...

[Serial_Apologist]

RIP, my favourite vibes person.



Reunited with the vibes of the Cosmos.

[Ian Thumwood]

I don't think that there are many albums made in the 1960s, let alone on Blue note, that are quite as brilliant as Bobby Hutcherson's "Happenings." I discovered this whilst reading a review in one of the broadsheets one Saturday morning in a nearby pub in Hursley and being intrigued why such an obscure Blue Note record should receive such s glowing review. The album may be obscure but I think it is one of those records that anyone who has heard it will become a massive advocate. The combination of Hutcherson with Herbie Hancock represents the pianists best work outside of Miles' quintet of the time and the two musicians really compliment each other. There was a similar line up on "oblique" which is perhaps a smidgeon less impressive but "Happenings" for me would be the one record I would choose to demonstrate that post-bop in the 1960's was often far more adventurous and rewarding than so much of the Free Jazz of the time. It is like all four musicians understand the liberty aspect of the music but have the nous to take the harmonic language with them. Added to this is the fact that the music is just so hugely enjoyable.

I must admit that Hutcherson's playing on Dolphy's "Out to lunch" would never be the example I would choose to demonstrate is craftsmanship. Whilst I can appreciate this disc, it is not an album that I particularly love and it was only when I was electrified by seeing Hutcherson perform live with McCoy Tyner when they toured the "Land of Giants" album that I became huge fans of both players. By 2001, both Tyner and Hutcherson had become very much elder statesmen and part of the mainstream but I think in both cases there is much more to their work than either the 60's Blue Notes or Coltrane quartet suggest - especially in the case of the pianist who combines muscular swing with a kind of Romanticism that you might associate with Chopin. In Hutcherson's case, he could produce "outside" records like "Dialogue" but was also accomplished in more straight ahead scenarios.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"We are heartbroken to announce the loss of our dear friend, jazz legend Bobby Hutcherson, who passed peacefully on Monday, August 15 at age 75, surrounded by his family and loved ones.

The most accomplished vibraphonist and composer to emerge in the latter half of the 20th Century, Bobby redefined the role of the instrument in modern jazz, bringing new levels of technical mastery and harmonic sophistication that had never been heard before. Inspired by Modern Jazz Quartet vibraphonist Milt Jackson, he made his recording debut with pianist Les McCann in 1961 and began an unprecedented 24-year association with the Blue Note Records label on saxophonist Jackie McLean’s 1964 landmark One Step Beyond.

From the crucial harmonic structures and pointillistic stabs of color on Eric Dolphy’s avant-garde masterpiece Out To Lunch and his soloistic fire on Joe Henderson’s epochal Mode For Joe to the soul jazz grease of Donald Byrd’s Ethiopian Knights, Bobby made indelible contributions to over 250 albums during his Blue Note tenure, and led 23 recordings that introduced the world to the standards “Little B’s Poem,” “Bouquet,” “Components,” “Montara,” and others." - SF Jazz.

One of the true masters and the dates with Jackie always my personal soundtrack. Depth, innovation, integrity, feeling, swing and tenderness. A giant.

BN.

[Richard Barrett]

the crucial harmonic structures and pointillistic stabs of color on Eric Dolphy’s avant-garde masterpiece Out To Lunch

That's the album that did most to turn me on to Hutcherson's work: no less than a reinvention of the instrument and a vast expansion of its musical range, together with a completely individual sense of rhythm, colour, melody and ensemble playing.

[Ian Thumwood]

That's the album that did most to turn me on to Hutcherson's work: no less than a reinvention of the instrument and a vast expansion of its musical range, together with a completely individual sense of rhythm, colour, melody and ensemble playing.

I agree but you can also say the same as "Dialogue" which is hardly any inferior to "Out to lunch."

The curious thing about the vibes as they seem to fall in to two camps in modern music. There is "cool and soulful" approach which is typified by Milt Jackson and there is the strident approach typified by Hutcherson on "Out of lunch" as well as the employment of vibes in some many post-war classical compositions. It is strange that the two albums will Hancock ("Happenings" and "Oblique") are not so well known as there are moments on the freely improvised stuff which is far, far more radical and interesting than "Out to lunch" but the absence of horns masks how radical the music is. When I first heard this music it made me think that Hancock was just as radically "outside" as Cecil Taylor and you can certainly hear that the harmonic language that Hutcherson and Hancock employ is far more sophisticated than so much avant garde jazz of that time. I can't imagine anyone stumbling upon "Happenings" for the first time not becoming an immediate convert and the fact that there are essentially only two, front line soloists, makes this the one album that demonstrates what he was all about more than any other. More than any other label, Blue Note has it's advocates for undeservedly neglected albums and if the pairing of Dorham and Henderson is probably the most underestimated coupling of tenor and trumpet, the musical combination of Hancock and Hutcherson is no less inspired in my opinion. I love Hutcherson's work with McLean as well but think Bobby Hutcherson is a playing seemingly at his best when allowed to gel with a piano / bass / drums.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"In-between my five minutes of stage time and taking photos for Steve Turre, I found Bobby backstage and began to wax prolific about Out to Lunch (i.e., "You changed the way I see music," "It's one of my favorite records," etc. etc.). Bobby echoed something he had said in the press a while back (at the Blue Note sort-of reunion thing a while back, where Hutcherson played "Hat and Beard" in a Dolphian quartet with James Newton), which is that he couldn't believe he played so much on that record. It's weird--Out to Lunch is absolutely a maximalist album, but it has moments of tenderness and sublime rhythmic hookup that a lesser chordal improviser would have completely disfigured.

Hutcherson was clearly still proud of that music..." - From a tribute on Organissimo. ("Epistrophy ")

I'd also give a mention to the Quintet he co-led with Harold Land. " Total Eclipse " is superb and the live late 60s Antibe Festival material is phenomenal. Hell of a band also including Stanley Cowell and Joe Chambers.

BN.

[Richard Barrett]

I agree but you can also say the same as "Dialogue"

Not in the sense I meant, which is that the expansion of possibilities took place at the time of the Out to Lunch! sessions, with Dialogue following a little while later. Having said that, I'm grateful for the reminder of Dialogue and Happenings which I need to renew acquaintance with.

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks Ian for drawing attention to "Happenings", not previously known to me, as is so often the case - 3 tracks from which are to be found on the link below (if I've transcribed it right!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKH5aGvoQl8&list=RDBKH5aGvoQl8#t=49

I was lucky to pick up "Dialogue" a couple of years ago for a fiver from the second-hand rack in Ray's Records.

[burning dog]

I guessed Bluesnik would mention "One Step Beyond"

Here they are on that record playing "Ghost Town" (a special kind of madness in the air but not much hint of Ska)

[burning dog]

A rhythm section of Larry Young, Hutcherson and Elvin, perhaps not the kind of music you'd expect hearing those names, but shows what remarkable bands Blue Note could record, a lot more light and shade on this album than some GG albums

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Significant how many musicians and contemporaries of that era died from the complications of emphysema etc. Bobby, David Fathead Newman, Harold Land, Joe Henderson... I presume it was the environment of the then smoked filled clubs. Although my mother died from the same but she never played Birdland!

BN.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Can never get enough of those dates. "Evolution" is the one often overlooked with some great and surprising Lee Morgan... "I didn't know I could play like that!"

BN.

[Tenor Freak]

Found out belatedly about the very sad passing of Bobby H - easily one of my favourite musicians, in any genre. I don't think I've heard anything of his which I didn't like. Love his Blue Notes, I enjoyed the Timeless All-Stars stuff and SF Jazz Collective stuff too. First heard him on Out To Lunch - at times he's sounds like he's trying to break the vibes, but his commentary on the music is compelling.

One aspect of his playing I think does not get enough praise is his comping style - most of the time he kept out of the way of the piano but when he was the only polyphonic instrument he really could lift a piece with the shimmering textures of the vibes. Here is a superb example (see also "Evolution" as mentioned by Bluesnik above - particularly "Monk in Wonderland" with its evil progression moving between 3/4 and 4/4).

RIP Bob.