Booker's Waltz

Listening to Eric Dolphy for the first time in a few months. I forgot about his brilliance on the Five Spot recordings from 1961. Ed Blackwell and Mal Waldron are unforgettably splendid here, although the inimitable sounds of Dolphy are the highlight. There has never been and never shall be another Eric Dolphy.

Eric Dolphy's Hat and Beard: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk

A playful free piece in tribute to Thelonious Monk, though lacking any piano, has a strong walking bassline played by Richard Davis and the rest of the band. Bobby Hutcherson’s vibes are perfect here, representing  quirky, piano-like sound and the needed dissonance comes from the chorus. Dolphy solos first on his bass clarinet, squeaking, scratching, and employing other forms of dissonance while Richard Davis lays down a groovy bassline and Tony Williams swings away, in a strange march-like rhythm. Hutcherson’s input comes  in the form of background on the vibes, and all the while Dolphy keeps on blowing. After his solo, Freddie Hubbard comes in and another bass figure is represented, sounding almost “Spanish,” and Hubbard shows that he can handle himself in the commanding, difficult post-bop, free jazz world of the 1960s. Meanwhile, Williams speeds things up, Hutcherson’s seemingly misplaced vibes kick in, and Hubbard continues blowing his trumpet in all sorts of runs, sounding boppish at times, but Hutcherson takes over in a series of disjointed notes while Davis continues in a similar bassline, possibly using a bow and Williams seems to be using mallets instead of usual drumsticks. Hutcherson’s quirky, almost disjointed playing seems completely random, but goes well with Williams’ drumming, and the ominous bassline of Davis kicks in alone. Though Monk distanced himself from free jazz for its atonality in the 1960s, I like to think he loved hearing this number, so playful, featuring collective improvisation, and a jazz portrait of a legend. Dolphy’s jarring solo, which sounds like he’s enjoying himself and the voice-like sounds he emits, is not too hard on the ears like some free jazz, and Hubbard’s solo is within that ill-defined territory between bop and free jazz, is also having fun with the runs evocative of bop, Spanish themes, and the dissonances one associates with Monk. 

Personally, Hutcherson and Dolphy steal the show here, with the former’s child-like innocence on the vibraphone, accompanied by Williams’ inventive drumming and bowed bass from Davis, keeps one on one’s foot. My favourite moment may be those two long, high-pitched wails in the beginning of Dolphy’s solo, a feature of free jazz I sometimes especially enjoy: fun little notes and sounds almost randomly assorted or seemingly incongruent. Richard Davis, a professor at UW-Madison I have had the pleasure of meeting, deserves praise for his arco and pizzicato bass playing, keeping the song from falling apart as each soloist takes off into different directions and Tony Williams experiments with the rhythms. This is otherworldly, and, though vastly different from anything Monk ever recorded, shares his playful spirit and dissonance. Moreover, Williams gets down with Hutcherson, playing some interesting rhythms, an indication of the young drummer's prowess and ability to keep up with older, more established musicians. Fans of this will probably like "Straight Up and Down" from the same album, which evokes a drunken stagger with another disjointed, melody. Dolphy's brilliant, wailing solo does sound like a pathetic, drunkard, falling through the streets while the rest of the band keeps things going during the twists and turns of the drunken protagonist. Indeed, these two tracks, my favorites from the album, Out To Lunch!, are necessary listens for any and every fan of jazz.

Bobby Hutcherson's Dialogue

1. "Catta" (Hill) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHcmTwoa51A
2. "Idle While" (Chambers) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HApGq9sttbs
3. "Les Noirs Marchant" (Hill) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnu2ChBcd7U
4. "Dialogue" (Chambers) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jZycoxXNgI&
5. "Ghetto Lights" (Hill) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-ppFgyIqw0
6. "Jasper" (Hill) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUiokA9LSJ4

Although listed as a Bobby Hutcherson album, pianist Andrew Hill wrote 4 of the 6 songs on the album and might as well get the credit for this fascinating avant-garde jazz gem. Though not quite free jazz, it strays lightyears away from conventional hard bop, probably due to the fact that most of the album was composed by post-bop master, Andrew Hill. This recording session from 1965 also includes  trumpet legend Freddie Hubbard, Sam Rivers, Richard Davis, a jazz bassist and professor at UW-Madison, and Joe Chambers, an excellent drummer. Hill and Chambers contribute compositions that fuse Latin jazz, blues, bop, march music, and a ballad to create inventive jazz and a piece of art. Hutcherson also plays marimba in addition to the vibraphone, Sam Rivers switches it up by playing flute on some tracks, and somehow it all meshes together well, even though it may not be nearly as accessible as his later album, Stick-Up! which is reviewed here. http://ryfigueroa.blogspot.com/2012/08/bobby-hutchersons-stick-up.html

Beginning with "Catta," Hill's Latin jazz piece, the group lays down a descarga, or Latin jam session with the characteristic clave rhythm provided by percussionist Joe Chambers in the intro. After the short, but catchy and angular theme, Sam Rivers takes off into his saxophone solo while Hill plays the essential vamp or ostinato on the piano as the foundation of the tune and Chambers provides the polyrhythmic Afro-Cuban swing needed. Sam Rivers' sax solo sounds, at times, like Eric Dolphy while approaching free jazz because of its rapid shifts between tonality and near-atonality. Freddie Hubbard's trumpet solo is far more tonal and conventional, though his longer notes around 3:20 and lines are quite catchy and danceable, unlike Rivers' solo. Hutcherson then rolls in on the vibes, playing a solo more rooted in bop that would not sound of out place in a Latin jazz jam song, partly because vibraphones and marimba are common instruments in the genre. His solo around 5:40 takes the song into interesting directions and the theme repeats itself again.

"Idle While" is the ballad on the album, and interestingly composed by Joe Chambers. It begins with the beautiful melody played by Sam Rivers on flute and Hubbard accompanying. It almost sounds too surreal or fantastical, especially with Hutcherson's vibraphones. Hubbard leads the improvisation on the tune, playing a great conventional hard bop-style solo that plays within the melody of the composition. Hutcherson's proceeding solo adds a surreal, almost dream-like quality to the song that remains, like Hubbard, within the conventions of hard bop. Richard Davis's bass, however, provides some great accompaniment until his next solo, which plays around the melody. This song would have been much better with a flute solo from Sam Rivers and perhaps piano solo by Andrew Hill, who mysteriously sits out on this track.

"Les Noirs Marchant" is Andrew Hill's ode to the Civil Rights Movement with a theme and rhythm influenced by marching bands, an early source for jazz music. The title, meaning "The Blacks Marching," is probably the most avant-garde composition on Dialogue. Andrew Hill plays some ominous lines, as does Sam Rivers and Freddie Hubbard, suggesting the conflict and turmoil of contemporary Civil Rights Movement. The conflict and search for peace represented in the march is matched by the military-style marching rhythm, which, when combined with Hutcherson's vibes and shifts in tempo symbolize the conflict between whites and blacks, between love and hate. The group improvises collectively to bring to fruition Andrew Hill's fascinating paean to the African American Civil Rights Movement, and Richard Davis provides a bass solo searing through the accompaniment of Hill's piano briefly like a saw during his pizzicato solo. Then the song moves toward chaos as everyone plays simultaneously and Chambers adds some frantic percussion. The song, which could have been better organized as a suite, then slows down, repeats the theme at the military-drums and concludes, with an ambivalent message on the success of the Civil Rights Movement.

The title track also veers toward avant-garde and free jazz. The piece has an ominous beginning, with Hutcherson's vibes and Andrew Hill's piano playing dark riffs while everyone plays together as an ensemble in collective improvisation. Hutcherson even brings out the African-sounding marimba to add to the dialogue, playing a melodic solo as Hill's piano returns and moves Chambers' composition to a further ominous direction. Like human dialogue, voices represented in this song seem to respond to each other, while simultaneously straying away from civil dialogue at times as some instrumentalists break into screams around 5:00, mainly Freddie Hubbard and Sam Rivers. Perhaps the "dialogue" aurally depicted in this song alludes to dialogue of the civil rights era and and should be seen as a comment on race relations in 1965, though the title lacks the obvious allusion in "Les Noirs Marchant."

"Ghetto Lights" and "Jasper" are the blues-rooted Andrew Hill compositions on this fine album. "Ghetto Lights" is a blues featuring a memorable Freddie Hubbard solo. An obvious reference to urban black American in 1965 and the proliferation of black ghettoization after white flight, Hubbard's soulful solo catches the desperation and hope of ghetto black America. Sam Rivers also catches that in his own bluesy clarinet solo. Chambers, Hill and Davis do a great job as rhythm section, Chambers' groove setting the stage and Davis playing some great bass licks. "Jasper" on the other hand, is a more conventional hard bop song with blues influences, but a swingin' number. Hutcherson takes off at a swinging vibraphone solo while Hill's provides accompanying blues piano riffing. Unfortunately, this album does not coalesce well with other tracks, largely because it is a bonus track added to the album, but taken alone is quite good, especially Freddie Hubbard's bop solo and Sam Rivers, who again sounds like the utterly unique Eric Dolphy.

Overall, another jazz classic featuring a veritable mix of conventional hard bop and avant-garde. Once again, it should have been listed as an Andrew Hill album because the bulk of it was written by him and he's largely responsible for the avant-garde sound that made Dialogue so unique in Blue Note's catalogue. The album's political subtext and keen attention shown toward civil rights activism and urban life for African-Americans also makes it an interesting historical record of the 1960s and shifts in jazz aesthetics, with freer and avant-garde jazz, often linked with black nationalism, becoming the predominant trend in 1960s jazz.