Andrew Hill

Andrew Hill stood out as a composer and pianist whose innovations proved both significant and pioneering, even if their measured scope risked his being overshadowed amid the free jazz upheavals of the 1960s. Whereas peers discarded the rhythmic and harmonic foundations of bop and hard bop outright, Hill sought to broaden those foundations from inside the tradition. Much of the era’s strongest jazz leaned toward aleatoric methods, yet Hill maintained precise control over his materials no matter how far they ventured into abstraction. His written melodies followed intricate paths, and harmonically and rhythmically demanding pieces such as “New Monastery” on the Point of Departure album reflected a depth rooted in skill rather than accident. At the keyboard he displayed a lyrical flow paired with supple timing, his improvisations carrying an unbroken sense of freshness while steering clear of familiar patterns.

Hill took up the piano near the age of thirteen. Growing up in Chicago, he received encouragement from pianist Earl Hines. Composer Bill Russo also noticed his talent and arranged an introduction to the distinguished classical figure Paul Hindemith; Hill studied with Hindemith between 1950 and 1952. During his teenage years he performed alongside visiting jazz figures in the Midwest, among them Miles Davis and Charlie Parker. In 1955 he cut So in Love with the Sound of Andrew Hill for the Warwick label. He relocated to New York in 1961 to accompany vocalist Dinah Washington. After a short 1962 stint in Los Angeles with Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s group, he returned to New York and began committing his work to record on a regular basis.

Between 1963 and 1969 he produced multiple Blue Note sessions in both leader and supporting roles. Those dates showcased leading post-bop players of the period, among them Eric Dolphy, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Tony Williams, and Freddie Hubbard. Like numerous jazz artists, Hill later relied on teaching for steady income. He settled on the West Coast, working in California public schools and prisons before securing a faculty post at Portland State University, where he founded the Summer Jazz Intensive. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he kept performing and recording, issuing albums on the Arista/Freedom and Black Saint/Soul Note imprints. In 1989 and 1990 he returned to Blue Note for the sessions Eternal Spirit and But Not Farewell.

During the 1990s Hill resettled in the New York region, and a string of concerts and fresh releases restored his visibility within the jazz community. He assembled a new Point of Departure Sextet for the 1998 Texaco Jazz Festival at the Knitting Factory; the ensemble featured saxophonists Marty Ehrlich and Greg Tardy, trumpeter Ron Horton, bassist Scott Colley, and drummer Billy Drummond. The group subsequently appeared at New York clubs to widespread praise. Palmetto Records issued Dusk in 2000, which Down Beat and Jazz Times both selected as the year’s outstanding album. Subsequent releases included A Beautiful Day in 2002, Passing Ships in 2003, and Black Fire in 2004, alongside a run of Blue Note reissues of his 1960s material that added previously unissued tracks and updated notes. His 2006 album Time Lines brought him back together with trumpeter Charles Tolliver on the Blue Note label once more. He also took part in a seventeen-piece big band whose January 2002 engagement at Birdland was captured on film and tape by Palmetto for later broadcast. After a prolonged struggle with lung cancer, Hill died from the illness on April 20, 2007, leaving an extraordinary body of recorded work.