Andrew Hill

On February 25, 2009, one day before my thirty-eighth birthday, Jonathan Mayhew "began to listen seriously to the music of Andrew Hill." I like to think I played a small part in having that happen.

I don't have Jonathan's precision as a listener, but listening to Passing Ships right now, "Plantation Rag" and "Noon Tide", I, well, you know, dig. Jonathan talks about the "the border region between hard bop and avant-garde", and that's probably, again, something like what I mean by jazz.

I also like Hill's "Siete Ocho" (from Judgment!) and "Subterfuge" (Black Fire) and Bobby Hutcherson's "Verse" (Stick-up!). Tonight, I'm moving through my record collection like I sometimes move through my (very modest) collection of contemporary poetry. Looking for things that seem alike in the way they make me feel.

For my birthday I got the Charles Mingus Atlantic recordings box set. It's also going to be heard.