Andrew Hill - A Beautiful Day...Recommendations?

[gdogus]

Any opinions on this one? I have only a couple of Andrew Hill's recordings, Point of Departure and Dusk, and really like them both very much. What think ye all of this large ensemble live set, A Beautiful Day?

[Rooster_Ties]

I've only had "A Beautiful Day" for a couple months, and I've only listened to it about half-a-dozen times. But I would generally give it a thumbs up. (I'm a bit of an Andrew Hill nut, but stepping back a bit -- I would probably give "A Beautiful Day" a solid letter-grade of a "B".)

I probably like "Dusk" a bit more (let's call Dusk a "B+" in my book), in part because there's less of Hill's piano-playing on "A Beautiful Day", than there is on "Dusk".

But if you don't yet have Andrew's "Black Fire" - this was just recently released as an RVG. It is really one of Hill's all-time finest albums ("A++"), and one of Joe Henderson's best and most interesting side-man appearances too. Run, don't walk, and get "Black Fire" just as soon as you can. (Go ahead and get it now, we'll wait right here for you. )

Another really great Hill disc is called "Passing Ships", and is a recently released recording (released for the very first time, anywhere), from 1969. It is a studio date that was thought to be lost forever, but good-sounding tapes were only just recently discovered. It features Woody Shaw and Joe Farrell, in a slightly larger group than Hill had ever recorded with before (up until that point, anyway), and it serves as a sort of precursor to his later Big Band recordings. The universal opinion of most of the people on this board is that "Passing Ships" is an oustanding album (probably a solid "A", or an "A-" at worst), that can be enjoyed by both fans of Hill's more "out there" work, as well as his somewhat more "inside" style from the period of 1967-1970.

So, to recap, "A Beautiful Day" is certainly an interesting and very enjoyable recording. But above and beyond that, you really need "Black Fire", and you'd probably love "Passing Ships". Get on it!! B-)

[relyles]

I consider myself a Hillaholic. I enjoyed the big band disc, but think it is somewhat more dense and ragged than most of his smaller group recordings and may not appeal to someone with limited exposure to Hill's music. I saw the big band live when it first got together and think it is a much more satisfying experience live.

The recent release featuring Hill's Jazzpar Octet, The Day The World Stood Still has some similarities, but I think the writing is stronger - its a little less dense and more melodic. Its probably also a function of it not being as large a group.

[king ubu]

I like "Dusk" and "A Beautiful Day" a lot!

If you go here and scroll down a bit, you can find two unedited performances that ended up (edited) on "A Beautiful Day".

"Passing Ships" is great, as has been said. I am another Hill fan, so I like all of his BNs I heard, so far...

ubu

[B. Goren.]

I would give also thumbs up for his two CDs on SteepleChase:

Invitation and Divine Revelation.

Another recommended one is Spiral:

[king ubu]

for "Spiral"! Interesting to hear Ted Curson and Lee Konitz with Hill!

[jazzbo]

I like all the Hill cds mentioned on this thread.

If you dug "Dusk" I believe that you'll find a way to get into "A Beautiful Day" and it's worth the effort. . . .

[Leeway]

"A Beautiful Day" might be described as Mingus meets Ornette, at least as a way of describing the sound of the arrangements. It's also somewhat reminiscent of Bob Belden's "Black Dahlia."

Hill works out his ideas through the large brass section, and his piano plays a relatively minor role. OTOH, I think the most successful-- at least most immediately appealing-- cut on the album is "New Pinocchio," where Hill's piano takes on a more dominant role.

I'm not sure why Hill wanted to offer these performances in a live setting. This is not the type of performance that benefits from having a live audience, and, in fact, I suspect the performance would have been better if Hill took advantage of a studio setting.

I think you do have to work at this one a bit, but it also makes you willing to do so. It bears repeated listening.

BTW, Stanley Crouch wrote the liner notes.

[DrJ]

I look at A BEAUTIFUL DAY and the Jazzpar large group CDs as two different sides of the same coin in many ways...basically, the Jazzpar CD seems more realized from a conceptual standpoint (it seems to me that Hill's big group conception sounds more "lived in" and natural here, and there's an appealing edge that I hear in his best work) but the individual players other than Hill and Nasheet Waits are pretty anonymous. Conversely, there's some fantastic individual playing on BEAUTIFUL DAY but, as others have noted, the ensembles sound more ragged and tentative, not fully cohesive.

Both are WELL worth having, particularly if you're committed to really exploring Hill's world beyond one or two acknowledged classics.

[John B]

If you go to Andrew Hill's website you can sample tracks off of this one as well as hear an otherwise unreleased solo performance from London.

[BruceH]

I think A Beautiful Day is a good album. My main problem with it is that the worst two tracks are the FIRST two tracks. Not the best programming, for my money. Your mileage may vary.