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Andrew Hill interviews, and/or interviews with musicians who worked with him (or musicians even just talking about Hill, and his music), etc...

Rooster_Ties

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Here's a thread to discuss various nebulous interviews with Andrew Hill over the years (his interviews might be even more nebulous than his music).  Specifically, what details or nuggets of information jump out??  I always learn a thing or two in every interview I've ever heard with him, but I'll be honest -- there are so few specifics in the discussions with him (despite the better efforts of interviewers), that it's kind of hard to all weave together into anything remotely cohesive.

Print interviews are game, as are audio (what few there might be on-line).  AND, let's also see if we can find any interviews with some of the many musicians who've worked with him, who mention any of their time or experience with Andrew.  I know I've always appreciated talking the Ron Horton, or Greg Tardy -- for instance -- who both worked with him a bunch.  And Scott Colley too.  It would be interesting to have more of an extended Q&A with any of them, or others, about Hill -- than the random 5-10 minutes I've caught any of them between sets, or after gigs.  (I can't remember if I've ever talked to anyone else who's played with Hill, off the top of my head.)

Here's Hill's appearance on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz -- which I'm re-listening to now (I'm sure I've heard it a couple times, though it's been eons).

https://www.npr.org/2007/12/21/17460558/andrew-hill-master-of-melody

 

And here are a series of four (4) interviews with Hill, which frankly, I can't remember if I've read all these before, and I'm only just skimming them now...

https://tedpanken.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/andrew-hills-80th-birthday-anniversary/

But one of the more interesting nuggets I just noticed there, it this (which kind of doesn't surprise me, actually):

  • TP:    The three people you mentioned all went to DuSable High School on the South Side.  Is that where you went?

    AH:    No.  I was one of the first children admitted to the University of Chicago pilot program.  At that time, intelligence was based upon a certain middle-class standard, and if a person didn’t fit into certain this middle-class standard they wouldn’t have so-called “intelligence.”  But for some reason I appeared to be bright.  I was semi-autistic, but as they called me, bright.  So they took me in and brought me to the point where I would be sociable.

To be honest, Hill has always struck me as a bit of a savant -- and although I wouldn't want to put any words in anyone's mouths, more than one of the 3 musicians I mentioned up above mentioned various aspects and qualities about Hill that don't seem the least bit inconsistent with either that notion of being a 'savant' (which I hope doesn't carry any sort of pejorative meaning, which certainly isn't intended) -- or his self-admission of being "semi-autistic".

 

ANYWAY, this topic isn't limited to any specific area of discussion -- really anything that pops up in interviews with Hill -- or about Hill by anyone with anything interesting to say.

Edited by Rooster_Ties
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Brief discussion of Hill (part of a MUCH longer and wide-ranging discussion), by Masabumi Kikuchi (being interviewed by Ethan Iverson)...

https://ethaniverson.com/interviews/interview-with-masabumi-kikuchi/

 

EI: What about Andrew Hill?

MK:  Oh I love him! He was one of my heroes. I was the producer for one of his records, Hommage? David Baker was engineer. I edited a lot of that record.

EI:  I gotta hear that! I don’t think I’ve seen it.

MK:  I think you can buy it somewhere but I don’t have it.

EI:  Alright. So did you hear Andrew in the 60s, the Blue Note records, or what did you hear?

MK:  Oh yeah!! And Black Fire is one of my favorites.

EI:  Yeah, mine too.

MK:  Yeah, it’s amazing. Did you know the way he lived in Brooklyn?  Alfred Lion gave him a lot of money. So he bought a flour mill factory.

EI:  A flour mill factory…? Andrew Hill bought one?

MK:  It used to be on the riverside of Brooklyn so he bought it.

EI:  Really?

MK:  Yeah. It’s a three story building. He was living with a long time wife who played the Hammond organ. They lived there. There’s just one floor but it’s like a factory floor. They lived there quite a while. After a while they went to San Francisco or something I think. I like him. He was so pure and sensitive.

clifford_thornton Mentor

clifford_thornton

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1 hour ago, Rooster_Ties said:

AH:    No.  I was one of the first children admitted to the University of Chicago pilot program.  At that time, intelligence was based upon a certain middle-class standard, and if a person didn’t fit into certain this middle-class standard they wouldn’t have so-called “intelligence.”  But for some reason I appeared to be bright.  I was semi-autistic, but as they called me, bright.  So they took me in and brought me to the point where I would be sociable.

To be honest, Hill has always struck me as a bit of a savant -- and although I wouldn't want to put any words in anyone's mouths, more than one of the 3 musicians I mentioned up above mentioned various aspects and qualities about Hill that don't seem the least bit inconsistent with either that notion of being a 'savant' (which I hope doesn't carry any sort of pejorative meaning, which certainly isn't intended) -- or his self-admission of being "semi-autistic".

 

ANYWAY, this topic isn't limited to any specific area of discussion -- really anything that pops up in interviews with Hill -- or about Hill by anyone with anything interesting to say.

I guess you could say that he was somewhere on the 'spectrum,' which would line up with my brief and strange interactions with him.

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8 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

I guess you could say that he was somewhere on the 'spectrum,' which would line up with my brief and strange interactions with him.

I only met Andrew once, in 2003 (Iowa City Jazz Festival) -- the one and only time I ever got to hear him.  Only spoke with him for barely a minute or two after his set (if even that long).  It was kind of hard to get much of a conversation going, but I also didn't want to monopolize his time either (me not wanting to be one of those overbearing sorts of fans).  He came off as a very shy sort of guy, which was my take at the time, and still my memory now.  It was his quartet with Greg Tardy.

sidewinder Mentor

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On the time I met him I noticed a bit of a stutter too. Genuinely friendly and a pleasure to chat with over a back-stage English draught beer. A memorable  privelege and signed a load of CDs and the Mosaic booklet !

Edited by sidewinder
Coda Apprentice

Coda

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David Adler article:  https://jazztimes.com/features/andrew-hill-once-more-jazz-with-feeling/

AN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED IMPROVISATIONS BY ANDREW HILL AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRESSIVE JAZZ PIANO, 1959-2005
BY CHRISTOPHER ERIC REYMAN:  https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/bitstream/handle/2142/26152/Reyman_Christopher.pdf  w/transcribed solos :)

Guide to the Andrew Hill papers, music and audiovisual recordings, 1956-2011:  http://www2.scc.rutgers.edu/ead/ijs/hillf.html

 

Shrdlu Newbie

Shrdlu

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Ah, Tom, he was possibly autistic. That would fit.

I have a new friend who is autistic, so I have been looking into it. Another friend of mine said yesterday that he thinks my younger son is at least partially autistic. It can go undiagnosed in adults.

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