Andrew Hill: Black Fire (Tone Poet series) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This Tone Poet series edition puts the album on 180g vinyl in a gatefold jacket, in stereo. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine called it a modern jazz classic that keeps its power decades on.

This edition

• Tone Poet series
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Stereo mix

About the album

Andrew Hill arrived at Blue Note with a way of writing that didn't sound like anyone else's, all odd phrase lengths, shifting rhythms and dark, glowing harmony. Black Fire, recorded on November 8, 1963, was his first album for the label, and producer Alfred Lion gave the Chicago pianist a band that could follow him anywhere.

Joe Henderson's tenor sax brings warmth and bite to "Pumpkin" and "Subterfuge," Richard Davis's bass works like a second lead voice, and Roy Haynes keeps the rhythm shifting under everyone's feet. Hill wrote all seven pieces, from the dark, rolling title track to the Latin-tinged "Cantarnos," the brief, brooding "McNeil Island" and the knotty, gorgeous "Land of Nod."

Alfred Lion produced the session, as he did so many of the label's best. It launched one of the most original runs in the Blue Note catalogue. Philly Joe Jones was first booked for the date and Roy Haynes stepped in; as substitutions go, that's like calling a plumber and getting the chap who invented the pipe.

Also at Kops: more Andrew Hill on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note (cat# B0029975-01), a reissue of the 1964 album.