Andrew Hill Passing Ships CD

Personnel: Andrew Hill (piano); Joe Farrell (soprano & tenor saxophone, alto flute, bass clarinet, English horn); Woody Shaw, Dizzy Reece (trumpet); Bob Northern (French horn); Julian Priester (trombone); Howard Johnson (tuba, bass clarinet); Ron Carter (bass); Lenny White (drums).
Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on November 7, 1969. Includes liner notes by Michael Cuscuna.
Personnel: Andrew Hill (piano); Joe Farrell (alto flute, bass clarinet, English horn, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone); Howard Johnson (bass clarinet, tuba); Dizzy Reece, Woody Shaw (trumpet); Bob Northern (French horn); Julian Priester (trombone); Lenny White (drums).
Audio Remixer: Malcolm Addey.
Liner Note Author: Michael Cuscuna.
Recording information: Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (11/07/1969-11/14/1969).
Photographer: Francis Wolff.
This larger group session was recorded for Blue Note in 1969 but had to wait until 2003 to see the light of day. It was worth the wait, since PASSING SHIPS is one of composer-pianist Andrew Hill's most varied and distinctive efforts. Actually, the group here isn't all that big when you check the lineup, but Hill's skillful writing makes it sound as if we're listening to a more spacious ensemble. In addition, he makes most effective use of reedman Joe Farrell's multi-instrumental talents here. Not only does Farrell excel in the usual tenor and soprano saxophone roles but it's his English horn that sings the plaintive theme on the title track and his dusky alto flute that establishes the mood of the exotic "Noon Tide." The writing throughout is fresh and, most of all, coherent, which can't be said for all free-jazz endeavors of the era. But Andrew Hill had a particular knack for making the avant-garde a part of the mainstream. With PASSING SHIPS, he joins the ranks of Mingus and Gil Evans as a great composer-arranger for large forces.
Now this is more like it. In its Connoisseur Series, Blue Note is making available a completely unreleased Andrew Hill date from 1969. Passing Ships wasn't even included in the Mosaic box because the master tape wasn't found until 2001. The band Hill employed on this session was a nonet, featuring Woody Shaw and Dizzy Reece on trumpets, Joe Farrell on reeds, woodwinds, and English horn, Howard Johnson on tuba and bass clarinet, Ron Carter on bass, Lenny White (on only his second recording date) playing drums, trombonist Julian Priester, and French horn player Bob Northern. The music here is ambitious. Hill's scoring for one reed, two trumpets, and low brass is remarkable for the time. In fact, it isn't until his big-band album of 2002 that he ever ventured into these waters again. The title cut, with its bass clarinet and English horn counterpoint, is almost classical in structure but nearly Malian in melody. While the cut's dynamics are restrained, its color palette -- especially with the lilting muted trumpets playing a mysterious harmonic line -- is flush and royal. "Plantation Bag" is a showcase for Farrell's tough, grooved-out soloing as he blows blue and free in response to Hill's funky, large-spread chord voicings. The trumpets layer one another in the middle of the tune, alternately soloing and punching comp lines through the middle. The Asian melodic figures at the heart of "Noon Tide" add exoticism to one of the most adventurous tunes ever written by Hill. Rhythmically it turns on pulse rhythms that shift and slide methodically as Priester takes the tune's first solo, playing against Hill's left-hand stridency. Of the remaining three selections, "Cascade," with its staggered harmonic architecture that goes against all common wisdom for big-band harmony, is remarkable for its precision and rhythmic invention. Why this isn't going to be out there for the general public for all time is beyond reason. Why punish the artist that way? Conventional wisdom would suggest that something that has been unearthed for the first tJazzTimes (02/04, pp.113-14) - "Hill's writing is excellent, both in terms of the widely varied heads and the backup horn parts that punctuate the solos."