Andrew Hill • Point of Departure

 

Review by Thom Jurek
Pianist and composer Andrew Hill is perhaps known more for this date than any other in his catalog -- and with good reason. Hill's complex compositions straddled many lines in the early to mid-1960s and crossed over many. Point of Departure, with its all-star lineup (even then), took jazz and wrote a new book on it, excluding nothing. With Eric Dolphy and Joe Henderson on saxophones (Dolphy also played clarinet, bass clarinet, and flute), Richard Davis on bass, Tony Williams on drums, and Kenny Dorham on trumpet, this was a cast created for a jazz fire dance. From the opening moments of "Refuge," with its complex minor mode intro that moves headlong via Hill's large, open chords that flat sevenths, ninths, and even 11ths in their striding to move through the mode, into a wellspring of angular hard bop and minor-key blues. Hill's solo is first and it cooks along in the upper middle register, almost all right hand ministrations, creating with his left a virtual counterpoint for Davis and a skittering wash of notes for Williams. The horn solos in are all from the hard bop book, but Dolphy cuts his close to the bone with an edgy tone. "New Monastery," which some mistake for an avant-garde tune, is actually a rewrite of bop minimalism extended by a diminished minor mode and an intervallic sequence that, while clipped, moves very quickly. Dorham solos to connect the dots of the knotty frontline melody and, in his wake, leaves the space open for Dolphy, who blows edgy, blue, and true into the center, as Hill jumps to create a maelstrom by vamping with augmented and suspended chords. Hill chills it out with gorgeous legato phrasing and a left-hand ostinato that cuts through the murk in the harmony. When Henderson takes his break, he just glides into the chromatically elegant space created by Hill, and it's suddenly a new tune. This disc is full of moments like this. In Hill's compositional world, everything is up for grabs. It just has to be taken a piece at a time, and not by leaving your fingerprints all over everything. In "Dedication," where he takes the piano solo further out melodically than on the rest of the album combined, he does so gradually. You cannot remember his starting point, only that there has been a transformation. This is a stellar date, essential for any representative jazz collection, and a record that, in the 21st century, still points the way to the future for jazz.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/point-of-departure-mw0000243448

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Reseña de Thom Jurek
El pianista y compositor Andrew Hill es quizás más conocido por esta fecha que por cualquier otra de su catálogo - y con razón. Las complejas composiciones de Hill se movieron a lo largo de muchas líneas a principios y mediados de los años 60 y cruzaron muchas. Point of Departure, con su alineación de estrellas (incluso entonces), tomó el jazz y escribió un nuevo libro sobre él, sin excluir nada. Con Eric Dolphy y Joe Henderson en los saxos (Dolphy también tocaba el clarinete, el clarinete bajo y la flauta), Richard Davis en el bajo, Tony Williams en la batería y Kenny Dorham en la trompeta, este era un elenco creado para una danza de fuego del jazz. Desde los primeros momentos de "Refuge", con su compleja introducción en modo menor que se mueve de cabeza a través de los grandes acordes abiertos de Hill, que se mueven entre séptimas, novenas e incluso undécimas, hasta un manantial de hard bop angular y blues en clave menor. El solo de Hill es el primero y se cocina en el registro medio superior, casi todas las ministraciones de la mano derecha, creando con su izquierda un contrapunto virtual para Davis y un lavado de notas para Williams. Los solos de trompa son todos del libro de hard bop, pero Dolphy corta los suyos cerca del hueso con un tono afilado. "New Monastery", que algunos confunden con una melodía vanguardista, es en realidad una reescritura del minimalismo bop ampliada por un modo menor disminuido y una secuencia interválica que, aunque recortada, se mueve muy rápidamente. Dorham hace un solo para conectar los puntos de la nudosa melodía de la primera línea y, a su paso, deja el espacio abierto para Dolphy, que sopla con fuerza, azul y verdadero en el centro, mientras Hill salta para crear una vorágine vampirizando con acordes aumentados y suspendidos. Hill lo enfría con un magnífico fraseo en legato y un ostinato de la mano izquierda que corta la oscuridad de la armonía. Cuando Henderson se toma su descanso, se desliza en el espacio cromáticamente elegante creado por Hill, y de repente es una nueva melodía. Este disco está lleno de momentos como éste. En el mundo compositivo de Hill, todo está en juego. Sólo hay que tomar una pieza a la vez, y no dejando sus huellas por todo. En "Dedication", donde lleva el solo de piano más lejos melódicamente que en el resto del álbum combinado, lo hace gradualmente. No puedes recordar su punto de partida, sólo que ha habido una transformación. Se trata de una cita estelar, esencial para cualquier colección de jazz representativa, y un disco que, en el siglo XXI, sigue señalando el camino del futuro para el jazz.
https://www.allmusic.com/album/point-of-departure-mw0000243448

Tracklist:
1 - Refuge - 12:12
2 - New Monastery - 7:00
3 - Spectrum - 9:42
4 - Flight 19 - 4:10
5 - Dedication - 6:40
6 - New Monastery (Alternate Take) - 6:08
7 - Flight 19 (Alternate Take) - 3:45
8 - Dedication (Alternate Take) - 7:01


Credits:
    Alto Saxophone, Flute, Bass Clarinet – Eric Dolphy
    Bass – Richard Davis
    Drums – Tony Williams
    Piano, Written-By – Andrew Hill
    Tenor Saxophone – Joe Henderson
    Trumpet – Kenny Dorham

Notes
Recorded on March 21, 1964 at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. Tracks 1 to 5 originally issued as Blue Note BLP 4167 and BST 84167. Tracks 6 to 8 are bonus tracks.
Recorded At – Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey
Recorded By, Remastered By [1998] – Rudy Van Gelder

Label: Blue Note ‎– 7243 4 99007 2 1
Series: RVG Edition –
Released: 1999
Genre: Jazz
Style: Post Bop
https://www.discogs.com/Andrew-Hill-Point-Of-Departure/release/18889444

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