Andrew Hill – Illusion
Andrew Hill – One For One
Andrew Hill – Poinsettia

I first came into contact with this 2-LP set at Groove Merchant in 2001. As is the case with most of my trips there, Cool Chris asked me if I had heard this collection and recommended that I give it a listen. At the time I was not a big fan of Andrew Hill’s work, did not own any of his albums and wouldn’t have been able to distinguish his playing from any number of capable pianists that emerged in the wake of Monk. A quick buzz through of the music was fairly uneventful until I dropped the needle on “Illusion”. The reaction I had then is fairly similar to the reaction I have everytime I drop the needle (or click on a digital dub as is the case here on the blog) on this fascinating and beautiful song. I feel like time slows, perhaps even stops, as soon as the strings come in after that initial crack of the snare from Freddie Waits, and I am completely transported into pure serenity as the rhythm begins led by Hill’s piano and anchored by Waits and Ron Carter on Bass. I can say without a doubt, that in my mind at least, “Illusion” is one of the best and most unique tracks released by Hill or any other artist on the Blue Note label. Subtly funky at its core, but complex in its composition and improvisation and stately with the addition of Kermit Moore’s string quartet.

What’s all the more amazing about this song and the recording session it was recorded in is that they were never released until 1975 on the “Re-issue” series that in this case wasn’t “reissuing” anything since all the material on all four sides was previously unreleased. Perhaps because of my love affair with “Illusion” I’m most drawn to the side of music recorded in August 1969 with Kermit Moore’s string section (“Poinsettia” is another selection from this session), but the session from 1970 that covers the first side of music, and also features Bennie Maupin and Ron Carter in a group that subtracts Waits, but adds Ben Riley on drums, Pat Patrick on reeds and Charles Tolliver on trumpet, is just as fascinating. “One For One” has a deeply soulful and funky rhythm but it is interlaced with complex, yet never dense, layers of notes from Hill, punctuated by horns and flutes.

Despite the cut-out nature of this series, it’s fairly rare to find this set. I suspect a lot of people might have passed on it all together had Madlib not sampled Hill for his Shades Of Blue remix project back in 2003. If you happen upon one I highly suggest you don’t just walk on by. Music like this was meant to be heard and cherished as is the legacy of a player and educator of the caliber of Andrew Hill.

Cheers,

Michael

P.S. here is the instrumental interlude that Madlib created out of “Illusion”. I think you’ll agree it’s far too short and something so gorgeous really deserved to be developed beyond it’s less than one minute running time:

Elis Regina – Andança
Elis Regina – O Sonho
Elis Regina – Memórias de Marta Saré

In an attempt to continue to atone for highlighting less than stellar music during last week’s Pound For Pound post, I thought I would feature an album from an artist whose singing chops are not only virtually beyond critique but also someone who many regard as one of the greatest voices of all time, Elis Regina.

I first heard Elis’ music while at KALX in Berkeley. Listening to Kitty and Matthew Africa’s shows which featured a fair amount of Brazilians, combined with my own interests in Brazilian music (by the time I got to KALX I was already a major fan of Baden Powell and Gal Costa, but still hadn’t heard a lot of Brazilian soul such as Tim Maia and Toni Tornado) pushed me to dig deeper into the legendary KALX library. Eventually I found my way to Elis and while I dug her style and voice most of the music we had was pre-1968 and straight-ahead bossa nova. It wasn’t until I head “Andança” from an otherwise so-so compilation of MPB that I fell completely in love with the sound of Elis Regina.

It took a number of years since then for me to track down the LP that featured that song, 1969’s Elis, Como E Porque. What separates the sound on this album from Elis’ prior work is the expert arrangements done here by Roberto Menescal and Erlon Chaves. Though the album incorporates some expected rhythms from Bossa Nova, there are all these divergencies into a more jazzy or soulful sound that even after multiple listens continues to surprise my ears. You get a bit of that in “O Sonho” with it’s upbeat start that then slows into a bossa beat before returning to that upbeat soul-jazz sound and ending with a truly unexpected wash of feedback. “Memórias de Marta Saré” also begins fairly conventionally, with a somewhat samba based rhythm, then to some straight soulful jazzy playing with some strong back beat. I really could have picked any track from this record as representative of this fascinating blend of multiple styles, every single one is fantastic, but still, the one I’m most drawn to is “Andança.”

“Andança” has always been a difficult song for me to describe. Though it’s a mid-tempo song, it feels like the groove is in slow motion at the start, which I think has to do with the accents that come from the drummer in those earlier parts. That subtly slinky funky groove is augmented from time to time with a full orchestra of strings and horns, but they never overpower the overall sound. And then there are Elis’ vocals. In a word they are otherworldly. There’s no reason why she should bend the notes the way she does in the chorus when she sings “Amor,” but it’s one of the most amazing vocal performances I’ve ever heard. Just in singing that one word and the differences in singing that single word at multiple times in the song, Elis leaves me speechless everytime I hear it…as if my mind can’t fully comprehend that level of beauty. After receiving this on LP, I noticed there are also some subtle changes between the mono version and the stereo version that I had heard before, from the additional notes at the start to the absence of horns when the chorus comes back around the second time. It’s really hard for me to think of another brazilian song that I love more than this track. From the sound of it to the incredible singing from Elis, it truly is a marvelous piece of art. One that I am all to happy to finally be able to share here.

Cheers,

Michael

…and just to give you a sense of Elis’ sheer joy in performance, here’s some video (in color no less, fairly rare for Brazilian musicians from this era) from 1969 with the same basic backing band featured on this record, though this song is featured on Elis Especial from 1968.

Elis Regina – Upa Neguinho

The Politicians – Free Your Mind
The Politicians – Close Your Big Mouth
The Politicians – The World We Live In

Holy Christ! I’ve been so busy with personal thangs, school and the KPFK fundraiser that I just realized I hadn’t posted anything here in over a week! All apologies…to make it up to y’all here’s a no brainer of a record that I only recently got acquainted with. I’ve seen this LP in more than a few places and for whatever reason I always passed it up, clearly without ever having actually listened to it. Maybe it’s all that green, but for whatever reason I saw no reason to give this record more than a passing glance. Then, fairly recently, I was digging in the 45 bins at Bagatelle in Long Beach and I turned up a 7″ from a group called the 8th Day and their song “It’s Instrumental To Be Free.” A quick spin caused my Golden Era heart much gladness as I instantly recognized this is one of several samples from Professor Griff & the Last Asiatic Disciples song “Pawns In The Game.”

While I was doing some online homework to see if this group put out an LP I happened upon the Politicians and their song “Free Your Mind” which is basically the EXACT same track. This isn’t terribly unheard of (The Chubukos morphing into Afrique on LP comes to mind), but is still a bit odd. I wonder about the story behind the name change but for the most part it seems lost to history. Thankfully I was able to right my historical wrongs and pick up this very fine instrumental LP from the Politicians/8th Day and my world is better for it and now that I can share a couple of tracks off of it with you, I’m sure your world will be better for it too! In addition to the already mentioned psychedelic soul monster “Free Your Mind” I’ve included “Close Your Big Mouth” just cause it’s SUCH a solid groove and sounds like a party and “The World We Live In” for it’s over the top funkiness. I could have easily gone with most every other track on this record, it’s a rare soul/funk LP without any weak tunes and something that stacks up nicely against similar earlier work from the Ohio Players, the Bar-Kays and Kool & the Gang.

Cheers,

Michael

P.S. Here’s the song that sparked my curiosity so many years ago that eventually led to this record…yet another classic Golden Era production.

Boogaloo Joe Jones – No Way
Boogaloo Joe Jones – Sunshine Alley
Boogaloo Joe Jones – Holdin’ Back

Pretty busy on this end, planning my shows and premiums for the KPFK fundraiser that just started. Ran into this album just recently on a trip to Amoeba Hollywood. Most of the time Amoeba is really good for me in tracking down records that I used to own, but rarely do I find something there that I haven’t seen before. But, when I was running through the Jazz section, I saw this album and actually said to myself, “No Way! A Boogaloo Joe Jones record I hadn’t heard before,” and lo and behold it even has Pretty Purdie on the drums. So here you go, enjoy a couple of upbeat and funky numbers and one slower blues for the late night hours.

Cheers,

Michael