Steve Wyzard LIVE MASTERPIECE

It's now been a full year since we lost the late, great Bobby Hutcherson, and for all those who enjoy his acclaimed mid-1960's albums, you really owe it to yourself to track down his 1974 album Live at Montreux. Not only is it Bobby's best release of the 1970's, but it's also one of the best (in a very crowded field) live albums in that decade by ANYBODY.

Recorded at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival and originally released only in Japan and Europe, this disc restores the full 51-minute set to its fiery glory ("Farallone" did not appear on the LP). No ballads, just two long Hutcherson compositions not available anywhere else, and two of the best by trumpeter Woody Shaw. One awe-inspiring solo follows another, and the crowd's response is electric! Don't let the "no name" rhythm section discourage you: they all keep things moving and acquit themselves admirably, especially drummer Larry Hancock who continuously threatens to steal the show.

Since being restored and reissued in 1994, this album's availability has been "spotty" to say the least. With great recorded sound and phenomenal performances, Live at Montreux should be far better known than it is, especially by Hutcherson and Shaw fans. If you are even mildly familiar with the performers and this one crosses your path, spare no expense!

Matt Back in 1976 Bobby was looking at “The View From The Inside” with his 2nd last Blue Note recording before the Label folded for a period lasting to the mid eighties but this time with his newest release Bobby recommends to “Enjoy The View” and yes, it is on Blue Note. Bobby Hutcherson is one of Jazz music’s greats having played vibraphone on so many albums that today are considered classics in this genre with a myriad of styles with many fans still trying to work out whether it is his Bop or early Avante Garde contributions, they enjoy better. “Enjoy The View” is Bobby Hutcherson’s return to Blue Note records after an hiatus of 37 years and with a period away for this length of time you would expect nothing but the best and Don Was being Blue Note’s President within EMI is the album’s Producer. Could one find a better Producer having recorded so many artists with styles ranging from Country to Algerian Rai but this time it is some great Boppin’ Jazz. Bobby first recorded for Blue Note in 1963 ( Jackie McLean sideman)and stayed with the label till it’s brief demise in 1979 with Horace Silver the pianist being the only other artist still remaining from the Classic period during the time that Alfred Lion and Francis Wolff owned it.

Joey DeFrancesco provides organ for the album and with the addition of trumpet on one of the compositions and having been playing with Bobby for a few years and been included on his last Live album brings a wonderful understanding and feel to the music. David Sanborn is playing alto saxophone with his unique slightly abrasive tone and he also has been recently performing in Joey DeFrancesco’s trio and provides beautiful input with his addition. Both musicians also provide two compositions of their own to the album . The great Billy Hart is drumming who is currently signed with ECM and doing an absolutely fantastic job for someone who is 74 and last but not least is Bobby Hutcherson on vibraphone who has one up on Billy being 73 years of age at the present time of this album’s release. All of these artists have practically played with the entire Jazz community at some time, if all their projects, bands etc were combined in a group . All this experience shows with the music one hears performed by the band during the album’s duration

There are seven compositions contained on the record with David Sanborn’s “Delia” commencing the album where David employs his wonderful abrasive alto saxophone tone during a solo interlinked with space and varying twists to open. Bobby follows with that sparse technique that he employs when playing vibes with Joey DeFrancesco providing an ample laid back groove from Hammond organ and adding quite a nice little solo to follow Bobby’s. “Don Is” is Joey’s turn for a composition and perhaps a hat tip to Don Was which has a slight Avante touch used for the tunes opening with a wonderful mid tempo groove provided for Bobby’s vibes to lead us in. “Hey Harold” was previously included from Bobby’s “Head On” album in 1971 but the duration is not so long for this interpretation coming in at 7 minutes whereas the original was 20 with its slow tempo opening but the tune motors along quite nicely in no time and this is where Joey DeFrancesco provides some wonderful high loopy trumpet during the composition’s beginning and end, combining interplay between him and Bobby and is a lovely quick highlight. David Sanborn and Billy Hart are also superb with their input to this number. “Little Flower” is another Sanborn composition at a slower tempo than the previous with David Sanborn playing an extremely interesting beautiful solo and providing most of the tune’s lead sound. “Montara” is another of Bobby’s compositions given a new life with quite a nice variation which came from the album of the same name he released back in 1975, which is followed by a new up tempo composition from Bobby named “Teddy” with lots of drive and superb musicianship contained within from the entire band. The last track is ‘You” being another Joey De Francesco composition with some great flow coming from the band throughout this mid tempo number.

Wonderful return to his old label for Bobby Hutcherson, great band, great compositions and a great record is the result. For myself I would get it alone for David Sanborn’s superb saxophone input as I just love how he puts his solo’s together. This album is not “Dialogue”, “Stick Up” , “Happenings” or “Total Eclipse” it is a something a little different from Bobby this time. Great to see that he is still moving along nicely in his career and not sitting in the one spot after all this time which would have been so easy to do. Takes a few listens and what is better, there is constantly new things to hear each time from the entire band throughout the record with every play.

Abraxas What makes Bobby Hutcherson's discography so interesting to listen to, is that the style of music varies much depending on who are the main composers on each album. Stating that, Bobby, although being the leader, he hasn't always composed everything for his albums (and that's not bad!).

It's the case of Dialogue, Bobby's first release (but not really the first recorded), that established the vibraphonist as a leading force of the post-bop movement, edging the avant-garde, having previously played on Dolphy's renowned work, Out to Lunch, and some of Andrew Hill's advanced jazz albums.

But is Bobby actually the mastermind behind all these edgy, loose jazz compositions, featured in Dialogue? No, actually Andrew Hill and Joe Chambers are the ones responsible of this. I've already mentioned Hill before, what about Joe? Well, he's the drummer, but a constant member on Hutcherson's album and a leading composer in many of them. Chambers' compositions are commonly risky and chaotic, advocating free jazz, both 'Idle While' and the title track are not accessible by any means.

But let's not forget that Andrew, the pianist, is also an advocate for complex, quirker post-bop ideas. Add to that that there's Sam Rivers contributing his wide selection of woodwind instruments, Dialogue ends up being a hard-digesting album, that requires various listens, and not necessarily all will click.

For me this doesn't really show Bobby's ideal music, since a) he doesn't compose any of it, and b) you can listen to his actual debut, The Kicker, where hard bop is the norm. Not saying Dialogue is bad, or that Andrew and Joe aren't good composers, it just seems that Bobby doesn't have much room to express himself.

Mind you, I highly recommend this if you're an Andrew Hill fan, you'll probably love it, and also if you're into Hancock's most wild jazz stuff like 'The Egg' and 'Survival of the Fittest'.

However, if you're looking for a place to start with Bobby's music, I'd say check Happenings, where he's the main composer and the music is inventive post bop.

Abraxas I'm not really an expert when it comes to jazz vibraphonists, I know just a couple, but from the ones I know, Bobby Hutcherson definitely belongs to the more adventurous ones out there in jazz. Of course, this is mainly due that he played in the 60s era, where free jazz and post bop were the norm (alongside other more commercial jazz settings), and he was a recurrent member on Andrew Hill’s edgy music.

The question now is, are his albums actually good? Cause, in the 60s, post-bop abounded, and some of it, despite great playing and ability, it wasn't all that worthy or original for that matter. But alas, Bobby did play noteworthy post-bop, and Components from 1965 is one I recommend(although for beginners I'd go for Happenings.

As any Blue Note player, you get the great advantage to be surrounded by incredible musicians (although that happens in jazz in general). It's the case of this album where Herbie Hancock finally gets the piano seat in Bobby’s band, previously having been Duke Pearson and Andrew Hill, evoking his complex and yet accessible playing displayed in Maiden Voyage. But Herbie is just one part of the big picture, there's James Spaulding playing flute or alto sax, an ex-Sun Ra player, so you can expect quality and originality from him. Then there's a typically great rhythm section, Ron Carter and Joe Chambers, the latter being as well a central composer in this album. And as last ingredient we have Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, augmenting Spaulding's sax, just like he did with Coleman on Maiden Voyage.

What is interesting of this record specifically, it’s like almost two different albums joined together, side 1 being Hutcherson's compositions, which are 60s hard bop tunes heading to the more sophisticated hard bop of the likes of contemporaries: Hancock, Joe Henderson, McLean. These are four well-played tunes, and different from each other, where I think the title track, a moving hard bopper, and ‘Tranquility’, a lovely gentle piece without any sax or flute, are the best.

Side 2, on the other hand, is Joe Chambers' package of tunes. Here we have full-blown avant-jazz music, not replete with atonality, but the "structured mess"(yes, a paradox) kind, cause you know it's actually composed, but then again you listen and it just seems notes and chords thrown in at random. Yet, there's 'Juba Dance', which is a rather Dolphy-esque tune, showcasing a rather odd drum rhythm for jazz, and what actually is going on is some carefully played ping-pong between vibes, marimba, piano and flute. The final track is not shabby either, entitled 'Pastoral', it's expectedly calm and with a very up-lifting mood, a pity that it's quite short.

So Components is not entirely consistent in style, but still most of it is really good jazz edging post-bop, with a pair of avant-jazz tracks for the more demanding jazz listener.

Yes, I recommend this, Hancock fans can easily check this, and of course, if you're a Bobby fan and don't have this, you're missing a mix of his really fun hard bop-ish tunes and a more wildish style of his.