Point of Departure

Andrew Hill | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 25, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Blue Note Records
• ASIN: B000005HCO
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,748 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #35 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Avant-Garde
  • #100 in Music > Indie Music > Jazz > Modern Post Bop

Track Listings

1. Refuge

2. New Monastery

3. Spectrum

4. Flight 19

5. Dedication

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In an extensive label catalog as uniformly excellent as Blue Note's, it's virtually impossible to pick "the greatest" album. Still, there's little doubt that pianist Andrew Hill's Point of Departure is one of the label's most extraordinary recordings. Hill, a Chicagoan whose varied resumé as a sideman included stints with Dinah Washington, Jackie McLean, the Johnny Griffin/Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis band, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, was a perfect addition to the Blue Note roster: a thoroughly modern composer and a thoughtful soloist, capable of handling both leader dates and sideman roles. Indeed, Hill's stature as the leader here would seem arbitrary were the album not all his compositions. Every player on the album is a band leader and trendsetter in his own right: trumpeter Kenny Dorham, reedmen Joe Henderson and Eric Dolphy, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Anthony Williams. Employing a wide variety of meters, Point of Departure covers a broad range of material, from the angular and gripping "Refuge" though the shifting "Spectrum," to the brisk "Flight 19," and introspective closer, "Dedication." It is, in many ways, the classic Blue Note album: an intense, modern, and gripping performance. --Fred Goodman

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best from an underappreciated master, May 26, 2000

By 

Thomas Aikin (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Point of Departure (Audio CD)

Andrew Hill is one of the most innovative and enjoyablecomposers I've run across in jazz. Sadly, he has never enjoyed thelevel of success that his skills warrant. This album falls in the middle choronology of his classic recordings for the Blue Note label. While I'm personally partial to "Black Fire" and "Smokestack" this recording date is an absolute classic and regarded by many as Hill's best. His supporting cast (Joe Henderson, Kenny Dorham, Richard Davis, Tony Williams) is seizure-inducing and they deliver. Especially Henderson, who is magnificent throughout. Hill's sessions fall somewhere between hard bop and the avant-garde. Hill's playing has an above-average influence of 20th century European classical music. His playing is dark, mysterious, and percussive yet consistently melodic. His bridging of bebop and avant-garde had a lot to do with his lack of recognition as neither camp wanted to claim him. Perhaps in this new millenium of genre-blending and revision Hill's sound can entice a wider audience.

If you've already heard this disc or other Andrew Hill and are looking for more, your best bet is to plunge into the comprehensive Andrew Hill limited edition boxed-set from Mosaic Records. I consider it to be my personal favorite jazz collection. END

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars what jazz can be, November 18, 2002

By 

nadav haber (jerusalem Israel) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Point of Departure (Audio CD)

There are many kinds of music, all legitimate and serving a purpose. What I love about jazz is its emphasis on creativity and originality. A jazz musician who simply learns the different styles and assembles enough licks to build "improvised" solos may sound good, bring positive feeling to his listeners, but does not utilize the chances jazz music affords him.
All of the musicians on this CD are capable of creative and original jazz. From the more "traditional" Durham to the always modern Dolphy, they are all willing to experiment and create.
Andrew Hill is a musician who is never willing to "go through the motions" of playing jazz. Joe Henderson alwyas sounds like himself, and Tony Williams...
This CD is true to its name. It is not a complete departure from tradition, and it is never content with staying inside the tradition. It is always on the point of departure from tradition, on the verge of new discoveries, new possibilites. These possibilities concern different "Song Structures", different modes and chord changes, different voicings of the instruments - all different yet connected to what existed before them.
It is a pity that 38 years after this music was recorded - it is still regarded as "inaccessible" by most people, and even within those who do listen to jazz, already a minority, there are many who have not opened their ears to what was new in 1964. What does it take to change that ?
Anyway, I recommend this cd...

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hidden Gem, October 10, 1999

By 

Alan R. Kusinitz (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Point of Departure (Audio CD)

Andrew Hill is one of the great "unknows" of the jazz world. The album is beautifully remastered, as one would expect from Blue Note. This edition also contains 17 minutes of alternatiave takes. Hill, Eric Dolphy and Joe Henderson are in top form in this fine example of "free jazz" before that idiom degenerated into noise.A young Tony Williams and the relatively unknown Richard Davis are also in top form.