I was listening to Andrew Hill’s Judgment last night. I was tremendously moved. But this morning I grew saddened as I checked my email for the first time in days to see that the master himself had passed.

I never had the fortune to meet Mr. Hill however I feel very blessed that I had a relationship via email with him over the past few years in which he was very supportive and provided me with a great wealth of information.

I rarely ever focus on a singular recording when writing these blog entries, however my very first time in doing so just over a year ago was Hill’s newest recording, Time Lines. All of his recordings are of the highest quality and deserve to be invested in, but Time Lines and a special impact on me.

Without doubt this is very hard news to take for me as I’m sure it is for his family, friends, and fan base, however I feel that we were are very blessed to have witnessed this genius and the legacy he left. A few weeks ago the trio and I recorded our newest CD, and one of the songs, Conflicted was inspired and is dedicated to Andrew Hill.

May He Rest in Peace

Labels: Artist's Thoughts

Blogging has been very difficult lately. Currently, I am in the process of mixing and mastering the new trio CD. In addition to that, I have been working on composing two large compositions. One of them (untitled as of now) will be premiered this May at the Fresno Art Museum and will feature piano, 2 basses, cello, drums, & 2 percussionists. The second extended work (also untitled) is a large scale orchestral piece. As a result of this new workload, I have dramatically scaled down the trio’s current performance schedule.

I have heard so much great new stuff over the past month or so as well as revisiting some of my favorites . Here’s an very incomplete list of great recordings to check out: Coltrane in Japan, All the Four tet recordings, Braxton’s 6 Compositions, New Paul Motian Trio CD, New Joshua Redman, Marilyn Crispell’s Annette Peacock CD on ECM, Herbie Nichols Complete Blue Note Recordings, both Clouddead CDs.

Labels: Artist's Thoughts