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Friday October 17th, 2003

Baldwin artist Andrew Hill's Passing Ships released on Blue Note

It's taken over three decades, but avant-garde jazz pianist Andrew Hill's Passing Ships was finally released by Blue Note Records on October 7. The recording was considered "non-commercial" in 1969 when Hill completed the album, and Blue Note - then a struggling label - decided to shelve the project. The recent release is part of the label's continuing Connoisseur Series.

The album features some of Hill's most intricate and complex piano arrangements, supported by a high-profile cast of accompanying players. Trumpeters Woody Shaw and Dizzy Reece, multi-reeds virtuoso Joe Farrell, trombonist Julian Priester, bassist Ron Carter and Bitches Brew drummer Lenny White contribute their genius to Passing Ships.

"Andrew Hill has made a career of confounding expectations and intermingling styles, inventing his own in the process." Down Beat

Even with a considerably endless catalogue of recordings behind him, Hill is no stranger to the jazz faithful of today. He released A Beautiful Day in 2002, his acclaimed live album recorded at Birdland with his Sextet +11, and continues to perform at the age of 66.

Blue Note's Connoisseur Series will soon include reissues of classic recordings from Thelonious Monk's quartet tenor saxophonist Charlie Rouse, trumpeter Lee Morgan, saxophonists Sam Rivers and Hank Mobley and organist Larry Young.