BLP 4231

Bobby Hutcherson - Happenings

Released - January 1967

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, February 8, 1966
Bobby Hutcherson, vibes, marimba, drums; Herbie Hancock, piano; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Joe Chambers, drums, vibes.

1691 tk.2 Aquaria Moon
1692 tk.7 Rojo
1693 tk.10 Bouquet
1694 tk.12 Head Start
1695 tk.16 When You Are Near
1696 tk.21 Maiden Voyage
1697 tk.26 The Omen

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Aquarian Moon	Bobby Hutcherson	February 8 1966
Bouquet	Bobby Hutcherson	February 8 1966
Rojo	Bobby Hutcherson	February 8 1966
Side Two
Maiden Voyage	Herbie Hancock	February 8 1966
Head Start	Bobby Hutcherson	February 8 1966
When You Are Near	Bobby Hutcherson	February 8 1966
The Omen	Bobby Hutcherson	February 8 1966

Liner Notes

FREEDOM is a word that is often and loosely tossed around these days both in society at large and in the arts. It is a word with a basically affirmative connotation, yet in jazz particularly it has been confused too often with license, lack of organization, and even total abandonment of principles. Freedom judiciously aligned with discipline is a virtue rare in jazz, and Bobby Hutcherson is one of those young musicians who can justly claim to have attained this goal.

Born and raised in or near Los Angeles, Hutcherson is a brother of singer Renee Robin. He took a few piano lessons when he was about nine years old but did not become seriously interested in music until he heard a Milt Jackson record. That was in 1956, when Bobby was 15. Soon he had his own set of vibes and was playing local dances and concerts. A pianist, Terry Trotter, helped him expand his harmonic knowledge, and he studied vibes informally with Dave Pike.

After jobbing around Los Angeles with Curtis Amy, Charles Lloyd and others, Bobby joined the Al Grey-Billy Mitchell combo. With this group he earned wider exposure, first in San Francisco and then at the since-defunct hip aviary known as Birdland. Leaving the Grey-Mitchell group, he worked off and on for a year in Brooklyn and Manhattan with Jackie McLean. and during this time met the late Eric Dolphy. Blue Note collectors will remember his impressive appearance on Dolphy’s Out to Lunch LP. As A. B. Spellman observed at that time, “Hutcherson has the most radical, if not the only new appreciation of what the vibes may be orchestrally capable of as an instrument. He certainly sounds less like Milt Jackson than any contemporary vibist I know of.”

That Bobby had been able to shake off the powerful shadow of his original idol became even clearer a he began to record as a leader and to expand his activities as a composer. Dialogue placed him in fast company such as that of Freddie Hubbard and Andrew Hill; Components, which followed, again teamed him with Hubbard and a group of searching contemporaries. The present album is something else again: Bobby is left to his own deice with just a rhythm section, and thus, in a sense, is on his own to an unprecedented degree. Since the program of material involves an almost exclusively Hutcherson written series of works, the album is more definitively and personally Hutcherson than any in which he ha% previously participated.

During his last year in New York Bobby was exposed to (and in most instances associated with) the music of some of the more radical young thinkers on the East Coast scene. Among them were Andrew Hill, Archie Shepp, Charles Tolliver and Grachan Moncur Ill. Before he returned to the West Coast, where he played in Gil Fuller’s big band at the 1965 Monterey Jazz Festival, he bad developed impressively and had won the acclaim of almost every leading critic.

Perhaps the most direct evidence of the impact made by his New York experiences on his playing and writing can be observed in the opening track, Aquarian Moon. As you might suspect, the title stems from the sign of the Zodiac under which Bobby was born (Aquarius, the water.bearer; his birthday is January 27).

The opening passages are, as Bobby puts it, “a directed part, to set a certain mood. Then after the directed part, suddenly, it goes into tune, without even a momentary break for counting off.” The “time” part is constructed in regular eight-bar patterns. From the harmonic standpoint, to quote the composer, “the original chord was just a G Minor sound, but after starting with that we went out from there, finding different harmonies on top of that.” The many discoveries unveiled during the fleet, consistent vibes solo arc a prelude to the no less remarkable inventions of Herbie Hancock. The latter, especially during the chordal passages toward the end of his solo, becomes involved in some polyrhythmic byplay, against the rhythm section’s regular pulse, that ranks among his more astonishing achievement. Joe Chambers’ role becomes increasingly important as the group moves to a reprise, somewhat reshaped, of the opening mood.

Bouquet is a slow, stately waltz. Hutcherson introduces the theme with supple assistance from Hancock and light brushwork by Chambers. Note the simplicity of the lines in Herbie’s spare, elliptical solo, and the added dimension supplied by Bob Cranshaw’s bass accents.

"I was inspired to write Bouquet after listening to some of the work of Eric Satie,” says Bobby. He did several things that sound like that to me; he used a lot of slow 3/4. They’re all seventh and eleventh chords here, moving alternately, like from D to B to D Flat to B Flat to C to A, and so forth. One chord builds a feeling of tension, the other releases it. It’s supposed to be a peaceful thing. just to make you relax, with that bass figure as a foundation. I wrote it after I came back out to the West Coast. It was so quiet and pleasant in Pasadena, close to the foothills — such a change from New York that I was in the mood to sit down and write this.”

Rojo (the title is Spanish for red) puts the group in a Latin bag, with a strong and appropriate beat supplied by Joe Chambers. Of the theme. which is 20 bars long. Bobby comments: “I was just trying to get a sort of Spanish sound, with that raised fifth in the major chords to give it a special flavor. I think it came out very smoothly.”

Here, as on the other tracks, the contribution of Cranshaw is outstanding. “I’ve admired his work since I first met him out here in Hollywood.” says Bobby, “when he was in Norman Simmons’ Trio accompanying Carmen McRae. Lately he’s been doing a lot of studio pop work around New York as well as jazz dates.”

Maiden Voyage, the only non-Hutcherson work in this set, is already familiar to those who heard it as the title number of an LP by the composer, Herbie Hancock. “Actually I hadn’t heard Herbie’s record when I made this version,” says Bobby, “But I had heard it on a commercial he and Wayne Shorter made for Yardley’s Cologne. One of the hippest commercials ever!” Note the suspenseful character of the composition and of Bobby’s own work, with the countervailing insistence of the rhythm accents on the first, second and fourth beats of the measure.

Head Start is more traditional in form and content than the other originals, with an A-A-B-A pattern and a Speak Low type melody. (“I just decided to sit down and do something straight-ahead as a basis for swinging.”) Bobby was greatly impressed. as was this listener, by the work of Joe Chambers on this track. “Joe has a big space between his beats, yet he stays right on top of the beat — and he doesn't have to play loud to be exciting; at any level, the feeling of excitement is always present.”

When You Are Near is a poignantly beautiful and pensive ballad. Bobby recalls that he wrote it “around two or three in the morning, when I was feeling very sad. When I first started playing it, I didn’t use the mallets — just tapped my fingers on the vibes. It was very quiet, and I just wanted to create a melody. In the first part it’s constructed so that you can almost suspect what is coming next. so for contrast I had a little unpredictable element in the release.” The whole performance comprises a single chorus with a nine-bar channel.

The Omen provides a reminder of the remarks above concerning freedom. “I knew we were going to do a thing that would be mainly percussive.” Bobby says. “I thought of it in three parts. A sharp, heavy introductory chord, then drums coming in and building up to a high tension, gradually falling off to nothing; then attack it again and again. with the same effect. Almost like bending down and trying to lift up a heavy rock, and finally having to let go.” The first three minutes are devoted to freedom forays by drums, then piano, and next Bobby on marimba. Around the 3 1/2 minute mark, that sound you hear of waves beating against the shore is actually Herbie Hancock shaking some rocks in a box. After a brief silence there is a great outburst in a passage that reverses roles for two men: Hutcherson now plays drums and Chambers takes over the marimba.

Hancock soon has another opportunity to express himself in the atonal, totally spontaneous character of the piece. It is a measure of his talent that the same artist who gave us Watermelon Man can stretch out toward the infinite and participate in a performance so far removed from the primitive funkiness of that song.

During Herbie’s solo, Joe and Bobby switch hack to drums and marimba respectively and the work builds to a massive climax. The seven minute of sheer inspiration represented by The Omen were explained as follows by their instigator:

"This was supposed to sound like something that was going to descend on you as an omen, in terms of what’s going to happen to the world. Or at least you could consider it an expression of what might happen — the after-shock, the little smoking remains of what’s left over, after it hit. This was the over.all concept, but as far as the individual roles were concerned, I left everyone free.to do exactly what they wanted to do.” (Too bad this was not recorded in time to be used as sound track music for On The Beach.) After the various displays of vigor, vitality, soul and intimacy that marked the other six tracks, The Omen with its full freedom made a fitting climax to a generally inspired session.

A substantial measure of credit for Bobby’s growing acceptance, incidentally, should go to Blue Note Records for a typical show of foresight and initiative. After first using him as a sideman. Alfred Lion recognized his potential and elevated him to the rank of recording bandleader. The care he took in coaxing Hutcherson along, and encouraging him when encouragement was greatly needed, was handsomely rewarded, as the music on these sides makes abundantly clear.

It is pleasing to be able to add, as a postscript, that word just reached Bobby of a new indication of his surging popularity. He was voted the No. 1 vibraharpist by Jazz Magazine in its first annual readers’ poll. It should go without saying that if he continues to mature at his present rate, this will turn out to have been the first of many such victories.

—LEONARD FEATHER

RVG CD Reissue Liner Notes

A NEW LOOK AT HAPPENINGS

The sultry model in the cover photo might suggest that Happenings marked the mainstreaming of Bobby Hutcherson, and to a certain extent it did. Never mind the many straight-ahead affiliations he enjoyed as a young musician on the West Coast (Leonard Feather's inventory omits Les McCann and Gerald Wilson), his introduction to New York audiences in the Al Grey/Billy Mitchell band, or his Blue Note appearances with Grant Green and Dexter Gordon; as 1966 began, Hutcherson could thank his many partnerships in the growing avant-garde movement for the spike in his reputation. His vibes had replaced piano to stunning effect in the bands of the late Eric Dolphy, Jackie McLean, Grachan Moncur, Ill, and Archie Shepp, and his own previous Blue Note recordings, built around the visionary writing of Andrew Hill and Joe Chambers, featured additional voices of the new music such as Hill and Sam Rivers. Happenings was the first Hutcherson album to present the vibist as the only featured soloist over a conventional rhythm section, playing a program comprised for the most part of swingers, ballads, and Latin tunes that might pass as post-bop status quo.

What the present music demonstrated, however, was that Hutcherson was one of the most complete musicians to have emerged at the time on any instrument. "Everyone was exploring, " Hutcherson has said of the period. "You could always find an after-hours session, and everyone was writing. I remember taking a bus from the Bronx into Manhattan, and seeing Malcolm X speaking as we crossed 125th Street. You just had to get out and listen. Sun Ra did something in Central Park one day with 100 musicians. All of the saxophonists played flute at one point, and it sounded like every bird in the world was there. You'd just go home after these experiences and find yourself writing something, becoming part of it."

Rather than abandoning these inspirations, Happenings was the opportunity to stretch convention in a positive and totally persuasive manner. Given the economics of the music business, which made it virtually impossible to sustain bands such as the sextets heard on previous Hutcherson releases, it also anticipated the format that he would find himself employing most frequently over the ensuing four decades.

Choosing the right players for this project was critical, and it is doubtful that Hutcherson could have found a better supporting group for the music at hand. Bob Cranshaw keeps the music grounded without inhibiting its flow, and Joe Chambers confirms that the iconoclastic edge he brought to earlier projects was grounded in a comprehensive understanding of time and texture. Most important of all, Herbie Hancock was one of the few contemporaries who shared Hutcherson's ability to sound both right and fresh in any context. Hancock had worked with Hutcherson in the Grey/Mitchell band and on Components, and had displayed the capacity there and elsewhere to find the absolutely perfect response to every conceivable kind of material.

The range and excellence of Hutcherson the composer, which had been suggested by his contributions to Components, was also confirmed here. The six titles he contributed are structurally challenging (as his comments to Feather make clear) as well as being memorable from a purely melodic point of view. While none has become a jazz standard on the order of Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" (which is heard here in the first of numerous cover versions that followed the composer's original May 1965 recording), Hutcherson has revisited the two ballads here in orchestral arrangements, with Wade Marcus adding strings and winds for the reprise of "When You Are Near" on the 1972 Natural Illusions (Blue Note), and Cedar Walton scoring " Bouquet" for a quartet plus 12 strings six years later on the vibist's Highway One (Columbia). With Hancock in support, Hutcherson also reprised "Bouquet" at the 1985 Town Hall concert that marked the reactivation of the Blue Note label.

Hancock and Hutcherson would also reunite 17 months after the present music was taped on Oblique, with Albert Stinson on bass and Chambers on drums; but it is even more instructive to hear Happenings in the context of two other Blue Note quartet sessions that feature Hutcherson — Andrew Hill's Judgment, recorded in January 1964, and McCoy Tyner's Time for Tyner, from May 1968. Taken together, these discs reveal both the spectrum of music available in the vibes/piano/bass/drum format, and the affinity Hutcherson possessed for three of the major pianists of the period. And while they anticipate Hutcherson's collaborations with other leading pianists (including Chick Corea, Joe Sample, George Cables, and Walton), they establish a standard of creativity that his later partnerships might equal but would never exceed.

— Bob Blumenthal, 2006