BN-LA-249-G

Bobby Hutcherson - Live At Montreux

Released - 1974

Recording and Session Information

"Montreux Jazz Festival", "Casino De Montreux", Switzerland, July 5, 1973
Woody Shaw, trumpet; Bobby Hutcherson, vibes; Cecil Bernard, piano; Ray Drummond, bass; Larry Hancock, drums.

14097 Anton's Boil
14098 The Moontrane
14099 Song Of Songs

Farallone

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Anton's Bail	B. Hutcherson	July 5 1973
The Moontrane	W. Shaw	July 5 1973
Side Two
The Moontrane (Continued From Side 1)	W. Shaw	July 5 1973
Song Of Songs	W. Shaw	July 5 1973

Liner Notes

Montreux, Switzerland, home of the Montreux Jazz Festival, was fortunate to witness the impeccable performance of premier vibist, Bobby Hutcherson. Impeccable is the appropriate adjective for one of the top vibists in the world. His performance at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival received accolades for advancement and superior musical technique.

Bobby Hutcherson’s histography is impressive. Born January 27, 1941, in Los Angeles, California, Bobby became seriously interested in the vibes after he heard a recording by Mitt Jackson. Shortly after, he acquired his own set of vibes, and Bobby began playing local engagements. In Los Angeles, Bobby played on and off with tenor Curtis Amy, Charles Lloyd, and other top musicians, Hutcherson moved to New York where he met Jackie McLean and played with him for a year. During this period he was a sideman for Eric Dolphy’s legendary Blue Note album, “Out To Lunch". The following year in New York Bobby worked with the likes of Archie Shepp, Hank Mobley, and Grachan Moncur Ill. He also played in two notable big bands, Gil Fuller’s orchestra at the 1964 Monterey Jazz Festival, and later with Gerald Wilson’s all-star ensemble.

In 1964, Hutcherson won the Downbeat critics poll as the vibes man most deserving of public acclaim. Since that time, Hutcherson has always been Top 5 in Downbeat’s Vibist Poll. In 1966, he won overall beat vibraphonist from Jazz Magazine. It was in 1965 Hutcherson incorporated the marimba, tandem to the vibes. His most recent session work includes such notables as Tony Williams, Grant Green, Harold Land, and McCoy Tyner. On July 3, 1973 he made his debut performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The result was no less than musical nirvana.

“Anton’s Bail.” the opening number, is a Hutcherson composition. The melodic duet of Woody Shaw’s horn and Bobby Hutcherson’s vibes glide over the 2/4 downbeat of the percussion. The simplistic, two-part fill of Cecil Bernard’s piano is executed with the utmost taste. The extended track allows Hutcherson the necessary freedom in which to maneuver the mallets swiftly over the keys. The precision movements of Bobby’s snake-like body continually dazzle the spectators. He makes it look so simple. Woody Shaw’s solo is succinct, sweet. and undramatic in “Anton’s Bail.”

“Moontrane,” a Woody Shaw composition, was, for all intensive purposes, composed in deference to the late John Coltrane. Sometimes vicious in nature, this piece of Jazz is tailored for the purists. At one point in the composition, the musical displacement illustrates a forted ensemble. Dynamicism prevails.

The fourteen minute Woody Shaw work, “Song Of Songs” reveals a multi-colored communique between Hutcherson and Shaw. Shaw paints the musical canvas; at which point Hutcherson treads his crystal-like vibes atop the Woody Shaw foundation. The explosive nature of Shaw’s trumpet mastery unconsciously draws listener’s response.

The musical picture painted by Hutcherson’s team is no less than inexhaustible delight. Hutcherson necessitates the use of body thrust and muscle coordination in communicating to his instrument. His mind is one-bar ahead of the quartet. The result is beautifully orchestrated compositions, meticulously performed.

Vibists are rare. The timed dexterity, the physiological control, and the exact force of mallet to vibe contact is an individualistic gift. The possession of that gift is inherent in Bobby Hutcherson. He fortunately shares that gift with all. This live recording of Bobby Hutcherson at the 1973 Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland is Blue Note’s way of sharing his unquestionable gift with you.

-Jere Hausfater

CD Reissue Liner Notes

Although Bobby Hutcherson had garnered some attention in his native Los Angeles playing with Curtis Amy, Charles Lloyd, Les McCann and others, it was not until he came to New York in 1961 as a member of the Al Grey-Billy Mitchell Sextet that his talent began to be truly appreciated.  

This was a fertile time in New York City, and Bobby decided to stay. Soon he was working in the piano-less quintets of Jackie Mc[æan (with Grachan Moncur and a 17-year-old Tony Williams) and Eric Dolphy (with an 18-year-old trumpeter named Woody Shaw). His range, intellect and virtuosity were immediately apparent in both quintets, each of which was deeply rooted in the jazz tradition and boldly expanding it. After [Re Morgan, Freddie Hubbard and the late Booker Little, Woody Shaw was the next great trumpeter in modern jazz, an assertion made readily apparent by his playing and writing on Larry Young's 1964 Blue Note session Unity.  
 
Woody and Bobby were part of a unique generation of jazz musicians who were highly trained and who had open ears to all sorts of music from Debussey and Ellington to Stockhausen and Ornette Coleman.  

During the rest of the sixties, the careers of these two kindred spirits paralleled each other, though they had little opportunity to work together. Both were frequent sidemen on Blue Note sessions, and both worked with such diverse leaders as Hank Mobley, McLean, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Andrew Hill and Archie Shepp, though not together.  

In 1969, Bobby moved back to the west coast where he formed a quintet with Harold [and that lasted a couple of years. After leaving Art Blakey, Woody also settled on the west coast for a couple of years, recording two albums of his own for Contemporary and finally joining Bobby's band in time for this extraordinary performance on the Blue Note Night at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival.  

Pianist Hotep Cecil Bernard would become a member of John Handy's band in the late seventies during which time Handy had a major pop hit with "Hard Work". He is currently a member of Jackie McLean's sextet. Bassist Ray Drummond would move to New York in the late seventies where he has been an ever present and indispensable member of New York's club and recording scene. Drummer Larry Hancock remained a member of Bobby's quintet into the late seventies.  

Three of the four tunes on this CD were issued briefly on LP, but only in Europe and Japan. Now the session has been fully assembled in order of performance and remixed for this release. These are the only versions of Bobby's "Anton's Bail" and the previously unissued "Farallone". Woody's 'Song Of Songs" was the title tune of his second Contemporary album, while 'The Moontrane" first appeared on the aforementioned Larry Young album Unity and has since become a modern jazz standard.  

Bobby and Woody would record one more album (Cirrus) a year later, after which Woody returned east to launch his career as a band leader in ernest.  

Bobby and Woody would work together again in various special situations such as Dexter Gordon's Sophisticated Giant album, concerts and a couple of tours by Woody's quintet in the early eighties with Bobby as guest artist. One such tour resulted in a live recording at the Jazz Forum in New York, which bore two albums on Elektra Musician.  

As different in disposition as any two people could be, Bobby and Woody, who died in 1989, were good friends and of likemind in their musical talent and taste. Every one of their collaborations revealed their amazing chemistry and resulted in creative, vital music. This particularly obscure chapter in the relationship is about to get the exposure that it deserves.  
 
-Michael Cuscuna