Andrew Hill

Andrew Hill

Andrew Hill is a jazz pianist and composer from Chicago, United States. He is associated with avant-garde jazz, bebop, hard bop and jazz, and is also described as working in avant-garde and modal jazz idioms.

Career

Hill first records as a sideman in 1955. His reputation grows through a series of Blue Note albums made as a leader between 1963 and 1969. These recordings feature players including Eric Dolphy, Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw and Tony Williams, as well as two rare recordings by John Gilmore away from Sun Ra.

He also appears as a sideman on albums by Bobby Hutcherson, Joe Henderson, Hank Mobley and Sam Rivers. After that period, he rarely works as a sideman and instead focuses on performing his own compositions, which limits his public exposure.

Teaching and later work

Hill earns a doctorate in music from Colgate University and serves there as composer in residence from 1970 to 1972. He later teaches in California and at Portland State University. He returns to New York City in 1990 and continues to perform and record.

Style and recognition

His performances and compositions are known for rhythmic and harmonic complexity. His album Dusk is selected as the best album of 2001 by both DownBeat and JazzTimes. A later Blue Note album, Time Lines, is also released.

Memberships and label

Hill is linked with the Jimmy Woods Sextet and the Andrew Hill Trio. He also records on Jazz Fund Music.

Life dates

Hill is born in 1931 and dies in 2007.