Black fire

"Black Fire, Andrew Hill's debut record for Blue Note, was an impressive statement of purpose that retains much of its power decades after its initial release. Hill's music is quite original, building from a hard bop foundation and moving into uncharted harmonic and rhythmic territory ... Black Fire borrows from the avant-garde, but it's not part of it - the structures remain quite similar to bop, and there are distinct melodies ... Much of the music is informed by implied Afro-Cuban rhythms and modal harmonics, resulting in continually challenging and very rewarding music. Hill's complex chording is thoroughly impressive, and Henderson's bold solos are more adventurous than his previous bop outings would have suggested. Their expertise, along with the nimble, unpredictable rhythm section, help make Black Fire a modern jazz classic".

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"Though he recorded a dozen LPs for Blue Note in a seven-year purple patch between 1963 and '69, Andrew Hill was never one af the label's best-selling musicians. The reason for that was that Hill's music, which possessed a melodic angularity that drew comparisons with Thelonious Monk, wasn't always easy to digest and its avant-garde spirit seemed the antithesis of the hard-bop style the label built its fame on. Black Fire was Hill's debut for [Blue Note] and together with his magnum opus from a year later, Point Of Departure, arguably represents the pinnacle of [his] tenure at Blue Note. It now makes a welcome return via Blue Note's ongoing Tone Poet series, where classic albums are revived on analogue-mastered audiophile vinyl. Accompanied by Joe Henderson, Richard Davis, and Roy Haynes, Hill presents seven compositions ... All affirm that Hill was one of the most original musicians to ever record for Blue Note".