Bobby Hutcherson's Components

I just noticed that Amazon has Wayne Shorter's Adam's Apple available as MP3 download for two cents under four bucks.  I did a couple of posts on Shorter's magnificent work in the 1960's, and in the second post I review Adam's Apple as the last in that core Shorter collection.  If you don't have this recording, don't let this one slip away at this price.  

Today I grabbed Bobby Hutcherson's Components for a cool $7.99, bringing my collection of Hutcherson's recordings up to 1967.  This recording is very interesting as a document of Hutcherson's range in the period.  Here is the lineup. which I got from a very nice Hutcherson discography page:

Freddie Hubbard (tp);
James Spaulding (as, fl);
Bobby Hutcherson (vib, mar);
Herbie Hancock (p, org);
Ron Carter (b);
Joe Chambers (d)

It's hard to beat that for a band.  The album begins with a number that has Hubbard and Spaulding playing with almost a big band feel.  It is followed by lyrical, impressionistic piece.  These numbers are solid post bop, challenging only to the most conservative jazz fan. Much the same is true of the third and fourth numbers.  The last is back to the fat horn sound, and is quite beautiful.  Hancock's piano is especially haunting.  

The next three numbers shift abruptly into the new thing.  There is no bothering with melody, it's all down to playing with the components of music.  'Movement,' in particular, is a revealing avant garde document.  The interplay between horns on the one hand, and bass and percussion on the other, is very well articulated.  Some listeners may find it whiny, but I do not. 

The last number returns to romantic impressionism.  It is more or less what vibes are for.  Here it is for a sample.  

Bobby Hutcherson/Pastoral/Components

 Give it a try.  Let me know what you think. 

Cheap Vibes

I have stopped downloading from iTunes' store.  They rarely have the best deals, but that isn't the real problem.  Anything I store in their format can't be converted into MP3s.  This matters because the cd player in my RAV4 can read MP3 discs.  I like to load it with hours of music and listen to bits of that when I go for red potatoes or a bottle of Johnny Walker.  But I keep getting that message that I can't burn anything Apple has sold me or touched.  

Amazon has a lot more music, better deals, and you get honest MP3 files.  Yesterday I found another Bobby Hutcherson recording, Happenings, for about four bucks on Amazon.  I gather that this CD is no longer available in plastic.  The Penguin Guide (may it be praised!) mentions it but doesn't list it.  I have little patience for the music industry when it fails to make such recordings available for download.  Amazon has this one, with a Hutcherson/Herbie Hancock team up, with Bob Cranshaw and Joe Chambers.  It's a beautiful piece of work, and four dollars is about what I think a recording should cost.  Especially a recording that has been sitting in the vaults for decades.  

I have already mentioned Hutcherson's wonderful disc Stick-Up!  That is also available from Amazon for a handful of bucks.  Here is a sample from Happenings, one of Hancock's great compositions.

Bobby Hutcherson/Maiden Voyage/Happenings 

Enjoy.  And if you do, for goodness's sake go to Amazon and download them.  You can't get a magazine for this price, and you won't be throwing this stuff into the recycling bin.