CiTR

Tonight's Jazz Feature is an unearthed recording, one of the many by pianist composer Andrew Hill. In an interview with Mr. Hill with Blue Note Records archivist, Michael Cuscuna, Andrew mentioned the many unreleased sessions he recorded for Blue Note naming all the personnel. Hill said some were good and some were just okay. All were eventually released except for one which he said he was very happy with. Cuscuna as soon as he left Hill went into the Blue Note archives looking for this session that Hill mentioned but alas the tape was out of phase and unuseable. Cuscuna persisted and in a few weeks he was rewarded with finding a faultless multi-track tape of the session that had been misfiled. He brought it to Hill and Andrew was elated. The session was released in 2003 and drew accolades from critics and fans alike and was hailed as 'the discovery of the year". The album features 7 Hill compositions played by two great trumpeters: Woody Shaw and Dizzy Reece, trombonist Julian Priester, Robert Northern on French horn, Howard Johnson on tuba and bass clarinet and multi-instrumentalist Joe Farrell on tenor and soprano saxophones, English horn, bass clarinet and alto flute. Mr. Hill is on piano with Ron Carter on bass and a young Lenny White on drums. The album was called "Passing Ships" and it's a latter day classic and tonight's Jazz Feature.