Bobby Hutcherson with Harold Land – live at Antibes – July 25, 1969 – Radio France –
Memorable collaborations this weekend. Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and tenor sax Harold Land, along with Stanley Cowell on piano, Reggie Johnson on bass and Joe Chambers on drums, recorded live at Juan-les-Pins Jazz festival in Antibes, France on July 25, 1969 by Radio France.
The musical partnership between vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson— a Blue Note stalwart since his arrival on the New York jazz scene in 1963—and tenor saxophonist Harold Land fully blossomed on the 1970 album San Francisco, though the musicians had already been exploring the far reaches of post-bop going back to 1968 on albums including Total Eclipse, Spiral, and Medina. On San Francisco they joined forces with pianist Joe Sample, bassist John Williams, and drummer Mickey Roker to form a band with a muscular sound that set a foot firmly in fusion on relentlessly grooving tunes like “Goin’ Down South” and “Ummh,” while indulging a wide range of other influences which gave the group its distinctive flavor, from the Latin-tinged numbers “Jazz” and “A Night In Barcelona” to exploratory pieces like the mesmerizing “Prints Tie” and transcendent “Procession.”
Easily one of jazz’s greatest vibraphonists, Bobby Hutcherson epitomized his instrument in relation to the era in which he came of age the way Lionel Hampton did with swing or Milt Jackson with bop. He isn’t as well-known as those two forebears, perhaps because he started out in less-accessible territory when he emerged in the ’60s playing cerebral, challenging modern jazz that often bordered on avant-garde. Along with Gary Burton, the other seminal vibraphone talent of the ’60s, Hutcherson helped modernize his instrument by redefining what could be done with it — sonically, technically, melodically, and emotionally. In the process, he became one of the defining (if underappreciated) voices in the so-called “new thing” portion of Blue Note’s glorious ’60s roster. Hutcherson gradually moved into a more mainstream, modal post-bop style that, if not as adventurous as his early work, still maintained his reputation as one of the most advanced masters of his instrument.
Texas-born tenor saxophonist Harold Land was an adept stylist whose sound brought together the big swinging tone and edgy harmonics of the hard bop era with the warm lyricism and dusky romance of the West Coast, where he spent much of his life. A member of the celebrated Clifford Brown and Max Roach Quintet, Land also enjoyed a vibrant solo career, releasing albums like 1959’s The Fox, 1963’s Jazz Impressions of Folk Music, and 1968’s The Peace-Maker, the latter of which introduced his long-running quintet with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. He also worked with luminaries like Wes Montgomery, Thelonious Monk, Hampton Hawes, and Red Mitchell, and was a member of the Gerald Wilson Orchestra. Influenced by John Coltrane, his playing grew more exploratory throughout the ’60s and ’70s, yet he never lost his swinging, melodic style as evidenced by such late-career albums as 1995’s A Lazy Afternoon and 2001’s A Promised Land.
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