Rather than an invasive dissection of the recent two-day celebration of the music of Andrew Hill at the Harlem Stage on the campus of the City College of New York, it was far easier just to accept and enjoy it as an extended melange of luscious melodies.
Under the rubric of “Eternal Spirit: Vijay Iyer & Friends Celebrate the Music of Andrew Hill,” day two’s performance was sold out, though the inclement weather may have explained some empty seats. When a barcode, which continues to be the least expensive way of providing program notes, indicated that the music would be drawn from Hill’s corpus of creations, only the most informed Hill aficionado could have deciphered “Black Fire” from “Dusk,” and from the dozen or so others songs being performed.
No matter which of the players was partnered, right from the start the ensemble presented a full orchestral sound, as Iyer and flutist Nicole Mitchell blended harmoniously. After this intro, her furious solo took flight as she set the stage for the evening and the successive duets to follow. Her highest notes often morphed right into the sound of Yuhan Su’s vibraphone. Su is as rewarding to watch as she is to hear, her four mallets juggling notes as though they were six without missing a beat or nuance.
Drummer Nasheet Waits delivered similar moments of dexterity and rhythmic intensity, particularly during his duo cameo with Iyer, and the pianist was never more percussive and inventive. Waits, as he did at the centennial celebration of Max Roach at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center weeks ago, moved with speed and precision from drum to drum, with Roach-like resonance.
Among the most powerful occasions were the solos by tenor saxophonist Mark Shim. Those in the audience old enough or on top of Hill’s music probably recall Joe Henderson’s urgency on “Black Fire,” and relished Shim’s facility at giving those memories a compelling reprise. And when he joined trumpeter/flugelhornist Milena Casado with Mitchell on alto flute, it was a frontline of remarkable tonality that took on an even brighter brilliance from the ballast supplied by bassists Reggie Workman and Devon Gates; her bass at times was walking and his talking. When he wasn’t keeping a song’s meter intact, Workman found those perfect breaks to tinker a bell and shake some beads to accentuate a musical phrase.
Iyer and crew did a marvelous job capturing the full majesty of Hill’s music, which in Iyer’s words was “laced with mystery” and at times “sprawling, mesmerizing improvisations, exuberant and insurgent.” Some of this exploded from his piano, particularly when it was just him and the rhythm section featured. At the close of the concert, each player had a chance to offer a personal coda to the memory of Hill (1931-2007), and there were intimations of his “Siete Ocho” and “Refuse,” or so it seemed.
Pat Cruz, the Artistic Director & CEO of the Harlem Stage put the evening in amber with one of her reflections. “I first presented Andrew in the early 90s at the Studio Museum in Harlem in the Artist’s Voice series that I created,” she said. For a few of us old timers it was as unforgettable as this evening with Iyer and his cohort.
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