HILL ANDREW: ANDREW!!! LP

Blue Note founder Alfred Lion considered Andrew Hill to be a pianist and composer who was every bit as strikingly original and important as Thelonious Monk and began recording Hill with a fervor in 1963. Hill, for his part, did not disappoint. The pianist burst out of the gate with a torrent of creativity that produced five remarkable albums in just eight months: Black Fire, Smoke Stack, Judgment!, Point of Departure, and Andrew!!! Perhaps overshadowed by its predecessor Point of Departure, which is widely regarded as Hill's masterpiece, 1964's Andrew!!! has remained an unfairly underrated entry in Hill's magnificent Blue Note discography. With a quintet featuring the Sun Ra Arkestra saxophonist John Gilmore along with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Joe Chambers, Hill presented six of his mercurial inside-out compositions including "The Groits" and "Black Monday."