Bobby Hutcherson featuring Harold Land – San Francisco (Blue Note, 1971)

Bobby Hutcherson (vib, mar, perc); Harold Land (ts, fl, oboe); Joe Sample (p, el p); John Williams (b, el b); Mickey Roker (d)

Recorded on July 15, 1970

In the latter half of the 1960s, Bobby Hutcherson partnered with Harold Land to form the Bobby Hutcherson-Harold Land Quintet.  (In some cases, they were billed as the Harold Land-Bobby Hutcherson Quintet.)  The band toured and performed as a unit, but they never released an album under that particular moniker.  Instead, Hutcherson released a series of albums on Blue Note with Land serving as a sideman, and Land likewise released albums in his name on Cadet and Mainstream with Hutcherson playing a supporting role. Even though I think of the Hutcherson-Land Quintet as one of the great bands of their day, I think many (most?) jazz fans don't necessarily think of them as a unit.  

Another factor that may have impacted the quintet's long-term reputation: Blue Note didn't release two of their finest recordings until more than a decade had passed.  The two LPs (both released in Hutcherson's name) -- Spiral (rec. 1968; rel. 1979) and Medina (rec. 1969, rel. 1980) are among the band's finest.  Coincidentally, these two LPs are also the first Bobby Hutcherson recordings that captured my ear. (Blue Note released both LPs on a single CD in 1998.)  This is the music that made me love Harold Land's tenor work, and it made such an impact that I came to regard Bobby Hutcherson as one of my all-time musical favorites, regardless of genre. In fact, Hutcherson's music so thoroughly captured my imagination that I eventually created a fairly extensive web site in his honor. Even though I haven't updated the site in more than ten years, it's still available. You can view it here.

When I developed that site, I tried to write brief synopses for each of Hutcherson's records. I didn't want them to be "reviews"; instead, I wanted them to be personal responses to the music.  But Hutcherson recorded very prolifically (as a leader and as a sideman), and I never finished writing all of them. In fact, I didn't write anything about Hutcherson and Land's collaborative effort, San Francisco. That said, I did give the album a 4-and-a-half star rating (relative to Hutcherson overall output, not some Platonic 5-star ideal).  That assessment still rings true.  If anything, I think even more of the record now than I did then.

If the earlier records like Medina and Spiral pushed boundaries, they still were easily recognizable as "conventional jazz," even "Blue Note jazz."  I think San Francisco is different.  It sounds like they were very deliberately trying to move in new and creative directions.  They messed with new forms, with unusual harmonies, with different sounds.  But I don't want to overstate the case; the music isn't entirely new.  The album opens with Joe Sample's "Goin' Down South," a groover that also appears on the The Crusaders Pass the Plate (Chisa, 1971).  But Hutcherson and Land elevate the music to another level.

For me, the spiritual heart of the album is "Procession."  I'm not a musician, and I can't really describe exactly what happens here.  You'll just have to take my word for it and listen for yourself.  I think it's some of the most wonderful, moving music these musical giants ever recorded.

Look for more from both Bobby Hutcherson and Harold Land later in the survey.