Home » Jazz Musicians » Bobby Hutcherson
Bobby Hutcherson
![Bobby Hutcherson is an NEA Jazz Master Bobby Hutcherson is an NEA Jazz Master](http://www.allaboutjazz.com/images/nea-jazz-masters.png)
NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician.
Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, "I only played piano for my own enjoyment." Returned to the vibes after hearing the music of Milt Jackson. "One day I was walking down the street and I heard one of his records and that started it I have never tried to directly copy his style, but he's been a great influence on me…” He briefly studied the vibes with Dave Pike.
While still a teenager, Hutcherson worked around Los Angeles with such top musicians as Charles Lloyd and Curtis Amy. In 1960 he toured the country with a group led by AI Grey and BilIy Mitchell before settling in New York in 1961. He worked on and off with Jackie McLean for a year, quickly earning a reputation for his full, fresh sound on an instrument that was still a rarity in jazz. From the 1960's he played with some of the leading New York players, such as Hank Mobley, Archie Shepp, Eric Dolphy, Charles Tolliver, Herbie Hancock and Grachan Moncur, III. He began recording as a sideman during this period, appearing on records with Eric Dolphy, Dolly McLean, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams, Dexter Gotdon, Andrew Hill, McCoy Tyner and Grant Green.
In 1964, at the age of 23, Hutcherson won the Downbeat critic's poll as "Talent Deserving Wider Recognition" on the vibes. The following year he played with Gil Fuller's big band at the Monterey Jazz Festival, and cut his first recording as a leader, Dialogue, on the Blue Note label. He continued to record with Blue Note for the next twelve years. During this time Bobby released two masterful recordings for Blue Note Records “Stick Up!” and “Dialogue” that would define the vibraphone as a jazz instrument for decades to come.
From 1967 to 1971 he led a quintet with Harold Land. Among those who belonged to the group as sidemen were the pianists Chick Corea, Stanley Cowell, and Joe Sample; the double bass players Reggie Johnson and Albert Stinson; and the drummers Donald Bailey and Billy Higgins.
Hutcherson moved to San Francisco in 1971 and won the International Jazz Critic's Poll as the "World's Best Vibest." During the '70s and '80s he performed and recorded regularly as a guest or co-leader, appearing on records with McCoy Tyner, Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. He signed with Columbia in 1978 & and recorded the highly acclaimed “Highway One Conception: The Gift of Love” and “Un Poco Loco”. In 1979 he performed as part of an all-star jazz group at the historic Havana Jam Music Festival in Cuba. From 1981 he toured internationally and made recordings as a member of the Timeless All-Stars, with Harold Land, Curtis Fuller, Cedar Walton, Buster Williams and Billy Higgins.
Read moreTags
Eric Dolphy: At Five Spot to Iron Man Revisited
![Read "At Five Spot to Iron Man Revisited" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/0d6ad4a8004d998d79cee5a8173cc31e.jpg)
by Alberto Bazzurro
Riunire in un unico CD di quasi ottanta minuti due capolavori cosa determina? Un capolavoro al quadrato, ovviamente, ed è quanto avviene in questo album semplicemente maestoso, i cui primi tre brani riprendono il live inciso al Five Spot il 16 luglio 1961 dal quintetto da favola riunito per l'occasione da Eric Dolphy, all'epoca trentatreenne, il cui nome iniziava finalmente a circolare con una certa insistenza nel mondo del jazz anche al di là dei colleghi che già ne conoscevano ...
read moreTony Williams: Life Time & Spring Revisited
![Read "Life Time & Spring Revisited" reviewed by Maurizio Comandini](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/45806bb14eb992dc2d93d4d22385eceb.jpg)
by Maurizio Comandini
Tony Williams è uno dei più importanti batteristi della storia. Non solo del jazz, ma della musica in generale. Solitamente questa considerazione, ampiamente condivisa, fa riferimento alla sua lunga esperienza come batterista dei quintetti di Miles Davis della seconda metà degli anni sessanta ed eventualmente al suo ruolo di leader del gruppo Tony Williams Lifetime nato nel 1969 e durato un paio d'anni. Due contesti di assoluta eccellenza che quindi giustificano il giudizio dal quale siamo partiti. Questa ottima ristampa ...
read moreAnthony Williams: Life Time & Spring Revisited
![Read "Life Time & Spring Revisited" reviewed by Chris May](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/45806bb14eb992dc2d93d4d22385eceb.jpg)
by Chris May
Drummer Tony Williams' first two albums as leader, recorded for Blue Note in 1964 and 1965--Life Time when he was only eighteen years old, Spring when he was nineteen--still sound delightfully fresh all these years after their original release. At the time he made them, Williams was a rising star with Miles Davis' second and third quintets, the first a short-lived unit with saxophonist George Coleman, the second a longer lasting one with Wayne Shorter. One of ...
read moreJoe Henderson: The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions
![Read "The Complete Joe Henderson Blue Note Studio Sessions" reviewed by Scott Gudell](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/2dfe7c1e374857a5e4641fa36137362a.jpg)
by Scott Gudell
If an artist stamps his jazz passport with any one of these labels--Blue Note, Verve, Milestone--it's pretty much a guarantee that you've arrived in style. Tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson has traveled with all three and more. The 2021 reissue from the prestigious Mosaic Records focuses on Henderson's 1960s tenure with Blue Note offers a new opportunity to experience an abundance of rich and creative jazz from the decade. Big band and bop were duking it out in the ...
read moreNew sounds and a focus on Bobby Hutcherson
![Read "New sounds and a focus on Bobby Hutcherson" reviewed by Bob Osborne](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/5e476eafce952a11f6e994c9213c31ca.jpg)
by Bob Osborne
Three classic tracks from vibes master Bobby Hutcherson plus new music from Angelika Niescier, Matthias Spillman and Ocean Fanfare, with a selection of other jazz treats. Playlist Angelika Niescier The Surge" from New York Trio (Intakt) 00:00 Matthias Spillmann Peace" from Live at the Bird's Eye Jazz Club (Clean Feed) 09:53 Ocean Fanfare We Can't Stop Now" from First Nature (Barefoot Records) 16:06 Regina Carter Day Dreaming on the Niger" from Reverse Thread (E1 Entertainment) 21:37 Stefano Bollani ...
read moreBobby Hutcherson tribute at SFJAZZ Center
![Read "Bobby Hutcherson tribute at SFJAZZ Center" reviewed by David Becker](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/5e476eafce952a11f6e994c9213c31ca.jpg)
by David Becker
Bobby Hutcherson tribute SFJAZZ Center jny: San Francisco CA January 21, 2017 I still can't quite believe he's gone. No, not that contemporary American icon. I'm talking about Bobby Hutcherson, one of the greatest practitioners ever of the curious art of making the vibraphone sing and a jazz composer of unparalleled wit and invention. Hutcherson laid his mallets down for good last August, and the world has seemed a measurably ...
read moreBobby Hutcherson: A Life In Jazz
![Read "Bobby Hutcherson: A Life In Jazz" reviewed by AAJ Staff](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/2010/bobbyhutcherson100.jpeg)
by AAJ Staff
This interview was first published at All About Jazz in February 1999. Listen to any one of Bobby Hutcherson's albums for Blue Note during the mid-'60's and '70's, he made well over thirty, and you will see just why he is the best vibraphonist in jazz. Dialogue with Andrew Hill, Components with a fiery Joe Chambers, and Live at Montreux, all superb. It was a personal honor to get an opportunity to sit down and chat with Hutcherson. ...
read moreJazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/5e476eafce952a11f6e994c9213c31ca.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!
NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, I only played piano for my ...
read more
Bobby Hutcherson: Oblique
![Bobby Hutcherson: Oblique](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/b18aa04cd80523e9c4e1844a025562bb.jpg)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
It's so hard to understand why great albums weren't released soon after they were recorded. When the release of superb music was delayed by years, the reason was likely a marketing decision. The decision to delay a release may have been too many albums by the leader or sidemen already in stores. Or an album already out by the leader may selling through the roof and a new release hitting stores too soon would only undercut the former's sales. Or ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/5e476eafce952a11f6e994c9213c31ca.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!
NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, I only played piano for my ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/5e476eafce952a11f6e994c9213c31ca.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!
NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, I only played piano for my ...
read more
Five Videos of Bobby Hutcherson
![Five Videos of Bobby Hutcherson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/5e476eafce952a11f6e994c9213c31ca.jpg)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bobby Hutcherson was one of the finest vibraphonists of the 1960s. His Blue Note albums remain an adventure into modal jazz and the African-American jazz perspective. Here are five videos of Hutcherson in action over the years. He died in 2016 [photo of Bobby Hutcherson by Francis Wolff (c) Mosaic Images] Here's the majestically stormy pianist McCoy Tyner and Hutcherson in 1983 performing Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit (from Tyner's 1973 album Enlightenment) and The Seeker (from Tyner's 1980 album Quartets ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/5e476eafce952a11f6e994c9213c31ca.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!
NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, I only played piano for my ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/5e476eafce952a11f6e994c9213c31ca.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!
NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, I only played piano for my ...
read more
Bobby Hutcherson: The Kicker
![Bobby Hutcherson: The Kicker](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/6a00e008dca1f0883401bb09b292c8970d-500wi.png)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
It's unclear why Bobby Hutcherson's The Kicker wasn't released by Blue Note until 1999, despite being recorded in 1963. The album is flawless as far as I can tell. It swings, it's engaging, the musicians on the session were spectacular and there don't appear to be any instrumental errors or microphone snafus. If I were guessing, I'd say the reason might have been because Grant Green recorded Joe Henderson's The Kicker on his Solid album in June 1964 (which then ...
read more
Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson
![Jazz Musician of the Day: Bobby Hutcherson](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/5e476eafce952a11f6e994c9213c31ca.jpg)
Source:
Michael Ricci
All About Jazz is celebrating Bobby Hutcherson's birthday today!
NEA jazz master Bobby Hutcherson is the most accomplished vibraphonist of his generation. He is a master of melodic, harmonic and rhythmic improvisation on both the vibes and the marimba. He has performed or recorded with nearly every major living jazz musician. Born in Los Angeles in 1941, and raised in Pasadena, Hutcherson took a few piano lessons at an early age. But, he says, I only played piano for my ...
read more
Bobby Hutcherson: 1941-2016
![Bobby Hutcherson: 1941-2016](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/profile/musician/5e476eafce952a11f6e994c9213c31ca.jpg)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bobby Hutcherson, whose swinging, ringing modal approach on the vibraphone not only revolutionized the instrument's role and personality but also soulfully mirrored the tumultuous 1960s and early 1970s, died on Aug. 15. He was 75. Of all the jazz musicians who recorded important albums in the 1960s, Hutcherson (and Wayne Shorter, to some extent) captured a feel that perfectly illustrated the era's growing frustration and confusion. During this period, the artistic landscape shifted in favor of pop, leaving African-American jazz ...
read more