ANDREW WILCOX

DEAR MR. HILL

Truth Revolution Recording Collective

Andrew Wilcox, piano/composer; Yoron Israel, drums; Avery Sharp, bass.

Andrew Wilcox is a Hartford, Connecticut-based pianist and composer.  With this dazzling debut album, he has musically penned an open letter to the mentors and the life experiences that have shaped him.

The first song on this journey is titled “Muir Woods.” It’s a great example of this young composer’s vision and creativity.  This composition already sounds like a ‘standard’ jazz tune. It celebrates his initial hiking experience in the redwood forest of the Bay Area.

“The elements that are at the core of this album are the people, places and things that have inspired me along the way. Andrew Hill’s music hit me in a very deep, emotional place. It was the first time I’d heard somebody who was able to paint such complex emotional portraits in ways that I’d never heard before,” Wilcox shared in his press package, explaining the cd title, “Dear Mr. Hill.”

The title tune is performed Straight-ahead jazz style, with a pronounced melody line played at the dramatic introduction. It quickly becomes another one of my favorite tunes on this album.  Wilcox is supported, strong as steel, by the competent and seasoned talents of Avery Sharpe on bass and Yoron Israel on drums.  Both jazz men have been mentors and supporters of young Wilcox, encouraging him to spread wings and fly. During this arrangement, Sharpe’s improv-solo on double bass displays his excellence on the instrument.

Along with two hands-full of original compositions, Wilcox has chosen to interpret two standard tunes. One is “Stella by Starlight” that he richly explores.  He turns thus familiar tune on its head during his improvisational solo. You will recognize his genius, because although he never deserts the chord changes, he creates his own song, totally distinct and uniquely his own melody. During this arrangement, both Israel and Sharpe are featured, doing their thing with gusto and imagination, especially during a spotlight appearance of trading fours and soloing. Israel’s drum solo takes the tune out with a bang!

This is an album that introduces us to a young man on his way to the stars.

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

 

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