Andrew Hill – Dance With Death (UHQCD)

Brilliant pianist and composer Andrew Hill made his debut on Blue Note in 1963 with a wave of creativity and remained extremely productive until the end of the decade, leaving several breathtaking sessions unreleased. Recorded in 1968 but not released until 1980, “Dance With Death” was Hill’s tenth album for Blue Note and is considered one of the most exciting, if initially underrated, sessions in the pianist’s remarkable discography. Hill’s music was always a world unto itself, incorporating elements of post-bop and the avant-garde without committing to either direction. This 6-song set consists entirely of Hill’s unique compositions, including “Yellow Violet”, “Fish ‘N Rice” and “Love Nocturne”, played by a versatile quintet that is equally at home in experimental and swinging settings, including Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Joe Farrell on soprano and tenor saxophone, Victor Sproles on bass and Billy Higgins on drums.

As part of the extremely popular “Blue Note 85th Anniversary Reissue Series” Universal Music Japan presents the sonically impressive remastering of this jazz classic by the legendary Kevin Gray, who is also responsible for Blue Note US’s analog reissues such as “Tone Poet” and “Classic Vinyl” – as a limited Japan only UHQCD with OBI stripe. The original recording session for “Dance With Death” took place on October 11, 1968 at Rudy Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey.

UHQCD stands for Ultimate High Quality Compact Disc and is a joint development of the Japanese CD replication company Memory-Tech and the Audio Quality CD Company from Hong Kong. Unlike conventional CDs, UHQCDs are not pressed from polycarbonate, but cast from a photopolymer and cured with UV light. Another layer of high-purity polycarbonate is applied to the softer photopolymer for scratch protection. The combination results in significantly reduced reflection of laser light inside the CD and an unmatched precise edge transition between pits and lands of the CD. UHQCDs are 100% compatible with standard CD players. Musically, the result is a sound image strongly reminiscent of analog master tapes.

While Universal Music Japan’s first UHQCD series relied on the DSD data of previous SHM-SACD releases, with increasing popularity, albums that had not previously been released as SHM-SACD are now appearing. Typically, the Universal Archive master tapes are re-converted to DSD for this purpose. UHQCDs are ideal for music lovers who want to get as close as possible to the sound of the recording, but do not own an SACD player.

Lista pieselor

1.    Yellow Violet
2.    Partitions
3.    Fish ‘N Rice
4.    Dance With Death
5.    Love Nocturne
6.    Black Sabbath