TT 493: Billy Hart, JUST

New ECM record, new New York Times profile

Sincere thanks to Hank Shteamer for writing about Billy Hart at The New York Times!
”Billy Hart Has One Foot in Jazz’s Past and the Other in Its Future” is a substantial profile, and features amusing animation of Billy playing the hi-hat with his familiar inscrutable expressions on the splash page.

The article is pegged to the new ECM release, Just, out today on all platforms.

Just is ECM 2748. Manfred Eicher’s label started with Mal Waldron’s Free at Last in 1969 with ECM 1001, and all the issues — jazz/improv, New Series, and archival — have followed in reasonably strict numerical order, so that makes Just the one thousand, seven hundred, and forty-eight ECM release.

JazzTimes selected Just as top release of the month. “Hart’s arresting intros and fills, crisp and articulate, convey a forward-thinking sensibility, a relationship to the beat, that makes him one of the most identifiable drummers in jazz. His writing has a certain lyrical inner mystery and strength…”

Marlbank: “The bouquet is bright, the scent is complex. Senses come alive at the sound of stick, cymbal, tumble of fill and crowd of rhythms.” (Five star review.)

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The album opens with “Showdown,” the first recording of something the BHQ has been playing for a few years. It’s a good take.

I admit “Showdown” is an audience favorite, I’ve also performed it solo, duo, trio, and sextet.