Bobby Hutcherson will always be THE MAN when it comes to what a jazz vibraphonist can do. When I read the word across the wire that he passed away yesterday at the age of 75, I thought about the record I could immediately recall him playing on. Eric Dolphy's Out To Lunch, Grant Green's Idle Moments and Dexter Gordon's Gettin' Around were the first that came to mind.
Any of songs he played on from those album would have been fine to pick in a remembrance for him but I decided to go back to where the jazz world most likely heard him in the spotlight. That album is Jackie McLean's One Step Beyond. Released in January 1964, the record was a signpost as to where the hard boppers were heading into a much stranger, free and avant garde destination. Even with the brilliant cats in the band Bobby's mallet work shines its own light brightly all over the record.
What are you listening to tonight?
