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Andrew Hill. Dreams Come True.

This was released in 2008. It has Chico Hamilton on drums with Hill on piano. (Just the two of them.) The first track, Ohho, is rhythmic but not too metrical. The drummer plays motifs rather than a beat. This kind of music can have the tendency to be a little too rambling and inconsequential, but I'm feeling it strong. Unfairly, perhaps, I'm comparing Hill to Cecil Taylor: my tendency to interpret the unknown in terms of the known. His touch is softer than CT; he is less busy and agressive.

The second cut is "Three Notes & a Brush." This one is a little quieter at the onset. Hamilton starts off with some hi hat work. The tune builds intensity gradually toward the half-way point; a pulse is established. Two minutes from the end, at about minute 5, the tempo slows, in a more meditative section.

"Watch that Dream." Another great combination of quiet intensity. He seems to favor that seven to eleven minute length.

"And the Drums Sing." Yes they do. Here Chico moves from cymbals to drums, emphasizing the toms and turning off the snares on the snare drums, while AH accompanies him on the piano.

"Clifford's Gone." A piano solo, with no drums, for about the first two minutes. Then the drums come in with no piano. Toward the end of the drum solo there are a few soft chords, then the drum drops out again. I don't know what to make of this track.

"Shaw Nuff." This one has a more bluesy, intense feeling, with a thicker texture on both drums and piano. An avant-garde tribute to soul jazz? I would have guessed Cecil Taylor on a blindfold test.

There are two other tracks, but I have to go teach.