Bobby Hutcherson: Total Eclipse LP (Blue Note Tone Poet Series)

Blue Note, 1968

Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson was a defining feature of the sound of Blue Note Records throughout the 1960s, equally at home in hard bop, soul jazz, and avant-garde settings. His 1968 album Total Eclipse was the vibraphonist’s first recording to feature tenor saxophonist and flutist Harold Land who would go on to become a key collaborator in the years to follow. Hutcherson and Land had been co-leading a band on the West Coast and came to New York City for engagements at Slugs’ Saloon and the Village Vanguard before heading into Plaza Sound Studio to record the album. Rounding out the band were pianist Chick Corea, bassist Reggie Johnson & Hutcherson’s go-to drummer Joe Chambers on this impassioned and probing set of post-bop. With the exception of Corea’s exceptional piece “Matrix,” the rest of the program consists of Hutcherson compositions including the assured and briskly swinging opener “Herzog” and the epic closer “Pompeian” which moves between a gentle, lilting waltz and more turbulent explorations.