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Andrew Hill - Laverne

During the 20th century, this melancholy music was the sound of the rural South. The blues came out of the life of struggle... It came out of what was going on in the Delta, whether it was weather or slavery and sharecropper lives that were difficult.

As a music form, the blues has certain distinct features. The melody usually goes up and down a six note scale. If you’re starting on a C, that scale would go C, E flat, F, G flat, G, B flat, C. The lyrics tend to follow what’s known as an AAB pattern, with the first line of each verse repeating itself, The thrill is gone, the thrill is gone away / The thrill is gone, the thrill is gone away. The B line usually answers or resolves whatever is in the A line, You know you done me wrong, baby, and you’ll be sorry someday.

The blues also evokes a particular response in the listener... Rock arouses and pumps up, it is intense and rebellious. R&B soothes and often seduces, its lyrics tend to be externally focused. Blues is more introspective and complex, its lyrics tend toward describing one’s internal state.


Andrew Hill - Laverne

  • Release date: October 17, 1974
  • Genre: Jazz, Post-Bop
  • Released on: Invitation album


"After a flurry of recordings for Blue Note during the 1960s, Andrew Hill didn't make another album as a leader until this Steeplechase studio session in 1974. Not that the pianist was inactive during this five-year stretch; he was performing concerts, teaching at Colgate University, and also writing for string quartets and symphony orchestras."

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Location: United States

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