Hutcherson, Bobby (actually, Robert)

Hutcherson, Bobby (actually, Robert), brilliant jazz vibraphone and marimba player and composer; b. L.A., Jan. 27, 1941. He started on piano. Inspired by a recording of Milt Jackson at age 15, he took up vibraphone and studied briefly with Dave Pike. In the later 1950s, he worked with Curtis Amy and Charles Lloyd in his hometown, and then relocated to San Francisco to join the Al Grey-Billy Mitchell combo. In 1962 he went to N.Y., where he worked with Eric Dolphy, Jackie McLean, Archie Shepp (including Newport Jazz Fest. 1965), Hank Mobley, Herbie Hancock, and Andrew Hill. He moved to the San Francisco area by 1967 and played with John Handy. There he co-led an influential and popular band with Harold Land from 1965-71. Since then, he has primarily led his own small groups and also worked with the Timeless All- Stars. Although in his earlier recordings Hutcherson showed the influence of free jazz, by the late 1970s he had completely remade himself in a more traditional mold. In 1985 he began a series of recordings which incorporated strong Afro-Cuban rhythmic elements.

Hutcherson is a brilliant soloist whose relative lack of fame is probably due to the fact that he is not a saxophonist or trumpeter. His spinning lines would be stunning on any instrument

Discography

Components (1965); Spiral (1965); Dialogue (1965); Stick Up! (1966). Herbie Hancock: Happenings (1966). Total Eclipse (1967); Oblique (1967); Patterns (1968); Blow Up (1969); Natural Illusions (1972); Live at Montreux (1973); Cirrus (1974); Montara (1975); Waiting (1976); View from the Inside (1976); Knucklebean (1977); Dance of the Sun (1977); Highway One (1978); Un Poco Loco (1979); Conception: The Gift of Love (1979); Solo/Quartet (1981); Good Bait (1984); It Ain’t Easy (1985); Color Schemes (1985); In the Vanguard (1986); Cruisin’ the Bird (1988); Ambos Mundos (1989); Mirage (1991); Landmarks (1992).

—Lewis Porter/Nicolas Slonimsky