Featuring the work of obscure composer/pianist
Todd Cochrane, vibraphonist
Bobby Hutcherson's 1971 album
Head On is a highly cerebral and atmospheric affair that is somewhat different than his other equally experimental '70s work. Although the album does feature more of the avant-garde jazz that
Hutcherson was exploring during this period,
Cochrane's material is heavily influenced by contemporary classical music, and accordingly
Head On is more of an exercise in reflective, layered jazz than rambunctious freebop -- though it does offer some of that, too. Suitably,
Hutcherson brought together a large ensemble that featured a bevy of journeyman jazz artists, including the vastly underappreciated trumpeter/flügelhornist
Oscar Brashear, saxophonist
Harold Land, electric pianist William Henderson, drummer
Stix Hooper, and bassist
Reggie Johnson, among many others. Beginning with
Cochrane's three-part suite "At the Source,"
Head On moves from similar
Stravinsky-esque ensemble pieces to the "West Coast cool meets free jazz" big-band sounds of tracks like
Hutcherson's "Mtume." In that sense, the album is reminiscent of work by such similar-minded artists of the period as Detroit trumpeter
Marcus Belgrave (Gemini II) and his Motown Tribe contemporary
Phil Ranelin (Vibes from the Tribe). Fans of expansive, searching '70s jazz will definitely want to seek
Head On out. ~ Matt Collar