The Hill (David Murray album)

The Penguin Guide to Jazz hailed the album as "one of the peaks of Murray's career...Murray has significantly toned down his delivery from the immediately previous sessions and sounds altogether more thoughtful...This is an essential modern album."{{cite book|last = Cook|first = Richard|author-link = Richard Cook (journalist)|author2=Brian Morton |author-link2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title = The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings|orig-year = 1992|edition = 9th|series = The Penguin Guide to Jazz|year = 2008|publisher = Penguin|location = New York|isbn = 978-0-14-103401-0|pages = 1061|chapter = David Murray}}

Gary Giddins also called The Hill "one of [Murray's] best recordings...a consistently provocative trio session with superb work by bassist Richard Davis and drummer Joe Chambers. Nowhere is Murray's disarming authority more forceful than on 'Fling,' a Butch Morris infrastructure of melody and rhythm that's coolly lyrical on the surface and tricky at the core. It's an enigmatic double-tiered piece in seven/four, with an ascending seven-measure episode of chromatic whole notes in the middle...Murray sails through the unusual meter and phrase lengths as though they were no more difficult than a waltz."{{cite book|last = Giddins|first = Gary|author-link = Gary Giddins |title = Visions of Jazz: The First Century|orig-year = 1998|publisher = Oxford University Press|location = Oxford, United Kingdom|isbn = 9780195076752|pages = 567|chapter = David Murray}}

The Allmusic review by Brian Olewnick awarded the album 3 stars, stating that "The Hill offers an accurate snapshot of Murray in the mid-'80s, straddling the mainstream and avant-garde and proving himself quite adept in either.".Olewnick, B. [http://allmusic.com/album/the-hill-r144497/review Allmusic Review], accessed July 9, 2011.

{{Music ratings

| rev1 = Allmusic

| rev1Score = {{rating|3|5}}

|rev2 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings

|rev2score = {{Rating|4|4}}{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |authorlink1=Richard Cook (journalist) |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |authorlink2=Brian Morton (Scottish writer) |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |year=2008 |edition=9th |publisher=Penguin |isbn=978-0-141-03401-0 |page=1059}}

| rev3 = Tom Hull

| rev3Score = A-{{cite magazine|last=Hull|first=Tom|authorlink=Tom Hull (critic)|url=https://tomhull.com/ocston/nm/get_gl.php?n=David+Murray|title=David Murray|magazine=Tom Hull - on the Web|accessdate=May 27, 2024|via=tomhull.com}}

}}

1. "Santa Barbara and Crenshaw Follies" - 8:25
2. "The Hill" - 9:00
3. "Fling" (Butch Morris) - 7:09
4. "Take the Coltrane" (Duke Ellington) - 7:42
5. "Herbie Miller" - 5:52
6. "Chelsea Bridge" (Billy Strayhorn) - 10:31

:All compositions by David Murray except as indicated

:*Recorded at Sound Ideas Studios, NYC, November 29, 1986

• David Murray - tenor saxophone, bass clarinet
• Richard Davis - bass
• Joe Chambers - drums, vibes

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{{David Murray}}

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Category:1987 albums

Category:David Murray (saxophonist) albums

Category:Black Saint/Soul Note albums