Bobby Hutcherson (Los Angeles, 1941), one the handful of vibraphonists to enjoy successful careers as both a jazz instrumentalist and a composer, inherited the musical legacy built by Lionel Hampton and Red Norvo and extended the virtuoso innovations developed by Milt Jackson.



Remaining in the Big Apple, he began performing with a visionary group of artists including Jackie McLean, Grachan Moncur III, Charles Tolliver, Archie Shepp, Eric Dolphy, Hank Mobley and Herbie Hancock. As a result of these associations, in 1963 Hutcherson began appearing as a sideman on several Blue Note albums that would become classics including McLean's One Step Beyond, Moncur's Evolution, Hill's Judgment and Dolphy's Out To Lunch.



It would be easy -- based on his work on these recordings and on Dialogue, his 1965 Blue Note debut as a leader which features Sam Rivers and Freddie Hubbard -- to pigeon hole Hutcherson as a member of the avant garde. Yet he was equally at home playing the blues, as he does with authority on Grant Green's Idle Moments and his own album The Kicker, a soulful, swinging session from 1963 which was actually the vibraphonist's first as a leader even though it was not released until the fall of 1999.



Hutcherson appeared on several other Blue Note titles as a leader and sideman during the course of an association with the label that lasted until 1977. Stick-Up from 1966 which, like The Kicker, features tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, is also notable for the dynamic playing of the irrepressible drummer Billy Higgins. It is also Hutcherson's first recording with pianist McCoy Tyner with whom he would make the duo album Manhattan Moods in 1993.