Andrew Hill, Black Fire (side A)

First off, it's amazing that Andrew Hill released 5 albums for Blue Note over 1964 and 1965, with impressively consistent quality. Black Fire, from 1964, was the first of the 5—Point of Departure, which is the canonical "classic" was the fourth (recorded less than 18 months later). While Black Fire is a bit more primitive step in Hill's evolution, I find the sparser and simpler arrangements flattering to his compositional style. Joe Henderson, Richard Davis, and Roy Haynes do a great job reading Hill's pieces—recognizing their idiosyncrasies and never pulling them too far "in". The liner notes have a funny misspelling of Von Freeman's name (as "Vaughn"). My 70s pressing is mastered with a bit of unneeded high-end emphasis, but still generally sounds good.