A Ghost of a Chance / Polka Dots and Moonbeams /
That Ole Devil Called Love / I Remember You /
I'll Remember April / Lady Bird / Frank's Blues / Cherokee

Frank Hewitt, p; Ari Roland, b;
Jimmy Lovelace, d (1-5); Danny Rosenfeld, d (5-8);
recorded 5/16/01 (105) and 6/5/01, New York City, NY

Discographies offer one way of reading Jazz history, but a subterranean history can be found in legends of unrecorded geniuses that outshone famous players. If only Columbia had given Kid Willie a session, so the tale is told, what marvels we would have heard! Some late-period recordings of legends show little of the reputed talent (Peck Kelley); sometimes mastery emerges in hints and flashes (Snoozer Quinn). However, once in a great while evidence emerges that proves just how much brilliance escaped the microphones, and WE LOVED YOU is compelling evidence.

This posthumous issue featuring the late Frank Hewitt (1935-2002) is both glorious and sad. Its glory is in Hewitt's extraordinary playing; the sorrow is that he was consistently ignored by major record labels and did not live to see this issue. In the 1950's, he was an (also unrecorded) sideman with Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Coltrane, Howard McGhee, Cecil Payne, and others; he played in the 1961 production of The Connection and worked with saxophonist Clarence "C" Sharpe. In the 1990's, Hewitt appeared at the uptown New York Jazz club Smalls for nine years, often accompanied by bassist Roland. In 2001, Luke Kaven produced and engineered these sessions with Hewitt's working trios-one devoted to ballads, the second more assertive.

Hewitt's playing has been compared to that of Monk, Elmo Hope, Jamal, and Bud Powell, and the connections are audible--but this roster might lead listeners to expect another exploration of familiar bebop paths. Hewitt, however, was interested in more than rapid-fire right hand lines based on extended harmonies over chordal punctuations. His playing is genuinely orchestral. Rich textures not single-note lines, appeal to him, echoing Tatum and (at a distance) Teddy Wilson, transformed but still in evidence. His ballads are highly melodic but never restricted to the written melody--so that the nine-minute "Ghost of a Chance" or seven-minute "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" keeps the song in mind, each chorus exploring it from a different angle, never monotonously, so that the performances never seem long. A special feature of these recordings is the verses that precede the ballads, which will sound unfamiliar (and lovely) to experienced listeners: Hewitt composed them and they are indeed striking.

The trios benefit greatly from the long-term working relationship between Hewitt and Roland--a supportive bassist with a huge sound, whose brief arco solos are fascinating. The veteran Lovelace and the newcomer Rosenfeld treat Hewitt with affection and respect, so their rhythm is (perhaps uncharacteristically) muted but propulsive, as in the easy rock of "Lady Bird" and the more intense swing of "Frank's Blues." Even at fast tempos, Hewitt never seems rushed; his brisk "Cherokee" has breathing space among its percussive right-hand splashes.

Don't miss this disc simply because Hewitt was less publicized than his contemporaries: he is original and entirely gratifying. This issue is announced as "the first volume of historic recordings"; given the history of Jazz recording projects, where second volumes sometimes never arrive, I hope that listeners will support this one so that we may hear more of Frank Hewitt's rare art.

--Michael Steinman