MUSIC

In Jazz at Filoli’s 18-year history, Bobby Hutcherson has performed four times, including our very first season in 1991. We are so very happy to welcome him back for our 2009 season. And, why not? Easily one of jazz's greatest vibraphonists and always a Filoli crowd favorite, he remains one of the most advanced masters of his instrument. Expect to be dazzled once again by this wonderful performer, along with his quartet entourage of highly-talented and consummate musicians.

Bobby Hutcherson epitomized his instrument in relation to the era in which he came of age the way Lionel Hampton did with swing or Milt Jackson with bop. Hutcherson helped modernize his instrument by redefining what could be done with it—sonically, technically, melodically, and emotionally. In the process, he became one of the defining voices in the so-called "new thing" portion of Blue Note's glorious '60s roster. Hutcherson gradually moved into the mainstream. Robert (Bobby) Hutcherson was born in 1941, in Los Angeles. As a boy, he tinkered with the piano. But it all clicked for Bobby in his teens when he heard a Milt Jackson record. He then saved up enough money to buy his own set of vibes. By age 21, he'd played with Don Cherry and Charles Lloyd and made his recording debut on Curtis Amy's Groovin’ Blue. He joined the Al Grey-Billy Mitchell Sextet. After a booking at New York's legendary Birdland club, Bobby wound up staying on the East Coast after word about his inventive four-mallet playing started to spread. He was invited to jam with some of the best up-and-coming musicians in New York: hard boppers like Grant Green, Hank Mobley, and Herbie Hancock, but also forward-thinking experimentalists like Jackie McLean, Archie Shepp, and Eric Dolphy. Through those contacts, Hutcherson became an in-demand sideman at recording sessions, chiefly for Blue Note.