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- Jazz legend Bobby Hutcherson tells his story
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For more than 40 years, Bobby Hutcherson has lived a life most artists can only dream about. After making his name in the 1960s in New York as one of the youngest stars on the iconic jazz record label Blue Note, Hutcherson returned to his native California. He and his wife Rosemary settled into a new house near the San Mateo coast and raised a family, as Hutcherson built his international reputation and toured the world as one of the great jazz vibraphonists.
Hutcherson turned 71 this year. And he’s still playing – whether it’s vibes, marimba, or something else. He’s an innovator whose work has extended jazz theory. And, as a composer, Bobby’s titles reflect where he lives and where reporter David Ross talked with him for this edition of Bay Area Beats, in the bucolic seaside community of Montara.
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Broadcast History
Aired on Crosscurrents on KALW Public Radio 91.7FM on January 31, 2012.
Transcript
BOBBY HUTCHERSON: You hear that? There’s a scale outside that’s going on right now. There’s wind blowing through the trees, the sound of the ocean, the colors in the spectrum on this sunny day. As each plant grows, there’s a song that’s being played right now.
That’s one of the reasons why I like to be here and just be quiet, because there’s so much music going on, but you gotta just listen, listen with all the music that’s going on around us right now. You listen to your loved ones, the inflections of their voice. There’s a lot of birds around here. They’re calling, telling you they’re getting ready to fly into the backyard. You can hear that airplane go over. It’s funny hearing the motor on one side of you be at one pitch and as it goes past, the pitch goes down.
Highway 1 is right when I was writing a lot of fourths and a lot of fifths and intervals of a minor third and a half step....
Read the full transcript
