Among the relatively small community of vibraphonists,
Bobby Hutcherson is not only one of the most influential, he's clearly the most widely versed and consistent too. In a career now nearing its sixth decade, Hutcherson has played mainstream to Third Stream and soul jazz to free jazz. A mainstay of the Blue Note label in the 1960s and 1970s, he released ten discs as a leader between 1965 and 1969, and also played on albums by artists including Eric Dolphy, Andrew Hill, Jackie McLean, Joe Henderson, Tony Williams and Grachan Moncur III.
While the 1970s was a decade when most artists dabbled, to a lesser or greater extent, with the integration of electric instruments and rock rhythms, Hutcherson remained relatively unswayed. So while the five 1974 through 1977 sessions that make up Mosaic Select 26 find the vibraphonist incorporating electric piano, and giving an occasional nod to a more pop-centric approach, for the most part Hutcherson continued to do what he did best: put together strong working ensembles capable of handling a diversity of material that nevertheless remain stylistically in the center of the mainstream. The majority of this material has never been reissued domestically in the US in any format, and much of it is seeing release on CD here for the first time, outside a few tracks that have appeared on compilations.
