I've been asked by composer and pianist Andrew Hill's family to announce to 
the press that he died at 4 a.m. today, April 20, 2007, several years after 
being diagnosed with lung cancer. He was 75 years old and lived in Jersey 
City, NJ. 
 

Hill, born June 30, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois (contrary to some previously published places and dates) had a lengthy international career as performer and recording artist, and educator (at Portland State University; he also gave master classes at New York University, and elsewhere; he leaves a voluminous and highly varied recorded legacy, dating from the 1950s (So In Love) to his 2006 trio album Time Lines (Blue Note), named to many critics' top ten lists. Hill is survived by his wife Joanne Robinson Hill, and a niece, nephew and cousin, besides a devoted coterie of friends, typically creative artists and perceptive fans.

As announced on April 11, Andrew Hill will receive an honorary doctorate of 
music degree from Berklee College of Music at commencement May 12; other 
honorees "for their achievements in the world of music, and for their enduring contributions to American and international culture" this year are Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and The Edge; this distinction has previously been extended to Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Tito Puente, Quincy Jones and Ahmet Ertegun, among a few others. A press release from Berklee is attached, or can be obtained  from Allen Bush, Office of Public Information, 617-747-2658. 
 

 

On April 3, 2007 Boosey & Hawkes music publishers announced the addition of 
Andrew Hill "to its distinguished roster of composers" whose works will be 
promulgated through its auspices. For information on that agreement, contact 
Adina Williams, via the B&H (Click Link Above). I have attached their press release, too. 
 

Andrew was voted Jazz Composer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists 
Association four times, most recently in 2006; he received the 2003 JazzPar 
Award, and was one of the first to receive a Doris Duke Foundation Award for 
jazz composers. His recordings have been on Blue Note, Mosaic, Palmetto and 
Black Saint/Soul Note, among other labels.

Funeral and tribute information has not been determined. For further 
information, call me at (212) 533-9495. I first met Andrew in 1971, we kept 
in touch and became friendly, I regard him highly and am enriched to have 
known him. ;

 

Howard Mandel