In an extensive label catalog as uniformly excellent as Blue Note's, it's virtually impossible to pick "the greatest" album. Still, there's little doubt that pianist Andrew Hill's Point of Departure is one of the label's most extraordinary recordings. Hill, a Chicagoan whose varied resumé as a sideman included stints with Dinah Washington, Jackie McLean, the Johnny Griffin/Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis band, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, was a perfect addition to the Blue Note roster: a thoroughly modern composer and a thoughtful soloist, capable of handling both leader dates and sideman roles. Indeed, Hill's stature as the leader here would seem arbitrary were the album not all his compositions. Every player on the album is a band leader and trendsetter in his own right: trumpeter Kenny Dorham, reedmen Joe Henderson and Eric Dolphy, bassist Richard Davis, and drummer Anthony Williams. Employing a wide variety of meters, Point of Departure covers a broad range of material, from the angular and gripping "Refuge" though the shifting "Spectrum," to the brisk "Flight 19," and introspective closer, "Dedication." It is, in many ways, the classic Blue Note album: an intense, modern, and gripping performance. --Fred Goodman