Gregg Hill

Jazz Composer

Spring 2026 Release!

Paul Keller Orchestra

"Thank You Notes"

The Music of Gregg Hill

Order your pre-release now!

Thank You Notes is the vibrant result of a five-year creative partnership between bassist, bandleader, and arranger Paul Keller and composer Gregg Hill. With the dynamic addition of vocalist/clarinetist Sarah D’Angelo and vibraphonist Cary Kocher to the Midwestern All-Star lineup that forms the PKO band, creating an album that's lively, layered, and rich in musical depth. Order your early release copy now!

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ALBUMS

December 2025

Rick Roe

Wake Up Call

..."everyone involved in Wake Up Call deserves roses."

"...Roe’s ambitious arrangement takes listeners on a trip Hill never considered. The exceptionally unified band of Detroiters further elevates the music, drawing out its formal implications and exciting the emotions. Marvel at the dancing, interactive beat that Roe, the brilliant bassist Robert Hurst, and the animated drummer Nate Winn slap on the song. Note the mature pacing, spontaneity, and relaxed intensity generated in the solos by Roe and tenor saxophonist Marcus Elliot.

This rewarding alchemy between composer, arranger, and ensemble distinguishes every track on Wake Up Call, the 19th – yes, 19th – recording of Hill’s music to appear in the last decade. Based in Lansing, Mich., and largely self-taught as a composer, Hill, 79, has been methodically documenting his catalog of nearly 200 songs in partnership with the world-class talent in southeast Michigan."

— Mark Stryker

Author of Jazz from Detroit (2019) and writer-producer of The Best of the Best: Jazz from Detroit (2025).

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DISCOGRAPHY

IN THE NEWS

Gregg Hill Releases His Sixth Jazz Composition Book "Distant Valley"!

June, 2026 Hot off the Press! Distant Valley Book VI is a playful and imaginative collection of original jazz compositions by Gregg Hill that blends music, wordplay, and visual art into a single creative project. The concept began as an experiment: taking familiar musical terms and transforming them — through rearrangement or embellishment — into whimsical, character-like names or fantastical ideas. Building on this idea, Hill composed a series of tunes inspired by these inve

Dave Sharp WORLDS Quartet Elevates the Music of Gregg Hill to Dazzling New Heights.

...this latest release not only distinguishes itself from the crowded field, it quite possibly surpasses all previous efforts. What we encounter here is both one of Hill’s most visionary and majestic compositions to date, and a revelatory interpretation by a group of artists who manage to inhabit the work so completely that it feels newly born. Their reading is nothing short of exhilarating, both modern in outlook and deeply resonant.

"Catalyst" is composer Gregg Hill's latest 2025 album release, celebrating the cinematic world music collaboration of Dave Sharp Worlds Quartet & Elden Kelly.

"Catalyst" is composer Gregg Hill's latest 2025 album release, celebrating world music featuring the Dave Sharp Worlds Quartet & Elden Kelly.

Rodney Whitaker Mosaic Album - Indispensable!

Paris Move Theirry De Clemensat Gives Whitaker's Mosaic Album his Highest Review... "Indispensable!"

June 2026

Distant Valley Book VI

Distant Valley Book VI is a playful and imaginative collection of original jazz compositions by Gregg Hill that blends music, wordplay, and visual art into a single creative project. The concept began as an experiment: taking familiar musical terms and transforming them — through rearrangement or embellishment — into whimsical, character-like names or fantastical ideas. For instance, the musical term “arpeggio” becomes “Peggy Arpo,” reimagined as a short-order diner waitress.

Building on this idea, Hill composed a series of tunes inspired by these invented names and concepts. To bring them into a visual dimension, he collaborated with Michigan artist Dennis Preston, who created illustrations based on selected pieces. Their collaboration sparked a shared sense of humor and creative momentum, resulting in a finished volume that combines 34 jazz compositions with 18 original illustrations and 86 total pages!

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