Rick Hollander's 1979-1981 group performed as "RH Factor" long before Roy Hargrove formed a group of the same name. We rehearsed and performed in Ann Arbor until Rick moved to New York in 1982.
These tracks were recorded in April 1981 in a half-day session in Garden City, Michigan. Most of the tracks were finished in one take. Rick and Pat came back later and did some overdubs.
Some personal observations on hearing this material 43 years after it was recorded. Most of the original material is by Rick Hollander, and he clearly conceived the drums as integral to the compositions. It's difficult material, with extended forms, and had to be learned thoroughly, at rehearsals and by playing it at gigs.
Much of it is groove based, and the grooves are grooving. Check out the grooves in the middle of Track 2, "The Healer", and on Track 3, "This Place I Belong". But some of it is out of tempo, played rubato by the whole group. Listen to how Rick's drums flow through the rubato passages, especially on "The Healer". It's out of tempo, but he keeps it flowing. Listen to how Rick and Pat Moran flow together on the guitar solo in the second half of "The Healer".
Speaking of Pat Moran, listen to the variety of guitar styles he brings to the different tunes. Listen to Rick's steel drum + drum kit solo on "Le Mans", and his extended drum solo on "Dancing Bear". Terry Silver holds down the bass ostinatos on these songs, and Pete Kahn adds burning alto solos. Most of this material was played live in the studio and captured on first takes, with some overdubs added later. There are some rough spots, but the energy is clearly there.
The fate of the 8-track master is unknown. The above tracks were remastered from the unreleased demo cassette tape. The tape speed was slightly fast so the tuning was about 0.17 semitone sharp. This was corrected in iZotope RX10 after first running De-Hum and Spectral De-Noise. Final mastering was done with McDSP SA-3 for resonance control and iZotope Ozone 11 for other corrections.
For anyone who prefers mp3 format.