COURTESY COLUMBIA
Superb collection
showcases Hancock
Review by Seth Markow
smarkow@starbulletin.comHerbie Hancock is a musical chameleon, to borrow the title of his 1973 hit. Jazz musicians have waded into the waters of pop styles for decades, but Hancock prefers to dive in, immersing himself in funk, R&B or African sounds and emerging with music that may be informed by jazz techniques but almost never seems a pastiche or stylistic slumming. To call him a great pianist tells only part of the story - he is a true keyboardist, as comfortable with electronic instruments as with a Steinway, and he is gleefully eclectic in a style where most aficionados demand purity.
"The Herbie Hancock Box"
Herbie Hancock
Columbia/Legacy
Thoroughly trained in classical technique and repertoire, Hancock made his reputation in the early '60s in trumpeter Donald Byrd's combo and through his own recordings for Blue Note. Latin-jazz bandleader Mongo Santamaria had a sizable hit with Hancock's "Watermelon Man," a simple, catchy melody set to a groove that even then was called "funky." He joined Miles Davis in 1963 and soon developed an astonishing rapport with his rhythm section partners, bassist Ron Carter and teenage drum phenom Tony Williams.
They swung like mad but had an unprecedented mutability. Tempos could slow way down, then speed back up; Williams might play in another meter against the basic 4/4, with Hancock's sophisticated chords giving only vague hints at pulse and tonality; time could float, unanchored, an ever-changing backdrop for Davis' and saxophonist Wayne Shorter's improvisations. It was a new sound in jazz, one that so excited and challenged Davis that years later, he said even thinking about playing that way again made him sick to his stomach.
During this period, Hancock recorded a string of fine and memorable solo albums for Blue Note which are readily available. Near the end of his tenure with Davis, he sometimes used the electric piano, and once he got his own working band together, he also incorporated synthesizers into his group's alternately funky (as in James Brown or Sly Stone) and wide-open, rather spacey conception. This period, 1969-1972, is summed up in a fine two-disc set from Warner Bros., "Mwandishi."
Wishing to connect with a larger audience, he formed an unabashedly funk- and African-influenced quintet in 1973. The band's first album, "Head Hunters," was the first jazz album to be certified gold, thanks to the crossover hit "Chameleon." Ever since, Hancock has produced many fine R&B-based recordings, but he hasn't fallen out of love with the piano and acoustic jazz.
This new four-CD box on Columbia/Legacy spans the 23 albums he did for the label between 1972 and 1988. (He now records for Verve.) The first two discs focus on his estimable piano work; the others cover electric sounds and his more pop-oriented material. It comes in a clear plastic box, the discs suspended on separate shelves, with a booklet on the bottom. A sticker underneath is the prospective buyer's only clue as to what lies inside. If you're looking for a futuristic knickknack, great. (Someone is bound to win a Grammy for designing the thing.) Track-by-track comments by Hancock himself give great insight into his creative process. But what about the music?
This is one of the finest collections of late 20th-century sounds to be found. A vast stylistic ground is covered with creativity and intensity - and it's fun to listen to.
From 1976-81 come nine performances by combos meant to recall the classic Miles Davis quintet of the '60s. Freddie Hubbard turns in some of his most committed trumpet work, as does Wynton Marsalis, who has based much of his music on Davis' free-wheeling '60s sound; saxophonist Wayne Shorter shows he was still a great soloist during a time when he was largely subsumed within the group Weather Report; bassist Ron Carter is a rock amid the turbulence; and Tony Williams, his touch heavier than in his earlier splash-and-burn work with Davis, lays down some of the most thunderous and inventive drumming one is likely to hear. Most of these tracks were originally issued only in Japan.
Highlights of these first two discs include the bobbing groove of Williams' "Para Oriente"; Shorter's rapturous ballad "Diana"; Marsalis' virtuosic turn on "Sorcerer"; a burning, previously unreleased rendition of Hubbard's "Red Clay" and Hancock's telepathic accompaniments throughout. We also hear a terrific piano duet with Chick Corea and the title track from Hancock's Oscar-winning score for the film "'Round Midnight."
The set goes electric at the beginning of Disc 3 with 1972's "Rain Dance" and its bubbling synthesizer textures. A remake of "Watermelon Man" is leavened by the apt appropriation of Pygmy "hindewhu" flute. "Butterfly" is an engaging theme, and Hancock takes a definitive solo on the Fender Rhodes electric piano, a signature sound of the '70s that is currently being widely revived. "4 A.M." sports the great Jaco Pastorius' percolating bass work. Hancock's biggest hits, "Chameleon" and the hip-hop-influenced "Rockit" are here, each a classic in its way.
There is also plenty of superbly crafted R&B. Listeners who appreciate pop styles have much to enjoy in this second pair of discs, but those who do not will probably find the often dated synth sounds, rather static structures and repetitive drum and bass patterns wearisome.
Overall, though, "The Herbie Hancock Box" gives a welcome, delightful overview of the work of an artist of inexhaustible curiosity, productivity and surprise.
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