Herbie Hancock (1940 - )
Thrust (1974) - Herbie Hancock [Amazon.com]
(cover by Robert Springett)
Biography
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is a jazz pianist and composer from Chicago, Illinois, USA. Hancock is one of jazz music's most important and influential pianists and composers. He embraced elements of rock, funk, and soul while adopting freer stylistic elements from jazz.
As part of Miles Davis' "second great quintet" Hancock helped redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section, and was later one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers and hip hop. Yet for all his restless experimentalism, Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "crossover" and achieve success among pop audiences.
Hancock's best-known solo works include "Cantaloupe Island", "Watermelon Man" (first on 1963's Takin' Off, then on 1973's Head Hunters and later perfomed by dozens of musicians, including bandleader Mongo Santamaria), George Gershwin's "Summertime", and the single "Rockit." --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Hancock [Feb 2005]
Headhunters (1973)
After the sometimes "airy" and decidely experiemental "Mwandishi" albums, Hancock was eager to perform more "earthy" and "funky" music. He gathered a new band, which he called The Headhunters, keeping only Maupin from the sextet. The album Head Hunters released in 1973, was a major hit, and crossed over to pop audiences, though it prompted criticism from some jazz fans.
Despite charges of "selling out," later ears have regarded the album well: "Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital two decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, soul, and hip-hop." Allmusic.com entry (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3y61mped9f5o~T1)
Hancock released several more albums with The Headhunters in the 1970s. The group had disbanded by 1980, then reunited in 1998 for another album. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Hancock [Feb 2005]
Rockit (1982)
In 1982, Hancock had a mainstream hit with the Grammy-award winning instrumental single "Rockit" from the album Future Shock–perhaps the first mainstream single to feature scratching–which also featured an innovative animated music video with a breakdancing robot. This single ushered in a collaboration with noted bassist and producer Bill Laswell where Hancock experimented with electronic music on a string of three LPs produced by Laswell, Future Shock (1983), Sound System and Perfect Machine. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Hancock [Feb 2005]
'Round Midnight (1986)
In 1986 Hancock played and acted in the film 'Round Midnight. He also wrote the score, for which he won an Academy Award for Original Music Score. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Hancock [Feb 2005]Robert Springett
Le thème de l'harmonie de la technologie électronique et de la nature devint un point central de la brève période créative du jazz électronique avant qu'il ne s'affaisse pour devenir fusion. Les oeuvres de Robert Springett qui ornent les pochettes de Hancock -- "Crossings" (1972), "Sextant" (73) et "Thrust" (74) --, suggèrent une Afrique du futur, proche de la Lune, magiquement transformée par des pyramides maya et le Bouddha, ou Herbie dans sa capsule interstellaire, planant au-dessus de l'Himalaya et de la région mystique de Shambhala, pour y trouver l'inspiration des mélodies qu'il compose au clavier électronique. La musique suit la même trame, opposant les claviers électriques de Hancock et les synthétiseurs ARP et Moog de Dr. Patrick Gleeson aux cloches, racloirs et autres tambourins.
CDs
- Headhunters (1973) - Herbie Hancock [Amazon.com]
After the sometimes "airy" and decidely experiemental "Mwandishi" albums, Hancock was eager to perform more "earthy" and "funky" music. He gathered a new band, which he called The Headhunters, keeping only Maupin from the sextet. The album Head Hunters released in 1973, was a major hit, and crossed over to pop audiences, though it prompted criticism from some jazz fans.
Despite charges of "selling out," later ears have regarded the album well: "Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital two decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, soul, and hip-hop." Allmusic.com entry (http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:3y61mped9f5o~T1)
Hancock released several more albums with The Headhunters in the 1970s. The group had disbanded by 1980, then reunited in 1998 for another album. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Hancock [Feb 2005]
Sampled by Ashley Beedle in 'Blacker than Thou'
- Thrust (1974) - Herbie Hancock [Amazon.com]
Fans of Herbie Hancock, you should come here before "Headhunters". Any jazz prententions left over from that are erased in an instant as Hancock swings into full funk mode. The opening "Palm Grease" is highlighted by a beat-heavy percussive groove as the Headhunters lay down a rhythm groovy enough to accomodate Hancock's staccato keyboard work. The next cut,inspired by a zen koan "Actual Proof" is a long,busy cut with a rightously polyrhythmic rhythm with Herbie's downplayed synthesized keyboards flying in all directions. "Butterfly" is a fusion ballad so beautiful and memorable that not only do many jazz artists since have used and covered it's melody but Herbie himself remade it in 1994 on his "Dis Is Da Drum" album-it's a Hancock classic and could be the highpoint of this record. The closing "Spank-A-Lee" is a pure funk jam that is the records statement of intent. "Thrust" is unique in so many ways-unlike most period fusion or funk/jazz it isn't excessive or bombastic, the arrangements while very funky are subdued and the overall instrumentation subtle and most important-while predominantly uptempo the album is not incredibly dancable-our feet arn't this limber, but that doesn't mean you don't want to try! Plus despite it's funkiness the music is heavily improvised, giving it a pseudo jazz feel. Overall this is the Hancock/Headhunters statement of intent that "Headhunters" is said to be but all too often is not-jazzy funk instead of jazz that's funky. -- Andre' Scot Grindle for amazon.com
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