Herbie Hancock Music

If you ask me, any artist whose forty-first album is one that sounds unlike anything else I've ever heard deserves plenty of recognition. This is duets album with Wayne Shorter on saxes. Now here's the kicker: it's just Herbie and Shorter. It's about as abstract as it gets, due to the lack of a traditional rhythm section (Herbie's more of a soloist, though he also plays the traditional harmonic role). And it's some of the prettiest music Hancock's ever made ("Meridanne"). And his piano technique hasn't diminished one bit ("Aung San Suu Kyi", which also has top-notch playing from Shorter). It's also interesting to hear the two solo simultaneously on "Sonrisa" - either that, or Hancock's harmonies are so complicated they sound like a solo. Plus there are some unexpected changes of tempo, as on "Memory of Enchantment". To be fair, I can see why some people would criticize this: it's sketchy from a songwriting perspective, with little to no melody. And the tracks more or less follow a formula - quiet, atmospheric start ;build-up; gigantic emotional release; return to atmosphere. The formula really takes over on "Visitor from Nowhere" and "Johanna's Theme". But both those tracks have their moments, and the breakage of formula on the brisk "Diana" and the free-jazz experiment near the end of "Visitor from Somewhere". And besides, every track has moments of genius - even "Manhattan Lorelei" has a sweeping piano solo. Well, every song other than the two-minute throwaway "Hale-Bopp, Hip-Hop", which doesn't count because it's like two minutes and everything else is at least five. Good stuff. Now, it's not something you're almost guaranteed to enjoy (unlike, say, Headhunters), but good stuff.

It's a little hard to define this album. Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter are two of the world's great jazz musicians, establishing themselves in the 1960s, both of them deviating from acoustic 'true' jazz and moved into Funk and Fusion in the 70s/80s. They have resurfaced in recent years with a return to jazz that their earlier fans love, so one would expect this collaboration to be the jazz album of the decade.

I would have loved to hear these two collaborate on a body of work, perhaps Modal in nature, with touches of Funk and Fusion if they could have done so without sounding dated. This is not the sound I heard when I put this disc in rotation, but after I got over my initial expectations I found that this is an intriging album to have in my collection.

This is quite a moving album, and yes it is jazz; but it is not the free expression jazz, or even modal jazz that I anticipated, but rather a body of material that is almost baroque in nature at times, having more than a passing nod to Classical music.

I come away with an intersting mood after investing myself in this album, one of isolation yet intimacy. Needless to say, casual listeners may find this album tedious at times, but the astute listeners will find this material very interesting and absorbing.

I recommend this album for those who fall into the second group, as no doubt this album will end up being a little treasure in your collection.

"1+1" doesn't sound like much of anything else from the recorded output of either of these artists, either from their earlier post-bop/modal jazz eras, or the fusion music that both of them played, and, then, much later, the sort of "fusion lite" that gave fusion a bad name.

Despite the large amounts of empty space that a saxophone/piano duet promises, neither Hancock nor Shorter seems daunted, or tempted to overplay in a fashion that a younger player might approach this space.

Many of the pieces are slow, ruminative, but not particularly brooding; atonal slightly here and there, but never really peering that far over the precipice. There's a feeling that, if Hancock and Shorter were going to make an album that doesn't have a particular "jazz" sound to it, perhaps they should have tried something a little more adventurous than this.

The ponderous, repeated, vaguely modern-classical overtones of Hancock's playing on "Meridianne" sound much better on the records of the classical musicians who influence Hancock. "Aung Sang Suu Kyi" sounds like riff-based blues, only without a riff and without any blues. The stretch of tracks from 3-7 are probably the strongest on the records...

Shorter's playing veers between moments of beauty and what could only be described as eccentric; overly concerned with the higher end of the horn and long notes without any melodic development or flow on the weaker material, yet playing some repeating motifs on songs such as "Sonrisa" that are truly beautiful and moving. That being said, he sounds a bit like he's playing outside of his style, although it could be pointed out that Ornette Coleman's playing has evolved in a similar fashion through the ensuing decades; more exploring timbres, space, the implications of a single note or repeated note, rather than playing flurries of quicker notes through changes. Listen to the Shorter of "Super Nova" and this one, and it's not even clear it's the same player.

So, really, about 4 or 5 good tracks-"Sonrisa", "Memory of Enchantment", "Diana", perhaps "Manhattan Lorelei" (the music seems to sound more close to what one would consider typical jazz duets as one continues to listen). Both Hancock and Shorter have much better records that should be considered first; however, you could turn to this one to check out what each player does without the net of a rhythm section, or the comfort of really well-defined charts and boundaries (some of the songs are quite hard to reduce in your mind to the melody-solos format, which is on one hand great, but on the other hand...where's the song?).

This album is a real manifest of brilliance, two geniuses in the studio collaborating. The music is free, liquid and liberal. There is not much form, nor is there much planning. This album is mostly free jazz and I am pretty sure that much of the people who rated this recording low were probably not very appreciative of free jazz in general. Because this album is not as musically simple or structured as something like "Kind of Blue," it really requires a different listening style than most music in the mainstream. You wouldn't listen to this album in the same way that you would listen to "Kind of Blue" just as you wouldn't read Salman Rushdie the same way you would read Hemmingway. This album really requires the listener's brain to be completely engaged. Though there is much to analyze on all jazz records, many can be put on as background music and the sounds can be enjoyed and appreciated passively. That is not the case with this disc. The listener can only really appreciate this album by getting into the mindset of Hancock and Shorter and trying to figure out what exactly is going on. What the listener can discover besides the fact that both are incredible players with an incredible technical mastery of their instruments, is that this album is essentially four golden ears at work. The two players are constantly in eachother's heads. Rarely is either player soloing, instead, the two players are creating an intricate dialog of sound, chords, melodies and rhythm that requires the use of the amazing ears each player has. They make the sparse setting of piano and saxophone not just work, but engulf you. I have to disagree with reviewers who claim this album lacks emotion, shape or inspiration. I just don't understand how that accusation can be made. Listen to the brilliance, engage your brain and try to dissect the dialog Shorter and Hancock compose. The only thing simple about this album is the title. Everything else is going to require a little bit more engagement. If you are willing to take on that task, more power to you.

This album steps outside of the familiar musical categories with which people seem so familiar. That's the crux of the matter. A lot of people get so used to feeling music a certain way that they can't shift gears.

But that's precisely what I like about this album. It doesn't have typical song structures. One of the pieces has no II-V progressions at all (but isn't that a trend in modern jazz anyway?) Hancock has presented original compositions that, yes, use development sections and other compositional techniques more associated with European Classical music. This is played by master jazz musicians with a free feel and includes some nice improvisation. (To the people who think this music is mediocre: YOU try blowing over those changes.)

It is a reminder to me that 'jazz' doesn't have to be a restrictive noun. It can be a liberating verb that allows to explore new ideas and draw inspiration from any musical idiom. It can even smash old preconceptions about what 'jazz' should be. I say bring it on.

In celebration of the thirty year anniversary of the most critically acclaimed and largest selling jazz funk album of all time, Herbie Hancock's "Headhunters", comes "1st Mack to the Moon".
Under the direction of producer and composer, AJA WEST,
Herbie's original rhythm section of MIKE CLARK on drums and PAUL JACKSON on bass reunite and sound better than ever. The inclusion of long time James Brown writer and arranger FRED WESLEY on trombone takes this over the top. It's like a funk fusion fantasy band! Every track is incredibly dope, consistently funky and well recorded. It may take another thirty years of digestion for someone to properly follow up this effort!