KaisrSolze@aol.com wrote:
quoted 7 lines why is there such a big Herbie Hancock love-in on this list? Here in NYC> why is there such a big Herbie Hancock love-in on this list? Here in NYC
> he's advertised by the radio station that bills itself as "the smoothest
> place on earth", also playing enny G and his ilk. My parents, both big into
> jazz, just laugh when I mention hancock's name--my dad called him profoundly
> uninteresting. Why that reaction from 2 openminded people? Are there people
> on this list who dislike him, and those of you who like him--what innovations
> did he make that older jazz musicians hadn't before him?
Herbie Hancock's music is greatly influenced by funk, a lot of jazz
purists look down on this. Your parents might have a similar attitude
about other "fusion" artists such as Weather Report, Stanley Clarke,
George Duke and late Miles Davis.
Hancock was innovative in several ways. He was an important part of
Miles Davis' fusion bands, I guess that Hancock was one of the
pioneers.
The Warner Bros albums feature lush Gil Evans-inspired arrangements of
Hancock's sextet drivin by slow funk grooves. The recordings that span
the Warner Bros years from 70-72 are a prophecy of ambient groove by the
likes of Orb, FSOL, etc. but to my ears Hancock is more complex, more
organic and more real. The use of electronics during this period is very
sudtle and very effective in creating an atmosphere. Perhaps more
similar
to Jon Hassel's fourth world compositions than the cut and paste
stylings
of Orb and Company. In '72, Patrick Gleason played Moog on Hancock's
Crossings. I am not sure but this might be the first Moog on a
jazz record.
The culmination of Hancock's recording experience during the
warner years become the sketchbook of the milestone funk/jazz album
Head Hunters. More funk and more electronic than jazz had ever been,
most jazz critics love to hate this album. Thrust is supposed to be
the same kind of thing but I have not heard it (Thrust is out of print
in the US). Man-Child from '75 is like Hancock rolled his funk grooves
from Headhunters backwards into the ambience of the Warner recordings.
A stoned earthy-electro groove. Sunlight, from '78, features a
Sennheiser
vocoder throughout and states as much on the back sleeve of the album
(another first in jazz?). The use of the vocoder is subtle and unique.
The years following Sunlight were not good years. Too much pop, too many
bad lyrics. Last year, I bought an expensive Japanese pressing of
Monster
(out of print in US) because it featured a cartoon illustration of a
Moog
on the cover. Bad mistake. Monster is a bad attempt at a disco funk
album
and is loaded with embarrasing lyrics.
Hancock's biggest contribution to electronica might be the '83 album,
Futureshock. It features the electro track Rockit, which was probably
responsible for "breaking" ;) electro into popular culture. Futureshock
features Grandmixer DST, Bill Laswell and others from Laswell's
Celluloid
label of the time. This album was a brilliant pioneering recording. Put
simply, it is an electro-funk album produced with a big budget and
arranged by a jazz musician who had more than a decade of innovations
behind him. And it was true to electro, nothing like the recent attempt
of jazz musicians to cash in on hip hop and acid jazz. I was 14 when the
album was released and I remember listening to it all summer long on my
Walkman. I knew very nothing about Hancock but I was totally into
electro
and I can still remember the feeling of awestruck amazement that I got
from that album.
Listening to Futureshock today, with more critical ears, tracks like
Futureshock have a hint of the bad years of Hancock's disco phase. But
overall, the album is a milestone. The machines used were Fairlight,
Emulator, Vocoder, Mini-Moog, Prophet-5, Pro-1, DMX, Synare, turntables
and more. Perfect Machine and the following album attempted to re-create
Futureshock but fell short. They were good albums but just not as good.
I am afraid to hear the more recent stuff. But, remember that the
current
recordings might be watered down but they come from someone who has been
an innovator for more than two decades, maybe he desereves to slow down.
I didn't mean to turn this into a thesis, I hope that it is interesting
or informative to a few. Maybe next week we can discuss the Art Of
Noise.
BTW, anyone know what signal proccessors were used during the Warner
Bros recordings?