Back in 1970, Herbie Hancock put together a musically successful/commercially disastrous band called Mwandishi that mixed the then-nascent electronic keyboards with free flowing jazz. Here, Bob Gluck/p-el and Christopher Dean Sullivan/b get two of the alumni together (BillyHart/dr and Eddie Henderson/tp) and re-visit a handful of the pieces with a more modern feel and attitude.
Hart makes his presence known at the starting gun, with a long drum intro to the13 minute “Sleeping Giant” before the rest of the team follows suit and Gluck takes Hancock’s themes and spreads them over a tablecloth. A sprawling 17 minute read of “Y ou’ll Know When You Get There” mix Sullivan’s droning bass with electronic musings veering around Henderson’s horn, with “Sideways/Qusar” being the most in -pocket tune here.
Henderson’s horn glows warm embers throughout, particularly on the sole new tune “Spirit Unleashed” which has more time changes than a trans-Siberian train ride, while the relentless “ Water Torture” closes the album with a free spirited party kept together with the pulsating Hart. While lacking the excitement of the original, it gives a fitting respect to an under-appreciated side of The Chamelion.
FMR Records