As Bob Beldon writes in his notes for the 200 page book that accompanies this 34 disc collection of albums, the trend setting and following Herbie Hancock was like a chameleon “in the sense of an evolving, inclusive entity that flows with the waters and rhythms of life, embracing each moment for what it is.” Hancock made his name as a leader in the post bop format of acoustic jazz in the sixties. But, from 1972 to 1988, the era that this gigantic gold mine of album sleeved set of discs actually covers, Mr. Hancock set, jumped on, re-defined and transcended genres, trends and styles with a variety of sounds and bands that ranged from post modern acoustic to synthesized funk. And everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, in between.
One of the hooks on this boxed set of the 31 different releases (3 are double discs) that Hancock released during those 16 years (essentially putting out 2 albums a year!) is that 8 of these musical entities have never been available in the US before, having been released in only the Japanese market. Those eight delights are Dedication (1974), Flood (1975), The Herbie Hancock Trio (1977) Tempest In The Colosseum (1977), Five Stars (1979), Butterfly (1979), and Herbie Hancock Trio With Ron Carter + Tony Williams (1981). Any self-respecting Hancock fan will salivate for joy over what his ears have been missing with these bathing beauties.
Going over each disc individually would be like going on a tour of the Louvre-it’s just overwhelming and exhausting. The easier route here is to put Hancock’s releases into various categories. First and foremost are the acoustic sets, and they are in solo format (half of The Piano-the other half is electronic), Duo (a marvelous set with Chick Corea in concert), Trio (a couple discs with Ron Carter and Tony Williams that are the epitome of style and grace-too bad he did this format so rarely!) , Quartet (with the addition of a young and voracious Wynton Marsalis), Quintet (the famed VSOP band, having a front line of Wayne Shorter and Freddie Hubbard in their absolute primes, which was supposed to be a reunion of Miles Davis’ band, but Davis wisely demured) and various other combinations (from his must-have soundtrack to ‘Round Midnight with Dexter Gordon). Second, you get the “fusion” format which includes the musically imaginative but commercially disastrous Mwandishi band, which coalesced to become the classic 1975 Headhunter band in studio AND at a HOT concert setting of this unit which gave bands like Return to Forever and Weather Report a run for their money. Third is the “funk” section which has highlights with Flood, Manchild, Secrets and half of the VSOP set with “Wah Wah” Watson on guitar. Fourth is a small set of vocal discs such as Sunlight, which has Hancock experimenting with vocal machines, but has as its zenith the obscure Butterfly with Kimiko Kasai delivering some mesmerizing work. Fifth is the “synth-rock-disco” and R&B phase with the poppish Feet Don’t Fail Me Now and the eyebrow raising mega hit “Rockit” along with Sound System. Uncategorizable discs include the intriguing soundtrack to Charles Bronson’s Death Wish and the fascinating collection of duos with kora and talking drummer Foday Musa Suso on Village Life.
Unless these discs were all put together into a giant box like this, it would be impossible to appreciate the strides that Hancock took to experiment with various at-the-time nascent keyboard electronics and creating a state of the art system of sounds as if he were a sonic chemist mixing solutions together to create a completely new solution. Going back and forth between “plugged in” and then being on the cutting edge of the return to acoustic jazz is an impressive testimony for the catholic and ecumenical view that Hancock has had towards music its use for entertainment AND art. Not a small feat, in retrospect.
Highlights? You’ve got to be KIDDING! It depends what style of Hancock you prefer. It’s hard to believe that one person would be a devoted fan of each of these divergent musical tastes and styles, yet one person actually wrote and PERFORMED them all! Personally, the concert material with Hubbard, Shorter and Marsalis is what first attracted me to Hancock and jazz, but the infectious joy of the Headhunters band, particularly the irresistible riff on “Chameleon” and the re-vamped “Watermelon Man” will cause you to run for your bell bottoms and Afro Sheen in seconds flat. The fact that he did an acoustic trio format so rarely makes those sessions with Carter and Williams lovely jewels as well. It would be interesting to see which smaller box set would sell the best if they divided the discs up according to styles, but that’s a moot point; you’re going to want this whole set, just to appreciate what a genius sounds like through the years.
Legacy Recordings