Hey, everyone.
I think Herbie is one of the best jazz pianist. What do you think about him>?


:p

"Maiden Voyage" is the only thing of his that I've heard.

Can you recommend some other stuff by him?

Thanks.

Herbie is an excellent player and and, IMHO, one of the few that can really make the leap between acoustic jazz and electronic jazz/funk. I prefer his acoustic playing and love what he did with The Miles Davis Quintet.

You aren't asking me, but I'd recommend anything he did with the Miles Davis Quintet. "E.S.P." is a favorite of mine. Man, that band was good. (Miles, Herbie, Wayne Shorter, Tony Williams, Ron Carter)

The stuff I enjoy most of his is the period with Miles Davis, Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter and Tony Williams, during the mid to late sixties, just before Maiden Voyage. ESP, Live at Carnegie Hall with My Funny Valentine. His and Miles' version of MF Valentine is really great. Since then he's done a lot of work in many different styles, most of which are less interesting to me, but lots more popular.

He and a few others at that time were experimenting with a way of playing that then veared off into passive comping on one side and dead end atonality on the other. To me, the dissonant/atonal side could have developed more but there was no audience and so it never really developed on piano much after that.

I just submitted some compositions for a project he's working on with others like Annie Lennox of a theme based CD. The theme is about how music can be a force for peace. The lyricists I was working with had long talks with him but, unfortunately I couldn't be there. They told me he liked the music (which was half slide guitar, half piano) and ripped the lyrics apart, but had them resubmit revised lyrics based on his suggestions. That seemed very considerate of him to me, because he didn't have to take any time at all, could have said "Nice job, I'll get back to you" and round filed it after they left.

Luther

He always seems like a nice, considerate person.

I never heard him with Miles Davis, but with Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter, Max Roach, and Tony Williams' spirit at his funeral.

Thanks for the recommendations, JazzMan and Luther.

Add onto the recs for the classic Miles Quintet and ESP, some of Herbie's newer projects turn chord voicings inside out.

His recent outing with Roy Hargrove, Michael Brecker, Brian Blade and Pattatucci in the Live at Massey Hall Concert. Great sounding album. Great sounding band.

Also his Gershwin project was great, innovative and compositional.

Finally, VSOP from the 70's/80's, which was one of the world's great bands which only put out a couple of recordings. Great stuff but hard to find. With Tony Williams, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Freddy Hubbard.

Best of Herbie's electric stuff was the "Thrust" album recorded with his band called the Headhunters. Amazingly cool funk.
Herbie also did a great duet album with Chick Corea awhile back that is two acoustic pianos and they do all standards, very good improv.

Thrust and Headhunters are two of my favorite albums.

Just within the past couple of months he was recording with Trey Anastasio (of Phish fame) - that should be interesting..

Herbie is good. Ever heard Dis Is Da Drum?

Hah, that's a pretty sweet album.

If you like his more jazz stuff, check out the DVD "World of Rhythm." (with Ron Carter & Billy Cobham -- most excellent)

Call it 95 (track one) is one of my favorites on the cd Dis is da drum. But I never saw the DVD you speak of.

My favs are "Bo Ba Be Da", "Butterfly", "Rubber Soul", "Shooz", and "The Melody", of course.

I have tickets for myself and one of my sons to Herbie Hancock's upcoming performance together with Michael Brecker on tenor sax and Roy Hargrove on trumpet here in Pittsburgh on February 25. The program is called "Directions in Music" so I'm anticipating a fairly eclectic mix of jazz genres.

My son is the big Hancock fan in our family and seems very happy that his mother is going to be out of town that night so he gets to use her ticket.

I'll post my impressions after the concert.

Big Al

There is a DVD out with Herbie headlining a tribute to Carlos Jobim. In fact I just ordered it from AMAZON. I saw it previously on BET or some cable showing and thought it was phenomenal, I just had to have it on DVD. The recording is a couple of years old, but Herbie shows some rather economical playing, but very good nonetheless. He is tops as an accompanying pianist. ROn Carter and some other prominent jazz artists appear on the CD along with Tom Jobim himself... GET IT!

Dolphin Dance - one of my favorite standards. This is a tune that I play practically everytime I am at the piano.

I promised some impressions of the recent Herbie Hancock and others concert and the mention of Dolphin Dance is a good lead-in as that is the first number they played, but in a very different arrangement. The program was entitled Directions in Music: "Our Times" and ranged through the modern jazz idiom with significant electronics - in fact, Michael Brecker did one solo number with the Electronic Wind Instrument (Yamaha product?) working through the computers to synthesize a number of parts.

I thought Michael Brecker was the star of the show, out front and blowing on a lot of the numbers. Roy Hargrove also played a sweet trumpet, while Herbie largely backed up the horns with accompaniment. The quintet was filled out with Scott Colley on bass and Terri Lyne Carrington on drums. All the musicans were excellent, but I prefer a more traditional sound in concert. With the heavy electronics, I'm never sure where I'm hearing the musican and his instrument versus hearing the computer and synth controller. That's not all bad, but at some point I begin to think that if it's all electronic, I might as well just listen to it at home via my personal electronics.

Yamaha WX-5

I think he's the greatest living jazz pianist. You should check these albums:
Speak Like a Child, Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage, and especially Gershwin's World.

If you ever get the chance to hear his My Funny Valentine track, you may very well agree with me.

(incredibly close seconds: Bill Evans, Bud Powell, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, Oscar Peterson, Thelonious Monk, and of course, Dave Brubeck)

I just heard him a few weeks ago with Brecker/Hargrove in San Antonio.

Really fascinating stuff - a wonderful concert experience. I highly suggest everyone try to catch him if he's near you!

I remember Herbie Hancock most for his more unusual stuff. Like "Rockit"...it has sounds of records being scratched, and some weird computerized voices. The music video was just surreal, with pairs of legs kicking about with no bodies. Just lovely.

There's a website that shows Hancocks characteristic licks, patterns and chords and disects them.

I have heard Hancock at a concert in Hawaii years ago. He played acoustic and that's my preference for jazz playing. This departs from Hancock specifically, but if any of you are into recording solo acoustic piano as I am I would like to hear what mikes you like and where do your place them?

Jim Haskins

Two of my favorite compositions come from Herbie, one old and one new: Dolphin Dance and Chan's Theme.

I read a quote on Pat Metheny's site where he was complementing Lyle Mays, but that Herbie was still the greatest when it came to comping. BTW, I'm a big Lyle Mays fan too...

Chameleon. I'm surprised none of the rap artists have grabbed that and looped it, worked it into something. Think I just got an idea...