Jazz Articles about Herbie Hancock

Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings, 1963-1964

by John Kelman
September 22, 2004

Eagerly anticipated, Seven Steps: The Complete Columbia Recordings of Miles Davis 1963-1964 documents the emergence of Miles' second great quintet, featuring saxophonist Wayne Shorter, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Tony Williams. It demonstrates, over the course of seven discs and seven hours, how critical each member of that quintet was. As the group coalesces over a period of two years it's tangible how everything falls into place, like a set of tumblers on a complicated lock.

Herbie Hancock/V.S.O.P.: Live Under the Sky

by John Kelman
September 20, 2004

There are a number of revelations on this remastered reissue of pianist Herbie Hancock and the V.S.O.P. quintet's Live Under the Sky , but two are essential. The first comes about eight bars into the first track on the first disc. The thought? How much drummer Tony Williams is truly missed. Sure, there are drummers out there today who have the energy and unbridled passion that Williams had. Ralph Peterson is one. But few drummers in the history of jazz ...

Herbie Hancock: Thrust

by Ester Eggert
September 5, 2004

The 21st Century has arrived and this album has reached the new generation. One can draw lines to the '70s, when jazz, rock, funk, soul and African rhythms started to mix in the United States. We noticed this process during the '90s. With this notice we started to understand where the roots of groove are situated. Hopefully after some years we can see that the same process is taking place in the beginning of this century.

A Fireside Chat with Herbie Hancock

by AAJ Staff
July 30, 2004

Violinist Eyvind Kang, in John Zorn's Arcana, explains, “Music isn't dead, but held captive, kept prisoner within a parade of falsely glamourized forms. Like a corpse which has been overly made up, the forms are glamourized to the point where music is no longer recognizable." It was not always thus. And even today, in remote corners, music breaks free. This is a concept not foreign to Herbie Hancock. Blue Note standard, Miles affiliate, Sextant staple, Head Hunter producer, Thelonious Monk ...

Herbie Hancock Trio: Hurricane

by John Kelman
July 15, 2004

What a difference twenty years can make. Compare pianist Herbie Hancock's recent collaboration with Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Brian Blade with this DVD release of a 1984 Swiss concert featuring bassist Ron Carter and drummer Billy Cobham, and the most notable and refreshing quality is that of growth and evolution. Of course Hancock has demonstrated a remarkable ability to develop his skills over a forty-odd year career, bridging the gap between the blues and swing of the American tradition ...

Herbie Hancock: Vive La Difference

by Nic Jones
May 14, 2004

The emphasis on Miles Davis's 1960s quintet as a role model for musicians in the present day has ensured perhaps that Herbie Hancock's move away from that band's style has been overlooked.

The two albums discussed here encapsulate how his musical outlook changed. The move from acoustic to predominantly electric instrumentation is profound enough in itself, but when -as in the cases discussed here- it;s accompanied by an equally significant shift in the very nature of the music then the ...

Herbie Hancock: Future Shock

by Trevor MacLaren
April 9, 2004

Herbie Hancock Future Shock Columbia 1983

As with Ornette Coleman's The Shape of Jazz to Come , the title Future Shock says it all. With this record Herbie Hancock busted open jazz in a way that no one could have expected. It may have taken ten or twenty years for the rest of the world to catch up, but the foundation of DJ Spooky and like-minded post-modernists started right here.

Spinning a ...