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Herbie Hancock: Future2Future
by David Adler
The term “electronica" wasn’t in use back in the day of “Rockit," but surely the Herbie Hancock/Bill Laswell team laid a lot of the groundwork for the genre’s emergence. By now, of course, dance music and DJ culture have had a considerable impact on the jazz scene. With Future2Future, Herbie joins the fray, reuniting with Laswell to make his most powerful and relevant music in years.You can trace this music’s creative lineage back all the way to Mwandishi. ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis: The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions
by Jim Santella
Three previously unissued performances and six months of Miles Davis' recording activity mark this 3-CD set as something special. This was a transitional time for the bandleader. It marked the beginning of a fusion. The package documents this period very well. Davis wanted a new sound. With several keyboards and significant changes in personnel, he got it. The trumpeter introduced his musical changes gradually. The more radical shift would come later. These sessions are pleasant and full of intrigue. In ...
Continue ReadingMichael Brecker: Nearness of You: The Ballad Book
by David Adler
There comes a time, it seems, when every major-label jazzer has to add a ballads album to his or her discography. That time has come for Michael Brecker, who enlists the formidable Pat Metheny as both producer and guitarist. Along for the ride are three players you may have heard of: Herbie Hancock, Charlie Haden, and Jack DeJohnette. The 11 tracks (divided into two five-track “chapters" and a one-track “epilogue") are flawlessly executed--practically airbrushed--and as mainstream as can be, but ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis: The Complete In A Silent Way Sessions
by Todd S. Jenkins
Another Miles classic re-excavated with grand results. In A Silent Way was an astonishing step further towards a fusion of jazz and rock for Miles Davis, and for jazz in general, when it was released in 1969. The acoustic instruments of Davis, Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Tony Williams were combined with John McLaughlin’s electric guitar, Joe Zawinul’s organ, and the twin electric pianos of Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Each LP side held a medley of two themes. Miles’ ...
Continue ReadingHerbie Hancock: Future Shock, Sound System, Perfect Machine
by David Adler
Herbie Hancock’s electronic experiments for Columbia are quintessentially 80s, every bit as much as “hair bands" like Poison and Winger. But Hancock’s vision, and that of his co-producer Bill Laswell, has stood the test of time in a way that 80s rock most certainly has not. Granted, most of the music on Future Shock, Sound System, and Perfect Machine now sounds hopelessly dated to our digital-age ears — funny how that always happens to yesterday’s high-tech breakthrough. However, if you ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis: On The Corner / Get Up With It
by Todd S. Jenkins
Columbia/Legacy is embarking upon a hot fusion reissue program, reshaping many of their classic albums via digital technology to make the roots of today’s music more relevant. Among the first reissues slated for 2000 are two of Miles Davis’ most misunderstood but oddly influential offerings, “On The Corner” and “Get Up With It”. At the “On The Corner” sessions Miles went nuts with electric eclecticism. He hooked a pickup and wah-wah pedal to his trumpet, hired three drummers and three ...
Continue ReadingMiles Davis: In A Silent Way
by John Ballon
Miles Davis was going through exciting musical changes in 1968, listening and playing things which were leading him into the future and into In a Silent Way. His music and lifestyle were being influenced by a wave of new sounds and ideas, and he was responding deeply to the music of James Brown, Sly Stone, and Jimi Hendrix. Having already pushed acoustic jazz to the limits with his mid-Sixties quintet, Miles metamorphosed the new sounds around him, creating a work ...
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