Jazz Articles about Herbie Hancock

About Herbie Hancock

Album Review

Alan Shorter: Mephistopholes to Orgasm Revisited

Read "Mephistopholes to Orgasm Revisited" reviewed by Stefano Merighi

by Stefano Merighi
June 20, 2025

In questo CD dedicato ad Alan Shorter (tromba, flicorno, composizione) si ripropongono le sedute integrali di Orgasm (1968), precedute però da “Mephistopheles," di tre anni precedente, che figurava nella scaletta di The All Seeing Eye, del più celebre fratello Wayne. È un pezzo di una cupezza angosciante, sostenuto da un pedale ritmico minaccioso, dalle cui spire fioriscono severi interventi dei fiati e delle percussioni. Con i due fratelli Shorter, suonano James Spaulding (alto), Freddie Hubbard (tromba), Grachan Moncur III (trombone), ...

Extended Analysis

Miles In France 1963 & 1964: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8

by Doug Collette
November 8, 2024

At the very same time Beatlemania was slowly but surely beginning to engulf the globe, Miles Davis was inexorably proceeding toward what was the most adventurous music of his career. Miles In France -The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 captures a group of musicians led by “The Man with the Horn" on the threshold of forming what is referred to as his second great quintet, then actually coalescing into that stellar outfit. And the drama within that designation rapidly ...

Play This!

Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea: Maiden Voyage

by Scott Lichtman
September 13, 2024

Few have played “Maiden Voyage" as beautifully as its composer Herbie Hancock and compatriot Chick Corea live on two pianos for their album An Evening With Herbie Hancock & Chick Corea (1978, Sine Qua Non). In fact, few improvisational piano duets have ever been performed this engagingly on any jazz material. Their minds are so harmonically fertile and their instrumental dexterity so fluid that the two greats engage and astound the audience for a continuous 13 minutes. The music ebbs ...

Live Review

San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2024

by Walter Atkins
August 29, 2024

San Jose Jazz Summer Fest 2024 San Jose, CAAugust 9 through August 11, 2024 San Jose Jazz's Summer Fest 2024 was a high-octane weekend of top-flight musicians and artists covering the full spectrum of melodic sounds, in a friendly and accessible location in downtown San Jose. SJJSF 2024 featured multiple outdoor and indoor venues within steps of each other. Compared to previous years, even the relatively cool weather contributed to the overall relaxed and engaging ambience ...

Album Review

Joe Henderson: Power to the People

Read "Power to the People" reviewed by C. Andrew Hovan

by C. Andrew Hovan
April 25, 2024

Beginning with 1963's Page One, Joe Henderson led a series of five albums for the Blue Note label that firmly established his reputation as a unique and budding artist with something vital to say. He was one of many artists at that time who utilized his Blue Note contract to document his every move while establishing his creative muse during this process. Trumpeter Kenny Dorham would be a major factor in the success of his first few sessions, with drummer ...

Album Review

Alan Shorter: Mephistopholes To Orgasm Revisited

Read "Mephistopholes To Orgasm Revisited" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
January 22, 2024

It is often said of a musician, be they alive or no longer with us, that they deserve to be better known. This is emphatically true of the wayward trumpeter and composer Alan Shorter, who was overshadowed during his lifetime by his brother, Wayne Shorter, and who continues to be passed over today in 2024. Some responsibility for his obscurity lies with Alan Shorter himself. Known as Doc Strange to his teenage schoolmates in Newark, New Jersey, ...

Reassessing

The Electric Years Box Set

by Mike Jurkovic
November 9, 2023

In a year that has brought us a true bounty of previously unheard majesty including Evenings at the Village Gate: John Coltrane with Eric Dolphy (Impulse!), and Bill Evans; Treasures: Solo, Trio & Orchestra Recordings from Denmark (1965-1969), (Elemental Music) it is only fitting that Miles Davis get his due. And in a very, very big way. Seared into modern memory, modern art, the music presented on the gloriously massive, eleven LP set Miles Davis: The Electric Years ...