A new book in progress by Bob Gluck traces the evolution of Herbie Hancock's music through 1973, focusing on the Mwandishi band. The title is: You'll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band (University of Chicago Press, forthcoming). The blog discusses the most poignant issues that have arisen in the process of writing the book, which should be out in a year.
Herbie Hancock has always followed his own muse. During the Mwandishi period, 1970-1973, his muse included a group of like-minded, intensely creative fellow musicians. Mwandishi band represented the ripening of Hancock's Sextet, his first touring ensemble as a bandleader. It became the experimental laboratory where he first integrally joined the core musical elements that would form the building blocks that has served his musical creativity throughout his career. His rhythmic sensibilities, lyricism, use of abstraction, imaginative approach to timbre, fascination with electronics, and risk taking first come together in a mature, integrated manner in this context. The results were three years of deeply personal and expressive music that transcended boundaries.
Bob Gluck is author is musician, educator, and writer.
Herbie Hancock has always followed his own muse. During the Mwandishi period, 1970-1973, his muse included a group of like-minded, intensely creative fellow musicians. Mwandishi band represented the ripening of Hancock's Sextet, his first touring ensemble as a bandleader. It became the experimental laboratory where he first integrally joined the core musical elements that would form the building blocks that has served his musical creativity throughout his career. His rhythmic sensibilities, lyricism, use of abstraction, imaginative approach to timbre, fascination with electronics, and risk taking first come together in a mature, integrated manner in this context. The results were three years of deeply personal and expressive music that transcended boundaries.
Bob Gluck is author is musician, educator, and writer.
