The Essential Herbie Hancock [Columbia/Legacy]

( 1 )

Editorial Reviews

All Music Guide - Thom Jurek
Calling a two-disc retrospective of the varied and celebrated career of Herbie Hancock "essential" is a tall order to fill. Sony/BMG's Legacy does, as would be expected, an incomplete but decent job at offering a fine representative look at the artist, and at choosing best-known cuts to do so. This set is admirably cross-licensed by producer Bob Belden, who also wrote the great liner notes. Disc one is a journey in and of itself and offers a fine portrait not only of Hancock's changes as a musician, but also the changes in jazz brewing at the time. It begins with "Watermelon Man" from Takin' Off, Hancock's first Blue Note recording in 1962, and follows curiously enough with ...
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Editorial Reviews

All Music Guide - Thom Jurek
Calling a two-disc retrospective of the varied and celebrated career of Herbie Hancock "essential" is a tall order to fill. Sony/BMG's Legacy does, as would be expected, an incomplete but decent job at offering a fine representative look at the artist, and at choosing best-known cuts to do so. This set is admirably cross-licensed by producer Bob Belden, who also wrote the great liner notes. Disc one is a journey in and of itself and offers a fine portrait not only of Hancock's changes as a musician, but also the changes in jazz brewing at the time. It begins with "Watermelon Man" from Takin' Off, Hancock's first Blue Note recording in 1962, and follows curiously enough with a fine reading of "'Round Midnight" off Sonny Rollins' Now's the Time offering for RCA in 1964. You get "Cantaloupe Island" and the title track from Maiden Voyage before Hancock's Columbia recordings as a member of the Miles Davis Quintet in 1966 begin. The two quintet cuts are "Circle" and "Sorcerer." There is no electric Miles-era material found here. This compilation follows the artist to Warner Brothers for "Tell Me a Bedtime Story" off Fat Albert's Rotunda the serial music for Bill Cosby's groovy kids cartoon show, and then moves into the solo material with "Hidden Shadows" from Sextant and "Chameleon" from Head Hunters. The disc ends with "Joanna's Theme," from the soundtrack to the film Death Wish. When one considers what's been covered so far, the journey is actually amazing. Platter two continues with more fusion tracks, from Thrust, and a couple from the undervalued Mr. Hands issued in 1980, 1978's Sunlight, the truly awful Monster, and the innovative Future Shock yes, it's "Rockit"; what else?. But there are also tracks from the many acoustic recordings he did for Columbia such as the Herbie Hancock Trio disc with Tony Williams and Ron Carter. Ditto material from V.S.O.P., the Gershwin's World outing, and of course the solo album New Standard in 1995. Fans can argue all day about what should have been left out and what should have been included but wasn't, but what does matter is how the wild twists and turns in Hancock's career have showcased him to be a chameleon as well as an innovator. While one may wish to place Maiden Voyage or Head Hunters in a newbie's hands, this serves as an undeniably well-rounded historical introduction.
The Guardian - John L. Walters
You can't go too wrong with a compilation that includes gems such as Maiden Voyage and Butterfly, together with curiosities...and all the hits - plus some of the best jazz piano-playing of the past four decades.
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Product Details

  • Release Date: 2/28/2006
  • Label: Sony
  • UPC: 827969459324
  • Catalog Number: 94593
  • Sales rank: 14,406

Tracks

Disc 1
  1. 1 Watermelon Man (7:11)
  2. 2 'Round Midnight (4:05)
  3. 3 Cantaloupe Island (5:33)
  4. 4 Maiden Voyage (7:56)
  5. 5 Circle (5:54)
  6. 6 The Sorcerer (5:37)
  7. 7 Tell Me a Bedtime Story (5:04)
  8. 8 Hidden Shadows (10:15)
  9. 9 Chameleon (15:40)
  10. 10 Joanna's Theme (4:43)
Disc 2
  1. 1 Butterfly (11:18)
  2. 2 People Music (7:09)
  3. 3 Milestones (6:39)
  4. 4 4 A.M. (5:23)
  5. 5 Come Running to Me (8:25)
  6. 6 Finger Painting (6:45)
  7. 7 Stars in Your Eyes (7:05)
  8. 8 Rockit (5:27)
  9. 9 St. Louis Blues (5:51)
  10. 10 Manhattan (4:04)
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Album Credits

Performance Credits
Herbie Hancock Primary Artist, Synthesizer, Piano, Keyboards, Hammond Organ, Electric Piano, Vocals, Background Vocals, Hand Clapping, fender rhodes, oberheim, Mini Moog, Arp Pro Soloist, Arp 2600, Arp Odyssey, Arp Strings, Fairlight CMI, Micro Moog, Clavitar
Daniel Ponce Bata
Terri Lyne Carrington Drums
Ron Carter Bass
George Coleman Tenor Saxophone
Johnny Coles Flugelhorn
Miles Davis Trumpet
Dexter Gordon Tenor Saxophone
Billy Hart Percussion, Drums
Joe Henderson Flute, Tenor Saxophone
Billy Higgins Drums
Thad Jones Flugelhorn
Bill Laswell Electric Bass
Bennie Maupin Bass Clarinet, Alto Flute, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone
Alphonse Mouzon Drums, Keyboards
Jaco Pastorius Electric Bass
Julian Priester Alto Trombone
Sonny Rollins Tenor Saxophone
Wayne Shorter Tenor Saxophone
Eddie Henderson Trumpet
Bill Summers Percussion
Greg Walker Vocals
Butch Warren Bass
Alex Al Bass
Michael Beinhorn Electronic Drums, Mini Moog
Garnett Brown Trombone
Mike Clarke Drums
Sheila Escovedo Percussion
Patrick Gleeson Resonator
Grandmixer D.ST Turntables
Albert "Tootie" Heath Drums
Freddie Hubbard Trumpet, Cornet
Paul Jackson Electric Bass
James Levi Drums
Roy McCurdy Drums
Harvey Mason Sr. Drums
Baba Duru Oshun Tabla
Peter Phillips Bass Trombone
Raul Rekow Conga
Mickey Roker Drums
Wah-Wah Watson Guitar
Buster Williams Bass, Acoustic Bass
Stevie Wonder Harmonica, Vocals
Freddie "Ready Freddie" Washington Electric Bass
Tony Ruption Williams Drums
Jerry Dodgion Alto Flute
Technical Credits
Miles Davis Composer
Herbie Hancock Composer, Echoplex, Rhythm Sequencing
Bennie Maupin Composer
Duke Pearson Producer
Cootie Williams Composer
W.C. Handy Composer
George Avakian Producer
Michael Beinhorn Dmx
Fred Catero Engineer
Rob Eaton Engineer
Rudy Van Gelder Engineer
Ray Hall Engineer
Paul Jackson Composer
Frank Laico Engineer
Alfred Lion Producer
Teo Macero Producer
Harvey Mason Sr. Composer
Thelonious Monk Composer
Jerry Peters Orchestration
David Rubinson Engineer
Jeremy Zatkin Engineer
Bernie Hanighen Composer
John Pace Engineer
John Vieira Engineer
G. Christopher Composer
M. Davis Composer
Tomas Suzuki Engineer
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Customer Reviews

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    Posted October 26, 2008

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