Herbie Hancock - Jammin' With Herbie [CD]

Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd’s group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, Hancock experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles, utilizing a wide array of synthesizers and electronics. It was during this period that he released perhaps his best-known and most influential album, Head Hunters.

Hancock received considerable attention when, in May 1963, he joined Davis’s Second Great Quintet. Davis personally sought out Hancock, whom he saw as one of the most promising talents in jazz. While in Davis’s band, Hancock also found time to record dozens of sessions for the Blue Note label, both under his own name and as a sideman with other musicians.

Hancock also recorded several less-well-known but still critically acclaimed albums with larger ensembles – My Point of View (1963), Speak Like a Child (1968) and The Prisoner (1969), albums which featured flugelhorn, alto flute and bass trombone in addition to the traditional jazz instrumentation. 1963’s Inventions and Dimensions was an album of almost entirely improvised music, teaming Hancock with bassist Paul Chambers and two Latin percussionists,
Willie Bobo and Osvaldo “Chihuahua” Martinez.

During this period, Hancock also composed the score to Michelangelo Antonioni’s film Blowup (1966), the first of many film soundtracks he recorded in his career. As well as feature film soundtracks, Hancock recorded a number of
musical themes used on American television commercials for such then-well-known products as Pillsbury’s Space Food Sticks, Standard Oil, Tab diet cola and

Virginia Slims cigarettes. Hancock also wrote, arranged and conducted a spy type theme for a series of F. William Free commercials for Silva Thins cigarettes. Hancock liked it so much he wished to record it as a song but the ad agency would not let him. He rewrote the harmony, tempo and tone and recorded the piece as the track “He Who Lives in Fear” from his The Prisoner album of 1969.

Davis had begun incorporating elements of rock and popular music into his recordings by the end of Hancock’s tenure with the band. Despite some initial reluctance, Hancock began doubling on electric keyboards, including the Fender Rhodes electric piano at Davis’s insistence. Hancock adapted quickly to the new instruments, which proved to be important in his future artistic endeavors.

In the summer of 1968 Hancock formed his own sextet. However, although
Davis soon disbanded his quintet to search for a new sound, Hancock, despite his departure from the working band, continued to appear on Davis records for the next few years. Appearances included In a Silent Way, A Tribute to Jack Johnson and On the Corner. Hancock left Blue Note in 1969, signing with Warner Bros. Records.

In 1969, Hancock composed the soundtrack for Bill Cosby’s animated prime-time television special Hey, Hey, Hey, It’s Fat Albert. Music from the soundtrack was later included on Fat Albert Rotunda (1969), an R&B-inspired album with strong jazz overtones. One of the jazzier songs on the record, the moody ballad “Tell Me a Bedtime Story”, was later re-worked as a more electronic sounding song for the Quincy Jones album Sounds...and Stuff Like That!! (1978). This compilation is culled from those 1960s albums and singles.

Track Listing

1. Maulana 9:38
2. Mr. Lucky (Rock Your Soul) 6:37
3. Kamili 5:42
4. Dunia 8:22
5. Hot Piano 7:22
6. Live & Awake 3:53
7. Jammin’ With Herbie 6:35
8. Cat Call 9:43
9. Daydream (Soul Power) 4:53
10. Herbie’s Blues 5:55
11. Hot And Heavy 3:02
12. Far Out 2:32
13. Scoochie 5:12