Hancock, Herbie

Hancock, Herbie

Crossings

Antarctica Starts Here

Crossings was the second release by the Herbie Hancock Sextet lineup known as the Mwandishi Band, following 1971’s Mwandishi which stretched Hancock’s already-adventurous writing and expanded the music through post-production. This approach would play an even larger role on Crossings, the pianist’s final album for Warner Bros. For two of Crossings’ three pieces (“Quasar” and “Water Torture”), Hancock took basic instrumental tracks to Patrick Gleeson’s Different Fur Studios, hoping to learn how to play the Moog synthesizer. Instead, Hancock let Gleeson contribute layers of sound to both pieces. On “Quasar,” a ballad in 7/4 time, Gleeson extends the horn playing of Bennie Maupin, Julian Priester and Eddie Henderson through electronic accents, while on “Water Torture,” he provides a ghostly counter melody on the Mellotron, a keyboard that utilizes samples from string instruments. These studio enhancements give Crossings an otherworldly dimension, making the album feel bigger and more fantastical, yet the Sextet’s playing—recorded without much in way of edits or overdubs —keeps everything grounded. Indeed, Gleason’s additions are often so natural that it is hard to pick out what’s acoustic and what’s synthesized. While the Mwandishi Band’s tenure was unfortunately short-lived, the advances Herbie Hancock made with them still sound exciting today and would propel him into further inventive territory with future jazz-funk project The Headhunters.

Hancock, Herbie

Fat Albert Rotunda

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If Fat Albert Rotunda sounds like the most fun Herbie Hancock had in his early years as a band leader, it should. He composed the music for the pilot of the children’s television show Fat Albert, redirecting the post-bop jazz he honed in a five-year stint with the Miles Davis Quintet towards the R&B and funk styles with which he was becoming enamored. The result was a playful, joyous album in which Hancock clearly had a great time. The same goes for the rest of his Sextet, which by the time of recording in late 1969 was both razor sharp and confidently loose from rehearsing and touring. Flying high with three horn players—Joe Henderson on sax and flute, Garnett Brown on trombone and Johnny Coles on trumpet and flugelhorn—alongside Hancock’s soaring Fender Rhodes electric piano, the group could swing freely on a track like the rousing “Fat Mama” and emote precisely on the subtle “Tell Me A Bedtime Story.” Their versatility won over Warner Bros. who signed Hancock after hearing these infectious compositions and watched Fat Albert Rotunda climb the Billboard Jazz Charts. In subsequent years, Hancock would expand and experiment with the Sextet’s sound, creating two more albums for Warner Bros. Regardless of where he went next, Fat Albert Rotunda is still, 50 years later, about as fun as music gets.

Hancock, Herbie

Mwandishi

Antarctica Starts Here

After releasing their Warner Bros. debut, the Herbie Hancock Sextet underwent a major transformation in the early ’70s. Over the course of a year, every member was replaced (except Herbie Hancock himself and bassist Buster Williams) and each adopted Swahili names. (Williams even led the group in occasional sessions of Buddhist chanting.) Hancock chose the moniker Mwandishi (meaning “composer”), and the Sextet became unofficially known as the Mwandishi Band. The lineup’s first album—simply titled Mwandishi—reflects Hancock’s new aesthetic and spiritual directions. Stretching out from the R&B / jazz fusion of Fat Albert Rotunda, the pianist would draw inspiration from his time with Miles Davis (whose classic Bitches Brew came out in 1970) as well as through the creative relationship he had formed with producer David Rubinson (known for his work with Moby Grape and Santana). “Ostinato (Suite for Angela),” dedicated to political activist Angela Davis, is an extended jam with stunning rhythmic complexity—enhanced by studio effects, such as Echoplex delay. On the ballad “You’ll Know When You Get There,” Hancock’s tight arrangements are saturated in reverb, which gives an ever-shifting dimensionality. Side-long closer “Wandering Spirit Song,” written by trombonist Julian Priester (aka Pepo Mtoto), goes even further out: alternating between dynamic soloing and group improvisation, the Sextet fully manifests the radical potential of their collective identity / energy. Mwandishi remains a bold and expansive statement, even after nearly 50 years.