favorite herbie's periods/albums/songs ?

[Spider]

"Secrets" is one of my favorite Herbie album , but they are so many great Herbie albums and Songs!

[samfarley]

my favorite period of Herbie's music has to be when he was with miles. that may be more than one period i guess, but i hear urgency, economy and honesty in that music. it is moving

[Globe199]

I think these are my favourites from the different Herbie Hancock eras:

hard bop (62-69): Empyrean Isles. Most people say Maiden Voyage is the best from this era, and I think that one is good, but a little too sleepy. Empyrean Isles has a beautiful, fresh energy running thru it. Just some of the most perfect jazz ever recorded. Hancock and his pals really took what Miles Davis invented with Kind of Blue and brought some updated youthfulness to it. Totally awesome. "oliloqui Valley" is gorgeous.

abstract fusion (70-72): Mwandishi. Only a few albums here to pick from, but I think this one is the best. It's abstract and explorative but still is a bit organic. I love the Rhodes solos. The next two (Crossings and Sextant) went even further abstract but lost some of the swing. Sextant has great moments but is ultimately a creative dead end. At least Hancock realised this, whilst it took Miles another three or four years to realise HE hit a dead end.

funk (73-76): Head Hunters. A mind-blowing album. One of my favourite pieces of music from any genre or artist. I love every minute of it. Other albums in this era are good too, but they follow a steady decline. Thrust is pretty good (Butterfly is a classic), Man-Child is mostly brilliant (the ballads are awesome), but you can see the commercialism creeping in on Secrets. But even that album is still damn good. There are a few things I don't like, but it's quite listenable.

pop (77-82): Mr Hands. The one real stand-out from this era. Each song is uniquely Herbie Hancock. Quite dated, too, but that's what I love about it. It's just so organic (sorry to keep using that word), but it's like a funky earthiness coming straight from the ground. I listen to it all the time. Other albums in this era are good too. Sunlight is funky and bright, Feets Don't Fail Me Now gets a little questionable, as does Monster, but they both have good moments. Magic Windows has a couple good tracks, but is extremely dated and commercial-sounding. I actually do really like Lite Me Up. I'm a big fan of Michael Jackson's Thriller album, and Lite Me Up is sort of a cousin to that. Not much Herbie, but still really good. A guilty pleasure?

Laswell (83-88): no idea. This era precipitated a big drop in creativity and quality. There are good things like "Chemical Residue" and the title track from Future Shock. But it's mostly product.

beyond (89-...) don't know. His output became less frequent in the mid-80s I guess. The New Standard is pretty awesome, as is Gershwin's World. I like the Tribute to Miles album too. He's been doing a lot of different stuff since the 80s, making him harder to pigeonhole, which is a good thing. His live stuff is phenomenal.

Let's not forget the VSOP stuff from the 70s and 80s. All that stuff is truly brilliant. Most of the albums are hard-to-find Japanese releases. The loss of Tony Williams a while back was sad. The album he made with Wynton Marsalis in 1981 is also quite a gem. It reminds me of ESP (Miles Davis Quintet). Classic, awesome jazz.

And there are also the random things along the way like Direct Step (which is oddly funky) and the album with Chick Corea.

Whew!

[admin]

Originally Posted by jimmypagendrix

Does anyone know specifically what model of the Fender Rhodes keyboard that Herbie used in various recordings. Was it the orignial Fender Rhodes Mark I keyboard that was amde from 69 to 75 or was it the Rhodes keyboard with which they dropped the Fender part of it (which was produced 75 and on)

Herbie used the original Fender Rhodes Mark I (69 to
75). He also used the Rhodes Stage model (88 keys)
which was manufactured in the mid 70's. Herbie
continues to use the Rhodes MK 80 which was
introduced during the late 80's.

[Iso]

My Favourite album of all time (so far) is FLOOD, a live recording of Herbie Hancock with the Headhunters in Japan, 1976. I was visiting a friend in Osaka about 5 years ago and casually walking through a cd shop, saw the album sitting on the shelf and bought it simply because it was Herbie.

I rushed back to my friend's apartment, threw it in the cd player and sat in mind-blowing astonishment at what I was hearing! I was already familiar with every song having heard Headhunters, Thrust and Man Child, hearing these live arrangements was a truly euphoric experiance for me.

Over the next year I dedicated at least an hour every single day to learn every single note played by Herbie in an effort to share in the knowledge of his harmonic intuition and vast lyrical vocabulary. I'd play a few seconds of audio, pause, then try to work it out on the keyboard. Endless hours of scrutinous rewinding, playing, rewinding, playing.

I got to the point where I could play along with most of the songs, note for note. I was about 3 minutes of the way into Actual Proof when I realised what I was missing. Being able to play along gave me some great chordal and melodic ideas (along with the impression that I was actually there with the band, experiencing the concert as it was happening) but eventually, I knew that I had to develop my own style from scratch. All this time I was trying to learn from Herbie by stepping in his shoes. Not a bad idea, but spiritually unfulfilling.

Now, I am now putting in the hard yards, creating my own music, my own style and just couldn't be happier.

I should apologise for the length of this post...if you're still reading by now, I thank you very much for your interest. I just wanted to express how much Herbie Hancock's music has affected my life in such a profoundly positive way. I have so many good memories attached to so many of his tunes that whenever I play any of Herbie's albums, I can instantly connect with the feelings attached to those memories. An extraordinary thing.

[Riverside]

Great post. As a casual musician myself, I can understand completely what you mean. My theory is that musicians generally fall into two camps: Those that love to play music and those who love to make music.

The difference being that making music requires moving into some very creative and sometimes frustratiing and hard territory. It means putting your own music in front of people. Lots of guitar players (like me) can emulate a lot of familiar sounds from songs they like. It's a special breed that gets there and decides that their own purpose as a musician is to push further into a place all their own.

Good luck with it.

[Iso]

Thanks very much for the encouragement Riverside,

I think you're right about the two camps theory. Actually, I think we're all a bit of both, but eventually we gravitate towards one or the other. We either want to play our music or someone else's. I felt that what I was doing was as much a tribute to Herbie as it was a journey of discovery of my own. I like to think that I eventually found the right path because my heart is in the right place.

It's obvious that Herbie relentlessly pushed his ideas into unknown territory. To me that's more inspiring than his music he made.

Iso.

[mickiel micrinot]

Greetings,

Oh man I got so many favorites. In concert volume one , with Stanley Turrentine and Fredie Hubbard. His duets with Chick Corea and his tribute to George Gershwin. I last heard Herbie in Detroit just about four months ago, with Hardgrove and Brecker. Herbie is just as bad and better than ever. And I heard Brecker play a little machine with some of the most incredible sounds I have ever heard come out of such a little mouthpiece.

Anyway, I like the website.

Peace, Mickiel.

[gregt]

Does anybody know the lyrics to "People are Changing" from the Sound System album. Can't understand all the lyrics on my old LP.

Thanks, Greg

[katy]

Originally Posted by mickiel micrinot

And I heard Brecker play a little machine with some of the most incredible sounds I have ever heard come out of such a little mouthpiece.

Mickiel, I love when Brecker pulls out that out (I can't recall the name of it right now).