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Title: Herbie Hancock – Future Shock (1983) [Japanese SACD Reissue 2000]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Herbie Hancock completely overhauled his sound and conquered MTV with his most radical step forward since the sextet days. He brought in Bill Laswell of Material as producer, along with Grand Mixer D.ST on turntables — and the immediate result was “Rockit,” which makes quite a post-industrial metallic racket. Frankly, the whole record is an enigma; for all of its dehumanized, mechanized textures and rigid rhythms, it has a vitality and sense of humor that make it difficult to turn off. Moreover, Herbie can’t help but inject a subversive funk element when he comps along to the techno beat — and yes, some real, honest-to-goodness jazz licks on a grand piano show up in the middle of “Auto Drive”.

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Title: Herbie Hancock – Thrust (1974) [Audio Fidelity 2016]
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

The follow-up to the breakthrough Headhunters album was virtually as good as its wildly successful predecessor: an earthy, funky, yet often harmonically and rhythmically sophisticated tour de force. There is only one change in the Headhunters lineup – swapping drummer Harvey Mason for Mike Clark – and the switch results in grooves that are even more complex. Hancock continues to reach into the rapidly changing high-tech world for new sounds, most notably the metallic sheen of the then-new ARP string synthesizer which was already becoming a staple item on pop and jazz-rock records. Again, there are only four long tracks, three of which (“Palm Grease,” “Actual Proof,” “Spank-A-Lee”) concentrate on the funk, with plenty of Hancock’s wah-wah clavinet, synthesizer textures and effects, and electric piano ruminations that still venture beyond the outer limits of post-bop. The change-of-pace is one of Hancock’s loveliest electric pieces, “Butterfly,” a match for any tune he’s written before or since, with shimmering synth textures and Bennie Maupin soaring on soprano (Hancock would re-record it 20 years later on Dis Is Da Drum, but this is the one to hear). This supertight jazz-funk quintet album still sounds invigorating a quarter of a century later.

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Title: Herbie Hancock – Sextant (1973/2019)
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO

Sextant Review by Thom Jurek When Herbie Hancock left Warner Bros. in 1971 after releasing three musically sound but critically and commercially underappreciated albums — Crossings, Mwandishi, and Fat Albert Rotunda — he was struggling. At odds with a jazz establishment that longed for a return to his Blue Note sound, and possessing a fierce consciousness struggle with free music and the full-on embrace of electricity after his tenure with Miles Davis, Hancock was clearly looking for a sound. Before diving into the funky waters of Headhunters in 1973, Hancock and his tough group (including drummer Billy Hart, trombonist Julian Priester, trumpeterEddie Henderson, saxophonist Bennie Maupin, and bassist Buster Williams) cut this gem as Hancock’s debut for Columbia. Like its Warner predecessors, the album features a kind of post-modal, free impressionism that traces the edges of funk. Its three long tracks are exploratory investigations into the nature of how mode and interval can be boiled down into a minimal stew, then extrapolated upon for soloing and “riffing.” In fact, in many cases, the interval is the riff, evidenced by “Rain Dance.” The piece that revealed the true funk direction, however, was “Hidden Shadows,” with its choppy basslines and heavy percussion — aided by the inclusion of Dr. Patrick Gleeson and Buck Clarke. Dave Rubinson’s production brought Hancock’s piano more into line with the rhythm section, allowing for a unified front in the more abstract sections of these tunes. The true masterpiece on the album, though, is “Hornets,” an eclectic, electric ride through both the dark modal ambience of Miles’ In a Silent Way and post-Coltrane harmonic aesthetics. The groove is in place, but it gets turned inside out by Priester and Maupin on more than one occasion and Hancock just bleats with the synth in sections. Over 19 minutes in length, it can be brutally intense, but is more often than not stunningly beautiful. It provides a glimpse into the music that became Headhunters, but doesn’t fully explain it, making this disc, like its Warner predecessors, true and welcome mysteries in Hancock’s long career.
https://www.discogs.com/release/13759684-Herbie-Hancock-Sextant

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Title: Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters (1973) [Japanese Reissue 2020]
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Sony Japan continues with their limited edition quad SACD series with one of the greatest masterpieces of the fusion jazz genre. The 1973 “Head Hunters” album from keyboardist Herbie Hancock gets a reissue in multi-channel surround. Not only is the packaging unique to other editions, for the first time, the actual 4 channel quad version of the album has been released in a digital format. This should not be confused with the SACD that was issued by Sony Japan back in 2008, a multi-channel version which was reconfigured from the four channel master tapes. Instead this newly remastered 2020 edition truly gives quadrophonic collectors the original mix on a great format, and directly takes fans back to the 70’s quad era. After recording with Miles Davis over several years starting in 1963, Hancock’s solo career blossomed on the Blue Note label with his classic albums Maiden Voyage, Empyrean Isles, and Speak Like a Child. After leaving Miles Davis’s group, Hancock put together a new band called The Headhunters and, in 1973, recorded Head Hunters. This album became a pivotal point in his career, bringing him into the limelight of fusion jazz. Drawing heavily from Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield and James Brown, Hancock developed a deep funky, texturally gritty rhythms over which he took liberties with electric synthesizer solos. Maintaining all of the sensibilities of jazz, particularly with his long improvisational solos, he firmly tied jazz to the rhythms of funk, soul, and R&B, in turn giving the album a mass appeal.

Head Hunters was a pivotal point in Herbie Hancock’s career, bringing him into the vanguard of jazz fusion. Hancock had pushed avant-garde boundaries on his own albums and with Miles Davis, but he had never devoted himself to the groove as he did on Head Hunters. Drawing heavily from Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and James Brown, Hancock developed deeply funky, even gritty, rhythms over which he soloed on electric synthesizers, bringing the instrument to the forefront in jazz. It had all of the sensibilities of jazz, particularly in the way it wound off into long improvisations, but its rhythms were firmly planted in funk, soul, and R&B, giving it a mass appeal that made it the biggest-selling jazz album of all time (a record which was later broken). Jazz purists, of course, decried the experiments at the time, but Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, soul, and hip-hop.

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Title: Herbie Hancock – Head Hunters (1973) [APO Remaster 2016]
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + Hi-Res FLAC

Head Hunters was a pivotal point in Herbie Hancock’s career, bringing him into the vanguard of jazz fusion. Hancock had pushed avant-garde boundaries on his own albums and with Miles Davis, but he had never devoted himself to the groove as he did on Head Hunters. Drawing heavily from Sly Stone, Curtis Mayfield, and James Brown, Hancock developed deeply funky, even gritty, rhythms over which he soloed on electric synthesizers, bringing the instrument to the forefront in jazz. It had all of the sensibilities of jazz, particularly in the way it wound off into long improvisations, but its rhythms were firmly planted in funk, soul, and R&B, giving it a mass appeal that made it the biggest-selling jazz album of all time (a record which was later broken). Jazz purists, of course, decried the experiments at the time, but Head Hunters still sounds fresh and vital decades after its initial release, and its genre-bending proved vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, soul, and hip-hop.

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Title: Herbie Hancock – Gershwin’s World (1998) [Reissue 2004]
Genre: Jazz
Format: MCH SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Gershwin’s World is the 42nd album by Herbie Hancock. This album featured the songs of George and Ira Gershwin. It features several prominent musicians including Joni Mitchell, Chick Corea, Stevie Wonder, Wayne Shorter, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.

Gershwin’s World is a tour de force for Herbie Hancock, transcending genre and label, and ranking among the finest recordings of his lengthy career. Released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin’s birth, this disc features jazzman Hancock with a classy collection of special guests. The most surprising of Hancock’s guest stars is Joni Mitchell, who delivers a gorgeously sensual vocal on “The Man I Love,” then provides an airy, worldly take on “Summertime.” On these two tracks, she shows she has come a long way from her folksinger beginnings to become a first-class jazz singer in her own right. Stevie Wonder’s unmistakable harmonica complements Mitchell’s singing on “Summertime” and shares lead instrument space with his own voice on the W.C. Handy classic “St. Louis Blues.” Jazzman extraordinaire Wayne Shorter smokes a solo spot on Duke Ellington’s “Cotton Tail” and carves out some space for his soprano saxophone in the midst of “Summertime.” A number of the young lions of jazz are featured on various cuts, and Herbie’s old pal Chick Corea joins the leader for a piano duet of James P. Johnson’s “Blueberry Rhyme.” Gershwin’s wonderful, extended “Lullaby” finds Hancock teamed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as does an attractive arrangement of a “Concerto for Piano and Orchestra” by Maurice Ravel, whose jazz influence can be heard on the piece. In addition, one of the most beautiful tracks on the album places star soprano Kathleen Battle’s voice at the forefront of Gershwin’s own “Prelude in C# Minor.” Yet with all the fine performances by his guests, Gershwin’s World remains Hancock’s show, and he plays magnificently throughout. From beautiful to funky, percussive to melodic, improvisational to tightly arranged, Hancock and cohorts take a wondrous journey through the music and world of Gershwin.

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Title: Herbie Hancock – Flood (1975) [Japanese SACD Reissue 2007]
Genre: Jazz
Format: SACD ISO + DSF DSD64 + Hi-Res FLAC

Herbie Hancock and the Headhunters take to the road in the live double album Flood, recorded and released only in Japan. Contrary to the impression left by his American releases at this time, Hancock was still very much attached to the acoustic piano, as his erudite opening workout on “Maiden Voyage/Actual Proof” with his funk rhythm section makes clear. The electric keyboards, mostly Rhodes piano and clavinet, make their first appearances on side two, where Hancock now becomes more of a funky adjunct to the rhythm section, bumping along with a superb feeling for the groove while Bennie Maupin takes the high road above on a panoply of winds. Except for “Voyage,” the tunes come from the Head Hunters, Thrust, and Man-Child albums (another reason why this was not released in the U.S.). “Chameleon” comes with a lengthy outbreak of machine pink noise that attests to Hancock’s wide-eyed love of gadgetry. In all, this was a great funk band, not all that danceable because of the rapid complexities of Mike Clark’s drumming, and quite often, full of harmonic depth and adventure.

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