Herbie Hancock - Piano (11 tracks) +Album Reviews

Herbie Hancock's private voyage to Heaven

Andre Heeger | Germany | 04/10/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If ever there's a stairways to heaven, I want this music to be there with me.

Herbie is a genius with the keys. But you already know that and you certainly don't need me to remind you of the undisputed truth.

Just for a moment forget about categories. Don't think of Herbie as a jazz musician. He is a creative genius, period. Always was and always will be. My favorites are his trio recordings, either for Blue Note or CBS. But that's his jazz side.

This is more private. A session, just he, the piano and you. His most personal gift to us, his fans and music lovers.

Music is a universal language anybody can understand. Herbie is opening doors here. As if freed of boundaries, he is floating onto a cloud of notes - and he takes you with him!

His music, his playing the keys, it is a pure delight to the ears, your heart - and your imagination. This man is so creative with the instrument, ahh, what can I say, just get it!

I bought it the moment it came out as a Japanese pressing, but when I noticed they reissued it with a few extra takes I bought it again, to have on the side if ever I need a gift for someone dear.

Guess what, I ordered another one. The gift is still here, waiting for the right moment, but I wanted the extra takes for myself. They're that good!

Put it into your player and for a moment forget about the world. There is just sound, the sound of music, of Sonrisa (my favorite)"

Hancock and Steinway

Gary Wise | Houston, Texas | 02/25/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Aurally stunning, this direct-to-disc recording (no tape or unwieldy electronic processing in the way of the music) is an intimate private concert. Forget all your preconceptions about Herbie; this is a maturing keyboard virtuoso in peak form in an almost perfect acoustic environment. No editing, no dubs, and the alternate takes are equally breathtaking as the final choices.

Great liner notes and 24-bit remaster make this recording a credit to your collection.

Wow."

Startingly beautiful..breathtaking, stunning...

NDBx | New York, NY United States | 05/20/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This recordings is so free of any excesses, it's a wonder.

So many times you get a master pianist recording a solo album and having a situation where the pianist goes on pyrotechnical tangents that seem to stray completely from the theme of the pieces.

NOT SO HERE!!! This recording comes close to sheer perfection as a solo piano recording because Herbie exhibits such fine ear for the pieces while improvising marvelously over them that it's breath taking. His use of space and rhythm is impeccable. He lets the phrases resonate and takes you on a journey of sorts on each piece. There are no signature licks but careful attention to each piece while embellishing and redefining.

Romantic and emotionally relevant, there is not a clinical moment in the whole recording.

It's hard to pick a favorite here. This is the kind of recording you just put on and listen from beginning to end.

This one is a must-have."

Water impressions on a theme of Hancock and Davis

Marty Nickison II | Austintown, OH | 05/28/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The 1960's were a turbulent time in America. Riots, marches, and other types of protest were constantly forming. People wanted racism to end. Citizens wanted an end to war and violence. During this transformation, a new sound took over America. The Beetles and the Rolling Stones helped user a new pop music-Rock n' Roll. On another front, the sound of Motown (Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, Mavin Gaye, The Temptations, The Four Tops and more) became popular in urban America.

In 1960's jazz, there were a handful of young emerging jazz pianists that were regarded as `masters' in their craft. These pioneers combined elements of rock, soul (Motown), classical, and more into their comping (playing). These pianists included McCoy Tyner, Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock.

Herbie Hancock started in the 1960's as a pianist to backup Miles Davis. His playing was a match of the fluid touch of Bill Evans (see Kind of Blue) and the blues-rooted approach of Wynton Kelly (see Someday My Prince Will Come). Seeming unusual for a jazz player to think so `out of the box', Herbie managed to gain wide acceptance through his playing with Miles (look at the box set The Second Great Quintet) and a host of releases he did for Blue Note records (see The Complete 1960's Blue Note Recordings).

As the 1970's ushered in the electronic piano, Herbie quickly took to it as his new weapon. He slashed out mega pop hits such Chameleon and Watermelon Man (which was really a song he did on Blue Note in the 1960's) as well as the soundtrack for Death Wish.

In the start of the "Direct to Disc" age of vinyl recording (1979 to be exact), Herbie recorded a few albums that featured him on acoustic piano to the Japanese public. Americans didn't get it; why did he only give Americans electric music and gave Japanese acoustic work (an exception to that is the VSOP album, but that's only one)? Many American `acoustic Herbie' fans paid high shipping prices to get these treasures in their homes.

25 years later, Columbia has saved the day. This re-release of The Piano is sonically excellent. With silent backgrounds and clear piano intonation and reverb; it makes you wonder if records sounded this good back in 1979 why did we ever give them up?

Herbie's playing on this recording is not exactly what you expect from him. He usually gives you progressions and scales that make you think, "Dah heck?? Let me wind that back and hear that again . . . Ok . . . . AHH! HE DIDN'T JUST RESOLVE THAT WAY!" This round, the sound is more easy listening and much more melodic. He employs a mostly-melodic approach to his music here and it sounds serene and atmospheric.

Is this the same Herbie you have heard before? Yes. However, this is a lot more peaceful and subtle than what you have heard with Miles or even in the Sextant. The Man-child prodigy, in 1979, allowed his classical training and Evans influenced melodic approach dominate the 7 pieces he did (the last 5 are alternate takes of previous ones).

I encourage anyone who want to hear him play by himself to get this recording. However, this isn't Herbie as usual; this is the reflective side of Herbie.

On the cover, there's a picture of a river. This is an appropriate picture. The music is fluid, a bit blue, and very reflective. Forget Handel---this is true water music.

"

Intimate Hancock

M. SOULE | Paris, FRANCE | 01/31/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is an excellent CD, one of the finest album recorded by Herbie Hancock: top-level inspiration, imagination, delicacy, superb sound... Everything you can expect from jazz piano is there. Why it took Sony so long to reissue such a masterpiece?"

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