Gershwin’s World - Herbie Hancock

Dec

24

Gershwin’s World - Herbie Hancock

≡ Category: 1990s, Recommended, Reviews, Trad Jazz |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

Herbie Hancock has had one of the most fantastic careers in the history of jazz. In his 20’s, he was an integral part of Miles Davis’ 2nd great quintet. He supported countless classic Blue Note sessions. With recordings like Speak Like A Child and The Prisoner, he proved himself to be a peerless big band arranger. He leveraged that ability to forge a second career as a composer of soundtracks for Hollywood movies. Hancock created entirely new genres of music: the space jazz of Mwandishi and Crossings; the jazz funk of his Headhunters band. He elevated the Brazilian music of Milton Nascimento on the Milton LP into a thrilling fusion hybrid. He even played the pop star role to perfection on his single, Rockit.

By his late thirties, Herbie Hancock was a startling success in every possible way: artistic, popular, and financial. I’ll be honest, if I had that much success, I would probably slack off. I’d either quit music altogether and find something else to challenge myself with, or I’d choose either frivolous or insular projects. I would have nothing left to prove to myself, and my music would reflect that.

And that’s precisely what’s happened to Herbie Hancock. Since 1980 or so, Herbie Hancock hasn’t made a great record. There was 1+1 with Wayne Shorter — that sounded exactly like what it was — two old friends having a private conversation. It might have been entertaining to them, but it left the rest of us behind. There was 2005’s Possibilities, but that’s just Herbie fooling around with modern pop musicians. The New Standard wasn’t bad, an attempt to adapt modern pop songs to jazz in a similar way to how it had been done in the past, but Herbie’s playing lacked the commitment that it used to have.

On Gershwin’s World, Herbie Hancock sounds more focused than he has in a quarter century. I think the reason is that Hancock loves Gershwin’s music, so he can’t just blow it off. He finally has something to prove and it concentrates his playing wonderfully.

Now, how much you enjoy Gershwin’s World will depend on how you feel about Gershwin himself. If you love Gershwin, you’ll probably feel like you’ve fallen into a vat of chocolate. I enjoy Gershwin, but I’m not crazy about him.

On Gershwin’s World, Herbie is not necessarily just arranging and playing on Gershwin tunes. He’s not being that literal. Herbie is exploring different aspects of Gershwin’s musical personality.

For example, The Man I Love is a very respectful take on the classic tune, with a surprisingly faithful Joni Mitchell vocal. Herbie’s playing on the track is graceful and delicate, as is Wayne Shorter’s contribution on sax. The musicianship is impeccable from everyone involved, but it seems too careful to me. I would have preferred these guys to take more liberties with the music, but that’s just personal preference.

Hancock takes a few more liberties on Summertime, again with Wayne Shorter and Joni Mitchell, with Stevie Wonder (!) joining in on harmonica. Now this is more like it. If you’re going to perform the 1001st version of Summertime, it had better be a little different.

On the other end of the scale, Hancock gets downright funky on St. Louis Blues, which was actually written by W. C. Handy, not Gershwin. On that track, Stevie Wonder is surprisingly effective on harmonica and vocals. Nice track, even if it goes on a little longer than necessary.

There’s actually quite a lot of musical variety within Gershwin’s World, which is purely intentional on Hancock’s part. Herbie not only wants to honor Gershwin himself, but the musicians who influenced him.

It Ain’t Necessarily So, Here Come De Honey Man, and Duke Ellington’s Cottontail are given a post-bop treatment. Overture is almost Afrocuban, harking all the way back to Herbie Hancock’s 1964 recording Succotash, which he made with several Latin percussionists. James P. Johnson’s Blueberry Rhyme gets a barrelhouse workout courtesy of Hancock and old pal Chick Corea. Hancock doesn’t ignore Gershwin’s classical side either — Lullaby is scored for strings and piano, and very sensitively at that. Herbie allows himself lots of solo space within the arrangement and he pulls it off beautifully. Hancock’s acknowledges Gershwin’s pretensions to opera with Kathleen Battle’s vocals on Prelude in C Sharp Minor.

And here’s where I get to sound like a philistine. I’m not a renaissance man like Herbie. I’m more a post bop kind of guy. As well-done as Gershwin’s World is, a lot of it isn’t really my thing. But I like enough of it that I can give it a modest recommendation. Besides, it really is immaculately arranged and performed by everyone concerned.