Inventions and Dimensions - Herbie Hancock

Apr

4

Inventions and Dimensions - Herbie Hancock

≡ Category: 1960s, Free Jazz, Recommended, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES HIGHLY RECOMMENDED RECORDING

Rating:

Around the time of this recording, pianist Herbie Hancock had recently worked with reed player Eric Dolphy on a free jazz date and was so thrilled with his experience that he decided that his next date as a leader was going to have a minimum of structure.

In all but one case, the tunes on Inventions and Dimensions are built on the flimsiest of scaffolds. On Succotash, all the band (Paul Chambers, bass; Willie Bobo, percussion; “Chihuaha” Martinez, percussion) knew was that the piece was in 6/8–no chords, melody or bass line were given.

For Jackrabbit, only an ostinato for bassist Paul Chambers was written. For A Jump Ahead, Paul Chambers would set a 4-bar pedal tone, which was followed by 16 bars of time, over which Hancock would improvise, not knowing ahead of time what the tone would be.

What’s remarkable is that with so little information, far from noodling aimlessly, Hancock spins out line after line of inspired, lucid, tasteful solos that swing like mad. His comping, rhythmic inventions and harmonic forays are also as crisp and compelling as ever.

Although his band adds color to the session, they are really there to feed Hancock’s imagination, which on the basis of this recording, appears to be bottomless.