Live At The Boston Jazz Workshop

For a few magnificent years in the early 70's jazz-rock fusion seemed to be headed towards a new musical heaven. Well, as we know, this was not to last - but for those still tuned in to this particular wavelength, the searching, spiritual, otherworldly music of Hancock's Mwandishi-era band still strikes a chord deep within. What we get in this 1973 live performance originally recorded for radio broadcast, sound quality very fine, is a 40+ minutes "Hornets" (from the Sextant-album, but with precious little of the infamous 'kazooing' that so marred the studio version), seemlessly sliding into the hauntingly beautiful "You'll know when you get there" (from the original, indispensable Mwandishi album). These are fantastic musicians, fearlessly probing into unknown musical territories. Nobody has made music like this before or since - and it is satisfying to notice that in recent years this incredible band is finally receiving the recognition it always deserved. (If you like this, be sure not to miss band member Eddie Henderson's great "Realization" / "Inside Out", very much in the same vein, with same band minus trombonist Julian Priester, who continued the musical exploration with his own fine "Love, love").

Perfect

Anyone who like the Mwandishi period of Herbie, this is a must!!! Great sound and great music!!!

Unmissable Herbie. Five forks!

I had just bought and listen to live in Chicago 1977 featuring Jaco pastorius and love it , so I I decided to buy this as well and wasn’t disappointed ,! .

After studying the classical oeuvre as a prodigy during childhood, pianist and composer Herbie Hancock fell in love with jazz while in his teens. After the usual dues paying, he began  recording for the Blue Note label  in 1962. His composition "Watermelon Man" (from his debut TAKIN' OFF) provided Mongo Santamaría with a hit single, but most importantly brought him the attention of music and trumpet legend Miles Davis. Herbie joined what is now considered Miles' " Second Great Quintet " on piano along with drummer Tony Williams bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. He continued recording for Blue Note during his tenure with Davis until he left the label in 1969, a year after leaving Davis' group. Signing with Warner Bros., Hancock composed the soundtrack for the animated children's television show "Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids." The resulting album FAT ALBERT ROTUNDA was his first foray with incorporating R&B-influences. With his growing interest in electronic music and gadgets, coupled with his love of Miles Davis' ground-breaking funk & rock informed  BITCHES BREW , Herbie formed a sextet that would be able to explore the nether regions of jazz. The group, featuring Julian Priester on trombone, Eddie Henderson on trumpet & flugelhorn, Buster Williams on bass, drummer Billy Hart, and his two secret weapons, Dr. Patrick Gleason on synths and Benny Maupin on reeds, recorded three albums, MWANDISHI and CROSSINGS for Warner Bros. (available together on  a great 2CD set  that also has ROTUNDA) and  SEXTANT  for his new label Columbia......Which brings us to this new CD release, HERBIE HANCOCK SEPTET "LIVE AT THE BOSTON JAZZ WORKSHOP" recorded on March 22, 1973 for later broadcast on WBCN-FM. The CD's sound quality is great, much better than some of these archival radio concerts that have been flooding the market, with decent highs and lows and no broadcast interference that I can hear. The band became a "septet" for this show with the addition of local legend "Scorch" on congas! The album/concert contains only two tracks, SEXTANT's "Hornets" and MWANDISHI's "You'll Know When You Get There," clocking in at 43 and 20 minutes respectively. As I stated in my review title, if you're a fan of the SEXTET/SEPTET's three albums you'll love it. Others who are considering a purchase need to realize that the group plays extended compositions that build and release riffs while improvising whenever possible, working hard to explore the possibilities of sound. The jewel here is "Hornets," doubling the length of the studio version. It's hard to explain how the band weaves written themes, ideas and improvisations that remain thrilling throughout the lengthy piece. "You'll Know When You Get There" is doubled as well and has more composed sections than the preceding track although the the musician's flights throughout are no less amazing.......Trying to document Hancock's career after SEXTANT would take a lengthy review in itself. His next group THE HEADHUNTERS, got their funky on with  their debut album  which featured a remake of "Watermelon Man." Both became major pop-crossover successes, but were reviled by "serious jazz" critics. Their next two albums  THRUST  and  MAN-CHILD  are highly recommended for fans of funky music. After this phase, Herbie did a complete 360 and reformed the Davis Quintet with Freddie Hubbard subbing for the master. He also recorded duet albums with other musicians such as Chick Corea, a few stabs at disco, more straight jazz albums and continued his film work. In 1983 he had another major pop hit with "Rockit," the arguably first jazz-hip-hop hybrid whose success was bolstered by a heavy-rotation MTV video produced by Godley & Creme. In the years since, Hancock kept busy,, busy, busy with guest appearance, more jazz and funk albums, more soundtracks, contributions and production of tribute albums, TV appearances, etc., etc. Ah, the life of a famous and respected musician......Every once and a while an archival musical document will appear to blow your mind, for the fan of this Hancock era, LIVE AT BOSTON'S JAZZ WORKSHOP is pure manna. Grab it while it's still in print and reasonably priced......TRACKS:1. Hornets 43:002. You'll Know When You Get There 20:11the band:Keyboards – Herbie HancockReeds – Bennie MaupinTrombone – Julian PriesterTrumpet, Flugelhorn – Eddie HendersonSynth – Dr. Pat GleasonBass – Buster WilliamsDrums – Billy HartCongas – "Scorch"

After studying the classical oeuvre as a prodigy during childhood, pianist and composer Herbie Hancock fell in love with jazz while in his teens. After the usual dues paying, he began  recording for the Blue Note label  in 1962. His composition "Watermelon Man" (from his debut TAKIN' OFF) provided Mongo Santamaría with a hit single, but most importantly brought him the attention of music and trumpet legend Miles Davis. Herbie joined what is now considered Miles' " Second Great Quintet " on piano along with drummer Tony Williams bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist Wayne Shorter. He continued recording for Blue Note during his tenure with Davis until he left the label in 1969, a year after leaving Davis' group. Signing with Warner Bros., Hancock composed the soundtrack for the animated children's television show "Fat Albert & The Cosby Kids." The resulting album FAT ALBERT ROTUNDA was his first foray with incorporating R&B-influences. With his growing interest in electronic music and gadgets, coupled with his love of Miles Davis' ground-breaking funk & rock informed  BITCHES BREW , Herbie formed a sextet that would be able to explore the nether regions of jazz. The group, featuring Julian Priester on trombone, Eddie Henderson on trumpet & flugelhorn, Buster Williams on bass, drummer Billy Hart, and his two secret weapons, Dr. Patrick Gleason on synths and Benny Maupin on reeds, recorded three albums, MWANDISHI and CROSSINGS for Warner Bros. (available together on  a great 2CD set  that also has ROTUNDA) and  SEXTANT  for his new label Columbia......Which brings us to this new CD release, HERBIE HANCOCK SEPTET "LIVE AT THE BOSTON JAZZ WORKSHOP" recorded on March 22, 1973 for later broadcast on WBCN-FM. The CD's sound quality is great, much better than some of these archival radio concerts that have been flooding the market, with decent highs and lows and no broadcast interference that I can hear. The band became a "septet" for this show with the addition of local legend "Scorch" on congas! The album/concert contains only two tracks, SEXTANT's "Hornets" and MWANDISHI's "You'll Know When You Get There," clocking in at 43 and 20 minutes respectively. As I stated in my review title, if you're a fan of the SEXTET/SEPTET's three albums you'll love it. Others who are considering a purchase need to realize that the group plays extended compositions that build and release riffs while improvising whenever possible, working hard to explore the possibilities of sound. The jewel here is "Hornets," doubling the length of the studio version. It's hard to explain how the band weaves written themes, ideas and improvisations that remain thrilling throughout the lengthy piece. "You'll Know When You Get There" is doubled as well and has more composed sections than the preceding track although the the musician's flights throughout are no less amazing.......Trying to document Hancock's career after SEXTANT would take a lengthy review in itself. His next group THE HEADHUNTERS, got their funky on with  their debut album  which featured a remake of "Watermelon Man." Both became major pop-crossover successes, but were reviled by "serious jazz" critics. Their next two albums  THRUST  and  MAN-CHILD  are highly recommended for fans of funky music. After this phase, Herbie did a complete 360 and reformed the Davis Quintet with Freddie Hubbard subbing for the master. He also recorded duet albums with other musicians such as Chick Corea, a few stabs at disco, more straight jazz albums and continued his film work. In 1983 he had another major pop hit with "Rockit," the arguably first jazz-hip-hop hybrid whose success was bolstered by a heavy-rotation MTV video produced by Godley & Creme. In the years since, Hancock kept busy,, busy, busy with guest appearance, more jazz and funk albums, more soundtracks, contributions and production of tribute albums, TV appearances, etc., etc. Ah, the life of a famous and respected musician......Every once and a while an archival musical document will appear to blow your mind, for the fan of this Hancock era, LIVE AT BOSTON'S JAZZ WORKSHOP is pure manna. Grab it while it's still in print and reasonably priced......TRACKS:1. Hornets 43:002. You'll Know When You Get There 20:11the band:Keyboards – Herbie HancockReeds – Bennie MaupinTrombone – Julian PriesterTrumpet, Flugelhorn – Eddie HendersonSynth – Dr. Pat GleasonBass – Buster WilliamsDrums – Billy HartCongas – "Scorch"