Kari S

Been listening to the so called "neo soul" (and some proper, earlier soul music as well) lately. Picked up these: D'Angelo: Brown Sugar - has couple of outstanding tracks, the title track and "Sh*t, Damn, Motherf*cker", but a lot of weaker filler stuff as well. D'Angelo: Voodoo - much more coherent Dwele: "Subject" - a couple of great tracks only, not worth the hype IMO (John Legend: Get Lifted - haven't listened to this yet) Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes: Wake Up Everybody - a classic, and the title track's message obviously still is something to consider... Teddy Pendergrass kicks ass. Leon Ware: Musical Massage - the album he had to do, because he gave Marvin "I Want You"; Luther Vandross: S/T (2001) - far from Vandross' best, the first track and a few of the last are great, but there's a lot of overproduced, corny, pop crap.

Personally I can't stand him. I mean I guess his style suits well with Monk's, but still...

Well, it is a well known "fact" (I'm guessing) that the hardest part in composing is coming up with a name for the tune... I guess it should be something that somehow is linked to the music, but in jazz, it rarely is. I know some composers start up with a title and work from there, but I'd say it's usually the other way around: first comes the music, then the title. There's the risk of ending up with something arguably pretensious (and long) like "Song Of The Whispering Banshee", or something short and totally unrelated like, er... "Phone". In this sense, what Chrome said, that the title might produce some expectations for the tune, is true. "Love Drops" rules.

Saw him on the Tonight Show a while back, and kind of liked it. The only prob he seems to have is the lack of strong material [iMHO], which is often the case with "these kind of" artists. Stevie & co knew how to write strong, inspiring tunes, these cats rarely do. The guy is also quite young, 23 or 24 if I remember correctly. He has chosen himself a mighty stage name, though...

I thought that guy was already gone.

"Pretzel Logic" is about Hitler and the rise of the 'Third Reich'? Wow. Didn't see that one coming. I thought it was about some [delusional] guy who's lost his touch with reality and lives in his dreams of the past. Which...I guess makes sense now.

-Re: vocoder and disco stuff- The version of "I Thought It Was You" on "Sunlight" is probably one of the most sunniest tunes of the 70's, even though it's the cheesiest Love Boat groove ever. But the killer version is on the Japanese release "Direct Step" - Herbie jams with the vocoder for about 15 mins.! -Re: "Dis Is Da Drum", "Future 2 Future"- IMO "DiDD" has maybe only a couple of worthwhile tracks, with trademark Hancock acoustic piano soloing on top of the beats. Future 2 Future could've been so much more, but at it's current state it just... isn't working. Kind of like a lame 21st Century version of "Future Shock" (which I didn't like either, though). I blame Laswell for this, who supposedly re-edited and remixed most of the material to its current form without even consulting Hancock. The Live DVD however, is a different story altogether. Herbie's acoustic piano playing over the grooves is absolutely mind-blowing.

What year is this? Early 70's? (Fat Albert was rec'd in 1969) So Herbie and his troops actually went first into funk, then to the spaced out stuff? Intriguing!

Hi Kirk D - nice to know a fellow Herbie buff/nut. You sure seem to know your stuff... A multi-disc box set of the Mwandishi/early 70's material with various alt takes and live performances is something that's always been a dream of mine, wonder if it'll ever realize. By the way wasn't there talks that a box set of all of Herbie's Montreux performances would be released? (similar to the McLaughlin and Miles sets) Did you know that there was also another group with Joe Henderson before HH formed the Mwandishi band. Bob Blumenthal writes in his liner notes to the RvG reissue of "The Prisoner" that the band comprised of Hancock, Joe Henderson, Garnett Brown, Johnny Coles, Buster Williams and Tootie Heath. Henderson also played some flute. The material they played was apparently a mixture of Herbie's earlier Blue Note stuff (Eye Of The Hurricane, Maiden Voyage) and songs from "Fat Albert Rotunda" and "The Prisoner". Even though there are bootlegs even from the Mwandishi period, this earlier period seems to be completely missing. Somebody must've been there and recorded it though, I just know it...

The tunes on "Songbook" are great! With "Triology" and "Pursuance", his best for sure, and my longtime favorite. I also have a live bootleg (I guess?) from some JazzBaltica festival gig. They play a version of "Brother B. Harper" that made me nearly lose my mind.

Just wait for the "Live At Cellar Door" (or whatever it will be called) 6CD box set... that stuff is sooo beautiful. Jarrett brings a totally different dynamic to the band as opposed to Corea, whose playing in the group was very angular, dissonant, atonal and aggressive even. Don't get me wrong, Jarrett can be all of those things as well, and is, but he's stylewise still a completely different artist on the electric piano.

If I absolutely had to pick one, I'd pick "Innervisions", but it's impossible. "Music Of My Mind", "Talking Book", "Songs..." (even some of "Hotter Than July") all have so much great music in them... By the way, that Dave Pietro disc rocks!

Any opinions...?

That's good to know, mikeweil! By the way, Mike Fitzgerald, your website is an awesome source of information... Regarding the early 70's, pre-Headhunters period in Herbie's life... As cannonball-addict said in the original post, there indeed was a group with Joe Henderson before HH formed the Mwandishi band. Bob Blumenthal writes in his liner notes to the RvG reissue of "The Prisoner" that the band comprised of Hancock, Joe Henderson, Garnett Brown, Johnny Coles, Buster Williams and Tootie Heath. Henderson also played some flute. The material they played was apparently a mixture of Herbie's earlier Blue Note stuff (Eye Of The Hurricane, Maiden Voyage) and songs from "Fat Albert Rotunda" and "The Prisoner". Even though there are bootlegs from the Mwandishi period, this earlier period seems to be completely missing. (By the way, at darkfunk.com there's a 1971 Herbie gig available for download) And back to topic, some of those Muslim names were pretty surprising, like McCoy Tyner = Sulaimon Saud. Did he ever record under that name?

I have it on vinyl and it's been a long time since I've given it a spin, but if I remember correctly, there is a slight feel of over-production on it. Most of the tracks fade out even before they have a chance to get going; for example the track that's dedicated to Rahsaan Roland Kirk. I dig Maupin's other Mercury release, "Slow Traffic To The Right". I especially like the funkified arrangement of a tune he played with Herbie's Mwandishi band, "Water Torture". The British record label Soul Brother should release a similar anthology of Maupin's work, as they've done with Hubbard, Gary Bartz, Eddie Henderson, IMO. I've never heard those two Julian Priester LPs, though. Didn't have the chance to download them before they were gone.

"Hot House"...

I'm intrigued by "Lawrence Of Newark" (Perception). Noj and others, how is it? I've got most of Larry's releases - all the BN stuff, the Grant Green stuff, even "Fuel" (which sucked big time btw). Allmusic gives it 4 1/2 stars and a highly praising review. Thought I'd ask you guys first before picking it up...

It hasn't been released on DVD yet. The VHS version is here.

The only bit I'm quite worried is this: "I've also got this new record that I'm doing. Several artists have agreed to be on it. Sting, John Mayer, Trey Anastasio, Dave Matthews, Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Yo-Yo Ma..."

On Chick Corea's website there was once a video clip of backstage/promo material for his Rendezvous in NY gigs. Kim Cattrall was also interviewed.

Even the solo on Steely Dan's "Aja" is pure bliss. And the story goes that he just walked in the studio, saw the chords, listened a bit of the "mood" of the song and then just nailed it in one take. I'm a fan of him from the early Blakey stuff all the way to "Footprints Live". Well maybe not "Atlantis" or "High Life". I'm not feeling that album with Milton Nascimento, either. I guess he's in a way a lot like my man H.H. there - hasn't really played a bad solo, ever. The greatest way to appreciate him is to hear/see him play live IMHO. The guy's over 70 y.o. and sounds better than ever. And the way he shows restraint in picking just the right time (and the notes) to play his horn during a tune is totally wonderful.

Tony Williams?

Here's my take on "Cirrus/Waiting". But there seems to be some kind of typo on the cover.

Both Nuspirit Helsinki and Teddy Rok 7 are bands that use live instruments instead of any loops and/or machines. Nuspirit is a collective of dj's and musicians, but the dj's don't play with the band live. They have a live band with a three piece horn section and strings. The guys that play in both groups are the crop of young Finnish musicians. In that sense they're more closer to artists like the Cinematic Orchestra or other stuff that comes from Germany (Compost Records and Sonar Kollektiv), not that close musically to Ninja Tune stuff really. Dusty Groove calls Teddy Rok 70's soul jazz with a club music aesthetic - that's pretty close, maybe with some afro influences added in there (Fela seems to be big in the "nu" scene). Quality stuff, I'll tell ya! Maybe not "jazz" per se; Nuspirit at least is more soul and r'n'b than jazz. Nuspirit is available here --> http://www.33rpm.com/index.php?page=detail&id=3104 (with samples) and Teddy Rok can be bought from D.G.

I don't think that the earlier stuff has been ever released officially on cd. There was one compilation called "Three Originals" (2cds) that has "The Aura Will Prevail" (MPS) from 1975 and two later Polygram releases. I've heard "Inner Source", though, and didn't find it too exciting. I much more prefer "Faces In Reflection" and "Feel". (You can find these as MP3s on the internet, if that's your thing.)