Herbie Hancock - Mohegan Sun Casino

[relyles]

This evening I caught the Herbie Hancock Quartet with Gary Thomas, Scott Colley and Terri Lyne Carrington at the Mohegan Sun Casino. The location, in what is called Wolf Den, is not the optimum place for a jazz concert. Located right in the middle of the casino floor the Wolf Den is an open space with tables situated in a hemisphere around the stage. As I feared, the casino activity (in particular the slot machines) could be heard during the performance – especially during the quieter portions.

Once I got accustomed to the acoustics I did not let it completely distract me from what was otherwise a good performance. Hancock’s quartet reminded me somewhat of the concert I heard earlier this year by Wayne Shorter’s wonderful group. Both Shorter and Hancock seem to be looking for fresh ways to approach music from their past, or in Hancock’s case otherwise familiar pieces. In a set that lasted close to two hours, Hancock played Cole Porter’s “I Love You”, his own “Dolphin Dance Suite”, Carrington’s “Middle Way” and a Wayne Shorter tune – I believe “Fall”. For the most part, none of the performances of these tunes were readily recognizable compared to original versions.

The group has obviously been playing together a lot because they have developed a group sound that is far greater than the individual musicians. Individual solos were not particularly memorable. Instead the group seemed to focus on manipulating the dynamics of the group sound – fluctuating between quieter moments to more intense playing. Much of their reinterpretations of familiar tunes were also about radical shifts in the rhythm. Here is where Carrington, if anyone, stood out throughout the set. I don’t think Carrington played any what I would call “jazz rhythms”. Instead she seemed to come up with a myriad of what the hip-hop heads would simply term “beats”. One minute she played a hip-hop beat, the next a funk beat and the next something else. Combined with Colley’s bass lines, the rhythm is what really determined the direction of the music. This is the first time I heard Carrington live and she was very impressive if not the star of the show.

On occasion a couple of the tunes seemed to go on for too long – meandering until it started to sound repetitive. Usually this is when Carrington would come up with something else to change the groove. These musicians can play and each had their moments to shine, but overall like I said the audience seemed to get caught up in the groove propelled by Carrington and Colley as opposed to being amazed by any technical displays of virtuosity by the participants.

Nice set. I probably will never attend another show at Wolf Den, but I am glad that I did not miss this opportunity to catch one of the remaining giants of the music – especially since it was free.

[Joe G]

Nice review! As discussed in the Clearwater thread, Jim, Randy and I saw this band (minus Gary) in Florida. I think I can speak for the others and say that we agree; Terri was probably our favorite thing about the concert.