Herbie Hancock in Chicago

[ejp626]

I just saw Herbie Hancock with Wayne Shorter here at the CSO. I see a few people either saw the show or saw a previous show by the touring group. I would be curious as to reactions. My expectations were high, and I was very disappointed. I thought Herbie played well, but really didn't think the interactions between the rest of the group were memorable at all. A number of people left during the very, very extended Dolphin Dance Suite (can't say I blamed them). And then even more left when it became apparent that the Hancock/Shorter duet was another slow piece. I was completely underwhelmed by the interplay between Shorter and Gary Thomas, which just didn't seem to go anywhere. In general, I felt Thomas was just noodling around and not making any interesting statements. The only piece that really caught fire was the final piece (before the encore) which was a Headhunters piece that led into Footprints.

Of course, not everyone will agree. Still, I would classify this as one of the ten worst live shows I have ever seen. And another worst at the CSO was the Ornette Coleman show last year. I will probably pass on seeing jazz at the CSO from now on, since there is just not enough "fire" and/or interaction with the audience compared to the Chicago JazzFest or the club scene.

[vibes]

I saw Herbie play the following night, at Purdue University. I was also very underwhelmed. The "Dolphin Dance" suite felt like it went on forever, and it didn't sound anything like the original. The group interaction felt very sloppy, as if the members of the group weren't used to the tunes or each other. It's funny that you mentioned the word "noodling," because that's exactly what I was thinking while watching the show. Wayne Shorter wasn't at this show, but Gary Thomas was and I didn't enjoy his playing at all. His introverted style didn't seem to fit in at all with the music.

In a little over an hour and a half, they didn't play three numbers. Now, this was because somebody pulled the fire alarm and the concert hall had to be evacuated, ending the show early. The whole night felt like a disaster.

[sheldonm]

I was going to go to the show at Purdue but too many things going on. I know Ghost went to see the show a few days ago in Bloomington and thought it was very good. The last time I say Shorter and Hancock together was about 4-5 years ago and I thought they were very good but the last time I saw Shorter with his current band, I also was underwhelmed.

[sal]

I was at the show at the Symphony Center as well, and although I think I enjoyed it more than ejp626 did, I was somewhat disappointed as well. However, my biggest complaint was that the sound was majorly screwed up. I was on the first balcony, and could barely hear the saxophones. When the bass is louder than the saxes, you know something is wrong. That factor played a huge part in my not enjoying the show as much.

However, I thought the playing was quite good. I'm sure many people there were expecting to hear the classics played in a straight up manner. But as those of you who have been listening to Wayne and Herbie's music in recent years know, these guys are always pushing for something new. They are working with very unconventional forms and rhythms, and really just pushing for a new sound all together.....a new kind of jazz. It seemed that they were doing more exploring of this realm during this show, and like all experiments, some of them work and some don't. The Dolphin Dance suite was long, and there was definitely some "noodling" in there, but there were some moments of brilliance in there as well. The entire thing was "free", and unlike some musicians I've heard here in Chicago's free jazz community, they were really trying to find a common focus, not just up there making as much noise as possible. It was like this throughout the show. Some of it worked and some of it didn't. No, it wasn't the greatest show ever, but I greatly admire their innovation and the fact that they just don't go up there and play Watermelon Man, Witch Hunt or any other standards in a conventional manner, which is funny, because I think that is why so many people left.

I do agree about Gary Thomas, however. He sounded like a fine player, but not with this group of musicians. I would have preferred Wayne as the sole horn. Everyone else sounded good to me.

Edited April 12, 2004 by sal

[ejp626]

I think it is perfectly reasonable for Hancock and Shorter to want to do something new and not the classics. I do think they should have played pieces that were shorter and somewhat more uptempo. On the way out, a number of people commented that they had simply fallen asleep. But yes, you could barely hear the saxophones. And Thomas really was a major come-down. For a long stretch during the Dolphin Dance Suite Shorter and Thomas were playing off each other - I think as short as one bar solo stretches - but Thomas was just so boring that this did not work at all. More traditional four bars back and forth might have allowed Shorter more room to do something interesting. I'm going to go read the Tribune review now and see if we were even at the same concert.