Herbie Hancock Album Future Shock

Set upon recapturing the pop ground he had invaded with Future Shock, Hancock relies upon many of the former's ingredients for yet another go-'round on Perfect Machine. High-tech producer Bill Laswell is back, so is scratchmaster D. ST. – and armed with a warehouse of mostly digital keyboards, Hancock adds the distinctive bass of Bootsy Collins and the Ohio Players' vocalist Sugarfoot, who always sounds as if he had just swallowed something. The music is mostly thumping, funk-drenched techno-pop which still has some verve, particularly the designated single "Vibe Alive" and the "Maiden Voyage" interlude as heard through an electronic fun-house mirror. But this is not really an advance over Hancock's early-'80s pop projects.

Bennie Maupin - The Jewel In The Lotus (1974) {ECM 1043}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 222 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 106 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 14 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1974, 2007 ECM Records | ECM 1043 / 172 3520
Jazz / Post Bop / Jazz Funk / Modal Music / Reeds

Jazz -funk fans must have been taken aback when multi-instrumentalist and composer Bennie Maupin's Jewel in the Lotus was released by Manfred Eicher's ECM imprint in 1974. For starters, it sounded nothing like Herbie Hancock's Head Hunters recording, which had been released the year before to massive sales and of which Maupin had been such an integral part. Head Hunters has remained one of the most reliable sales entries in Columbia's jazz catalog into the 21st century. By contrast, Jewel in the Lotus sounded like an avant-garde jazz record, but it stood outside that hard-line camp, too, because of its open and purposeful melodies that favored composition and structured improvising over free blowing.

Drummer Tony Williams' first recording as a leader (made when he was 18 and still billed as Anthony Williams) gave him an opportunity to utilize an advanced group of musicians: tenor saxophonist Sam Rivers, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, pianist Herbie Hancock, and both Richard Davis and Gary Peacock on bass. Williams wrote all four of the pieces and has a different combination of players on each song. The freely improvised "Memory" features Hutcherson, Hancock, and Williams in some colorful and at times spacy interplay; "Barb's Song to the Wizard" is a Hancock-Ron Carter duet; "Tomorrow Afternoon" has Rivers, Peacock and Williams in a trio; and all of the musicians (except Hutcherson) are on the sidelong "2 Pieces of One." The unpredictable music holds one's interest; a very strong debut for the masterful drummer. Allmusic 4,5/5

Jeremy Pelt - Face Forward, Jeremy (2014) {HighNote Records HCD 7259}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 280 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 103 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (png) -> 22 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 2014 HighNote Records | HCD 7259
Jazz / Post-Bop / Straight-Ahead Jazz / Trumpet

Beginning with 2005's Identity, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt began exploring '70s and '80s funk and fusion sounds inspired by the works of such luminaries as Herbie Hancock and Miles Davis. He continued these funk and electronic explorations on such albums as 2007's Shock Value: Live at Smoke and 2013's Water and Earth. While Pelt has also split his time playing and recording more straight-ahead post-bop albums, his 2014 album, Face Forward, Jeremy, combines the best of his acoustic recordings with the electronic-jazz hybrid sound of Water and Earth. Here, Pelt is joined by his longtime ensemble featuring pianist/keyboardist David Bryant, saxophonist Roxy Coss, bassist Chris Smith, and drummer Dana Hawkins.