Hubert Laws In The Beginning

Carter’s backing band here included young and youngish players like pianist Kenny Barron, drummer Lewis Nash and flute player Hubert Laws, along with four cellists and a harpsichord player. The selections move from the half-expected (Lewis’ stuff, and a couple of Carter originals), to the truly invigorating - like "Vocalise" from Rachmoninoff, "Prelude No. 4 in E Minor" by Chopin and Eric Satie’s "Gymnopedie." Carter, as always, plays with atmosphere, and restaint - though he is never boring. On "Friends," Carter presides over a far more delicate enterprise, and his playing matches that depth: he improvises in ways both impressionistic and intelligent, lyrical yet frank. It makes for one of the more challenging, yet strangely familiar recordings in the Davis-related canon. Jazz devotees will find a smooth passage into the classical genre, yet Carter’s legendary sophistication helps provide a new and invigorating take on these ages-old orchestations.

"Zawinul", released just prior to the first Weather Report LP, gives us a chance to observe this music as originally envisioned by its composer, while still remaining firmly in the early psychedelic fusion sound that characterized both the Miles release and the first Weather Report release.

Herbie Hancock - Dis Is Da Drum (1994) {Mercury}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 382 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 132 Mb
Full Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 12 Mb
© 1994 Mercury / PolyGram | 314 522 681-2
Jazz / Post Bop / Fusion / Piano

n the 1970s, Herbie Hancock created a successful blend of jazz improvisation and contemporary funk rhythms in a succession of albums beginning with the classic Head Hunters. On Dis Is Da Drum, Hancock once again takes a dive into contemporary rhythms, in this case mid-'90s hip-hop. While the blend was not as commercially successful this time around as his crossover forays of twenty years earlier had been, the resulting music still proves to be well worth checking out.