The Harmonic and Rhythmic Language of Herbie Hancock's 1970s Fender Rhodes Solos

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The Harmonic and Rhythmic Language of Herbie Hancock's 1970s Fender Rhodes Solos Jon Opstad Published online: 21 Apr 2009.

To cite this article: Jon Opstad (2009) The Harmonic and Rhythmic Language of Herbie Hancock's 1970s Fender Rhodes Solos, Jazz Perspectives, 3:1, 57-79, DOI: 10.1080/17494060902778126 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17494060902778126

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Jazz Perspectives Vol. 3, No. 1, April 2009, pp. 57–79

The Harmonic and Rhythmic Language of Herbie Hancock’s 1970s Fender Rhodes Solos

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Jon Opstad Herbie Hancock’s Fender Rhodes keyboard solos of the 1970s have not received the same degree of critical attention as his acoustic piano work, particularly his pianocentered recordings from the 1960s under his own name and with Miles Davis. Nevertheless, the 1970s and early 1980s were a period of enormous commercial success for Hancock, starting with the 1974 Head Hunters album, which became the first jazz album to achieve platinum sales,1 and culminating in his massive techno hit ‘‘Rockit’’ in 1983, which was a chart success both in the United States and the United Kingdom. With his electric recordings from this period, many critics felt that Hancock had ‘‘sold out’’ to a mass pop audience, and the general suspicion (even derision) with which the jazz world often treats commercial success meant that the substantial musical innovations that Hancock made during this time have not been widely acknowledged. Hancock’s Fender Rhodes playing is highly distinctive. The harmonic and rhythmic innovations that he made with his acoustic piano work across the 1960s2 were distilled in his Rhodes playing into an instantly recognisable style that is arguably more harmonically and rhythmically advanced than that of any other player of this instrument. One of the key features of the jazz-funk genre in which the majority of these solos were performed is the generally slow rate of harmonic rhythm. Unlike the rapid chord changes of bebop and other previously prevalent jazz genres, jazz-funk was often riff-based, with improvisations based on a few chords, or often just over a single harmonic area. What set Hancock apart as a soloist within this style of improvisation was his genius for reharmonisation. Whereas the static harmonic backdrop to solos limited many soloists, Hancock mastered techniques of harmonic tension and release, creating elaborate harmonic development within his solos and generating a strong sense of form.

1 This information can be found on the Recording Industry Association of America website, http:// www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table5SEARCH (search under ‘‘Artist: Herbie Hancock’’). Accessed November 24, 2008. The album’s platinum status achieved November 21, 1986. 2 Elements of Hancock’s 1960s acoustic piano playing have been analysed in Keith Waters, ‘‘Blurring the Barline: Metric Displacement in the Piano Solos of Herbie Hancock,’’ Annual Review of Jazz Studies 8 (1996): 19–37, and David Morgan, ‘‘Superimposition in the Improvisations of Herbie Hancock,’’ Annual Review of Jazz Studies 11 (2001): 69–90.

ISSN 1749-4060 print/1749-4079 online # 2009 Taylor & Francis DOI: 10.1080/17494060902778126

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Through his 1970s Fender Rhodes solos, Hancock took outside playing to a new level in harmonic sophistication and sheer musicality in such a way that has had a significant influence on later generations of improvisers, but which has gone largely ignored by jazz critics and analysts. With some of Hancock’s most innovative work recorded in funk and vocal pop contexts, some of which can sound dated to modern ears, a substantial degree of this innovation has gone unrecognised.

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The Rhodes Years Although his first recorded appearance on Fender Rhodes was the track ‘‘Stuff’’ on the Miles Davis Quintet album, Miles in the Sky, recorded May 17, 1968, Hancock’s first experience with an electric piano was actually some months earlier on a Wurlitzer model, of which he said: We were doing a recording session with Miles and when I came into the studio I didn’t see an acoustic piano anywhere. In the corner of the room was only this Wurlitzer electric piano that I’d never played before. I asked Miles what he wanted me to play and he said ‘‘Play that.’’ I was thinking ‘‘That toy?’’ Then I turned it on and was really surprised by the sound. It sounded beautiful! From that I learned not to form an opinion on something you have no experience of. And Miles was listening to Jimi Hendrix and other rock artists, and flamenco and classical music and opera. When I saw this from my musical mentor I started to think ‘‘What’s wrong with me that I’m so closed-minded and he is open-minded?’’ So I changed my whole attitude.3

The session was for the track ‘‘Water on the Pond,’’ from December 28, 1967, though this recording remained unreleased until 1981.4 The Rhodes made a brief appearance within the ensemble passages on Hancock’s final Blue Note album, The Prisoner, in 1969 (although he did not solo on the instrument on this recording). From the following year, with Fat Albert Rotunda, the Rhodes became his primary instrument for recording until 1983, when the dramatic shift in musical direction of ‘‘Rockit’’ largely signalled the end of the period of Rhodes solos and a shift towards digital synthesisers—and then, ultimately, another shift back to the acoustic piano. Since this time, Hancock has largely turned his back on the Rhodes. In the quarter of a century since ‘‘Rockit,’’ only one album recorded under his name has used the instrument to any significant degree, Future2Future, recorded in 2001 (although this release contains barely a hint of his 1970s solo style).5 3 Paul Tingen, ‘‘Herbie Hancock: Creating Future2Future and Touring in Surround,’’ www.soundonsound.com/sos/jul02/articles/herbiehancock.asp. Accessed November 24, 2008. Originally published in Sound On Sound, July 2002. 4 Originally released on Miles Davis, Directions, Columbia 88514, 1981, LP; reissued as Sony 35392, 1998, compact disc. 5 Hancock has revived his 1970s Rhodes style for a small number of live situations. These events include the 1998 ‘‘Return of the Headhunters’’ tour (albeit with Hancock soloing on modern keyboards rather than a Rhodes) and a tour with hip-hop artist Guru in 2000 (during which Hancock played a Rhodes).

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The ‘‘Rhodes Years’’ in Hancock’s discography lasted from 1969 to 1982. Within this period, Hancock’s recorded output under his own name can be roughly divided into three sub-periods (with his major albums from each period listed in the third column):

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1969–1973 1974–1978 1979–1982

The Sextet Years (Mwandishi, Crossings, Sextant, etc.) The Headhunters Years (Head Hunters, Thrust, Man-Child, etc.) The Disco Years (Feets Don’t Fail Me Now, Monster, etc.)

Hancock’s approach to the Rhodes changed subtly for each of these sub-periods. Much of his early use of the instrument was in the context of his sextet, a group that focussed strongly on exploring textural possibilities. A large amount of Hancock’s Rhodes playing on albums such as Mwandishi (1971) and Crossings (1972) was strongly textural, focussing more on creating washes of sound and expanding the timbral range of the instrument through effects processing than soloing in a conventional sense, although a small number of significant solos were recorded during this period. The majority of Hancock’s most significant Fender Rhodes solos were recorded in the years 1974 to 1978, with the instrument largely unprocessed and at the forefront of arrangements. Head Hunters (1974), the defining statement of Hancock’s funk-influenced work, featured two extensive, landmark Rhodes solos on the tracks ‘‘Chameleon’’ and ‘‘Sly.’’ The Rhodes played a less prominent role on Hancock’s four disco projects, Feets Don’t Fail Me Now (1979), Monster (1980), Magic Windows (1981), and Lite Me Up (1982). (Please see Appendix 2 for complete discographical information on these and other releases cited in this essay.) In total, these latter releases include only a small handful of solos, of which ‘‘Magic Number’’ from Magic Windows strongly stands out. Broadly speaking, Hancock’s appearances as a sideman on Rhodes fall within the same stylistic categories outlined above. During the first sub-period, he appeared on albums such as Eddie Henderson’s Realization (1973), Bennie Maupin’s The Jewel in the Lotus (1974), and Norman Connors’s Dance of Magic (1973), each of which featured the Rhodes in a role of textural exploration, with each recording influenced by the music of the sextet. Across the second sub-period, he appeared on albums such as Harvey Mason’s Marching in the Street (1975) and Eddie Henderson’s Mahal (1978), soloing in settings strongly influenced by Head Hunters. Over his ‘‘disco’’ sub-period, Hancock appeared in a non-soloing session role on pop albums such as Quincy Jones’s The Dude (1980) and George Benson’s Give Me the Night (1980). On these latter two releases, it is a testament to how individual a player Hancock is that he remains distinctive even in the background of heavily-produced pop music. Three of Hancock’s albums featuring the Rhodes fall outside of the categorisation implied by the sub-periods described previously. The tracks for Fat Albert Rotunda, from 1969, were originally composed as television music and have strong R&B elements that separate this album from the sextet recordings that immediately followed. The 1978 Sunlight, in achieving pop success with the vocal single ‘‘I Thought It Was You,’’ could be classified with the disco albums that followed, but this release is a considerably more orchestrated and richly textured recording, with stronger elements of improvisation. As such, Sunlight stands on its own stylistically

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between the instrumental funk and disco periods. Mr. Hands, released in 1980 at the height of Hancock’s disco years, is an instrumental recording closer in style to the 1974–1978 projects, and it involves materials taken from several sessions.6 From 1974, Hancock had separate recording contracts with the American and Japanese arms of Columbia/Sony.7 The Japanese contract was used primarily as a means for allowing Hancock to simultaneously pursue acoustic projects, such as V.S.O.P. (a reunion of the 1963–1968 Miles Davis Quintet, but with Freddie Hubbard substituting for Davis), his trio with Ron Carter and Tony Williams, and his only entirely solo piano album (The Piano, from 1978), at the same time as releasing electric material through the American contract. Three electric recordings were released on the Japanese contract though. These albums were Dedication in 1974 (half solo piano, half solo keyboards), Flood in 1975 (a live Headhunters recording), and Directstep in 1978 (a live-in-the-studio Headhunters recording). Why the Rhodes? While Hancock used an arsenal of different keyboards across the 1970s (a period when he could employ up to fifteen keyboard models on a single album), the Fender Rhodes largely replaced the piano as his main instrument of solo expression. That said, Hancock had not given up the piano at this time, but in the context of his electric music the Rhodes became more prevalent, with its softer attack making it a more suitable instrument texturally for the new sound world that he was working within. While Hancock’s contemporaries Chick Corea, Joe Zawinal, Jan Hammer, and George Duke each developed highly distinctive styles on the Moog synthesiser, Hancock rarely soloed on this latter instrument. This is perhaps because its monophonic nature was too limiting for Hancock’s often harmonically-dense soloing. While the clear tone and pitch-bending possibilities of the Moog allowed keyboardists to vie with rock-fuelled electric guitarists for attention (an attribute that was particularly relevant for Corea with Return to Forever and Hammer with the 6 The history of this recording is more ambiguous than the other albums from this period. Although released in 1980, no recording dates are given and each track is recorded with a different lineup. There is evidence to suggest that at least half of the album is made up of outtakes from previous sessions. In a 1977 interview with Len Lyons (Len Lyons, The Great Jazz Pianists: Speaking of Their Lives and Music [New York: Da Capo, 1983]), Hancock refers to the harmonic structure of a piece that he is recording. He describes the exact harmonic basis of ‘‘Spiralling Prism,’’ the first track on Mr. Hands. When combined with the personnel lineup of this recording, this statement suggests that the track was originally recorded during the sessions for Sunlight. ‘‘Shiftless Shuffle’’ is the only released track outside of the Head Hunters album that was recorded with the exact same personnel lineup. While this latter recording was the first and only time the composition appeared on one of Hancock’s official American album releases, bootleg live performances exist back to 1973, thus suggesting that this track could be an outtake from the original Head Hunters sessions. Also, a 1974 bootleg exists in which Hancock announces to the audience that eight tracks were originally recorded for Head Hunters, of which only four made the release. The lineup of ‘‘4am’’ also suggests that this additional number could have been recorded during the Sunlight sessions. 7 Noted in the album liner notes by Bob Belden and David Rubinson to Herbie Hancock, The Piano, Sony Jazz 87083, 2004, compact disc (originally Columbia 1033, 1979, LP).

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Mahavishnu Orchestra), this was not a concern for Hancock. While there are significant examples of Hancock soloing on instruments other than the Rhodes on his 1970s recordings—such as the ARP synthesiser solos on ‘‘Chameleon’’ from Head Hunters and ‘‘Palm Grease’’ from Thrust, and the piano solo on ‘‘Hang Up Your Hang Ups’’ from Man-Child—more than any other keyboardist of this era, he made the Rhodes his instrument. The only other jazz pianist who could be said to have adapted to the Rhodes to a similar degree for soloing was Chick Corea, who likewise created a style distinct from his acoustic piano work but one that was equally advanced and expressive. Corea’s work on this instrument though was largely changes-based rather than modal, and so he maintained a more direct link with standard jazz vocabulary. At the same time as Hancock was extensively using the Fender Rhodes, he also developed highly specific roles for the various other keyboards that were available to him. For example, the Clavinet (effectively an amplified clavichord) was often used for rhythm-guitar-like harmonic support, and various analogue synthesisers were similarly given highly individualistic roles within Hancock’s arrangements and orchestrations. One of the best examples of Hancock’s skill at synthesiser orchestration is ‘‘Spiralling Prism’’ from Mr. Hands. There are also examples of this use of electronic orchestration stretching to later in Hancock’s discography, after he had switched to digital synthesisers, as can be heard on the lyrical ‘‘Chemical Residue’’ from 1988’s Perfect Machine (the final statement from Hancock’s trilogy of 1980s techno recordings). While the Rhodes suited the timbral context of Hancock’s 1970s recordings perfectly, with its polyphonic nature allowing full harmonic flexibility, another possibility as to why Hancock chose to focus on an instrument other than the acoustic piano for his funk-influenced recordings could have been to more clearly distinguish this work from the acoustic projects that he was simultaneously pursuing during this period. Critical Attitudes to Herbie Hancock’s 1970s Recordings An example of the critical bias against Herbie Hancock’s 1970s music can be found in Stuart Nicholson’s 1998 book Jazz-Rock: A History: If an element of jazz improvisation was present in ‘‘Heartbeat,’’ for example, it was locked into a rhythmic straitjacket that could not help but diminish its emotional force, and was inferior to the standards Hancock had set himself with his acoustic work. Improvisation, in any event, was no longer the essence of these recordings, appearing less by design, more by accident.8

Unfortunately, Nicholson is not alone in his lack of appreciation for Hancock’s playing from this period. Various jazz history books take a similar attitude, as can be seen in this passage from Ted Gioia’s The History of Jazz, from 1997:

8

Stuart Nicholson, Jazz-Rock: A History (Edinburgh: Canongate, 1998), 193.

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Herbie Hancock’s 1970s Fender Rhodes Solos Hancock’s 1973 Head Hunters release achieved massive sales and attracted a following with a young, urban black audience with such funk-oriented pieces as ‘‘Chameleon’’ and an updated version of ‘‘Watermelon Man.’’ This release initiated a bifurcated career for Hancock, with his efforts now divided between mainstream jazz, often of the highest quality, and overtly commercial projects with little jazz substance.9

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The view of Hancock’s 1970s electric work as having ‘‘little jazz substance’’ is common to both modern jazz writers—such as Nicholson and Gioia—and those writing at the time that the music was being made. For example, in his 1978 book, The Making of Jazz, James Lincoln Collier argues: [Chick] Corea and [Herbie] Hancock were making large commercial successes of themselves, and were drawing many other players, especially young ones, into the form. However, whether this fusion music can be classified under the rubric of jazz is an open question. Most committed jazz players do not think so.10

According to Peter Keepnews, in his essay ‘‘Jazz Since 1968’’ in The Oxford Companion to Jazz, the post-Head Hunters Hancock ‘‘began dividing his time between acoustic jazz projects and electrified, groove-oriented albums that in his own view had nothing to do with jazz.’’11 The source for this statement—though none is cited—is presumably Hancock’s July 1986 interview in Down Beat, where his actual words are: ‘‘I’ve been trying to take the pop stuff more into the pop area and leave out the jazz. I think I’ve pretty much succeeded at that because the last few records I don’t consider jazz at all.… ‘Rockit’ has nothing to do with jazz at all.’’12 The crucial point to note here is that in distancing his music from jazz, Hancock only refers to ‘‘Rockit’’ and ‘‘the last few records’’ preceding it (i.e., his four disco projects). To use this quote to imply that Hancock’s Head Hunters-era, funk-influenced recordings of 1974–1978 have ‘‘nothing to do with jazz’’ is a clear misappropriation, but this misguided claim is nonetheless commonly seen in writings on Hancock. For instance, Mark Gridley’s 2000 book Jazz Styles: History and Analysis (seventh edition) suggests that: The music had less and less jazz improvisation in it and more and more dance rhythms that were highly syncopated and repetitive. Melodies were simple and heavily rhythmic. Though much of the public places it in the jazz category, Hancock himself has said that he does not consider this music to be jazz.13

Part of what makes Hancock’s 1970s Fender Rhodes solos so innovative is that they bring strong strands of the jazz improvisational tradition to a context that itself is far removed from jazz in a traditional sense. At the same time, this music builds upon 9

Ted Gioia, The History of Jazz (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997), 367. James Lincoln Collier, The Making of Jazz (London: Granada Publishing Limited, 1978), 495. 11 Peter Keepnews, ‘‘Jazz Since 1968,’’ in The Oxford Companion to Jazz, ed. Bill Kirchner (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 491. 12 Howard Mandel, ‘‘Herbie Hancock: Of Films, Fairlights, Funk … and All That Other Jazz,’’ Down Beat, July 1986, 17. 13 Mark Gridley, Jazz Styles: History and Analysis, 7th ed. (New Jersey: Prentice-Hall International, 2000), 321. 10

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these traditional improvisational elements and stretches harmonic and rhythmic boundaries to create a new soloistic language. These innovations have gone almost universally ignored in jazz literature. Indeed, very little has been done in the way of academic study of Hancock’s 1970s recordings. A rare exception is a doctoral dissertation by Steven F. Pond, completed in 2000, specifically on the Head Hunters album.14 This research has since been adapted into the book Head Hunters: The Making of Jazz’s First Platinum Album, but although this monograph does cover both historical issues and stylistic analysis of the music, it does not discuss Hancock’s Rhodes playing in depth.15

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Playing Outside Tension and Release: This is the basic life principle of opposing pairs as in yin and yang, night and day, life and death, etc. Artistically, this principle means that in a meaningful statement there should be a balance of excitement and quiescence, action and relaxation. It can be perceived as the act of a question being posed and subsequently answered. David Liebman16

Bill Evans on Kind of Blue (1959) and John Coltrane on both Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme (1964) each paved the way for improvisers to move outside of the structural harmony within a solo. The modal jazz basis of both of these albums created a strong precedent for improvisations based on small-scale harmonic motifs or single harmonies. In particular, Evans had a strong impact on Hancock’s harmonic thinking. In 1978, Hancock stated that his approach to harmony could be traced to a small number of influences, of which Evans was one: ‘‘Clare Fisher was a major influence on my harmonic concept. He and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that’s where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were. And, of course, Miles.’’17 A crucial concept in Hancock’s soloing is playing outside, and analysis of his 1970s Rhodes solos shows how fundamental this approach is. Example 1 shows an extract from Hancock’s Fender Rhodes solo from the track ‘‘Hop Scotch,’’ from drummer Harvey Mason’s 1975 album Marching in the Street. The harmonic basis of this solo is Dbm7, and this foundation is clearly outlined by Paul Jackson’s bass playing, which is predominantly based around the pitches Db and Cb (root and minor seventh on Db). The modes that fit within this harmonic area are Db Dorian or Aeolian. In 14

Steven F. Pond, Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters: Troubling the Waters of Jazz (Ph.D. diss., University of California at Berkeley, 2000). 15 Steven F. Pond, Head Hunters: The Making of Jazz’s First Platinum Album (Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2005). 16 David Liebman, A Chromatic Approach to Jazz Harmony and Melody (Rottenburg, Germany: Advance Music, 1991), 13. 17 Interview with Julia Coryell, in Julia Coryell, Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, The Music (New York: Hal Leonard, 1978), 161–162.

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Example 1

Example 1, the pitches that fall outside of these two modes have been annotated. As can be seen, a substantial proportion of this extract falls outside of the harmonic area on which the solo is based. One of the simplest and most effective ways in which Hancock plays outside is by using a mode a semitone away from that implied by the rhythm section. Doing so creates a strong degree of harmonic tension due to the quantity of pitches introduced that fall outside of the structural harmonic area. This can be seen clearly in this extract from ‘‘Hop Scotch.’’ The harmonic basis for the whole solo is Dbm7, but a large portion of this passage is based around D Dorian, a semitone above the structural harmonic area. This creates a highly colourful effect, but also introduces a degree of harmonic tension. This tension is then resolved at bar 5 with the return to Db minor. The concept of tension and release, both in respect to harmony and rhythm, is absolutely crucial to these solos. Another significant way in which Hancock plays outside of the structural harmony is in his use of chromaticism, which he employs in a number of ways. The most obvious of these is simply using the chromatic scale within right-hand runs. The chromatic scale adds colour, and in implying no particular harmony it is an important way of introducing pitches from outside of the harmonic area on which the solo is based. Hancock often uses the chromatic scale at the top of rising phrases, such as can be seen in bars 1–2 of Example 1, as well as bar 7 of Example 3, but also at many other points. An additional way in which Hancock uses chromaticism is within sequences or compound melodies, where it can introduce strong harmonic tension. This can be seen clearly in bar 4 of Example 1, where the chromatically shifting fourth-based chords in the left hand, combined with the chromatically rising compound melody of the right hand, increases the harmonic tension already

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introduced by the outside playing of the previous bars, until finally resolving to Db minor at bar 5.

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Harmonic Superimposition of the Dominant and Implied Cadential Progressions When playing outside in his Fender Rhodes solos, another significant device that Hancock employs to create a sense of harmonic tension and release is the use of the altered mode. The altered mode/chord is highly colourful and has an extremely strong harmonic pull towards the tonic.18 Hancock primarily incorporates this idea in two ways. The first approach involves a I-V7alt-I progression, where the rhythm section maintains the tonic harmony (i.e., when the harmonic base remains rooted around a single chord). A classic example of this technique can be found in his solo on the live recording of ‘‘Butterfly,’’ on the album Flood. Here, the rhythm section (Paul Jackson on electric bass, Mike Clark on drums, and Bill Summers on percussion) set up a groove firmly outlining Fm7 as the tonic modality. After soloing within this harmonic area for several bars, Hancock suddenly shifts to the altered dominant mode for a whole six bars and then back to Fm7. The substantial harmonic pull of the altered mode back towards the tonic creates an extremely effective and characteristic degree of harmonic tension across these six bars, which is greatly enhanced by the continued outlining of Fm7 by the rhythm section. This tension is then resolved with the return to F minor. The resulting effect is extremely colourful. This is shown in Example 2. Hancock’s second altered mode/chord approach occurs when soloing on a shifting harmonic base. As the rhythm section moves from one chord to the next (most typically on minor seventh modalities), Hancock will anticipate the second of the two chords by superimposing its altered dominant over the first. A clear example of this idea can be heard in his piano solo on Stanley Clarke’s composition ‘‘Tony,’’ from drummer Tony Williams’s 1979 album The Joy of Flying. Though an acoustic piano solo, this performance is within a jazz-funk context and Hancock’s playing here exhibits many of the traits of his Rhodes style. Example 3 shows an extract from this solo. The harmonic foundation moves at two-bar intervals between Gm7 and Dm7. In bar 7 of this extract, Hancock effectively creates a IV–V–I progression in D minor by using the A altered mode. Coupled with the use of the chromatic scale on the final beat of this bar and with the fact that the rhythm section remains in G minor, the phrase is again especially colourful. As with the previous example from ‘‘Butterfly,’’ Hancock’s use of the altered mode here creates a strong sense of harmonic tension that is then resolved. 18

The altered mode is derived from the dominant seventh chord, with every possible pitch altered that allows it to still maintain its dominant characteristics (i.e., retaining the major third and minor seventh). The alterations are thus: flattened ninth; sharpened ninth; sharpened eleventh; and flattened thirteenth. Because the sharpened eleventh is essentially a diminished fifth, the perfect fifth is most often omitted. The resulting mode can be enharmonically described as the seventh mode of the melodic minor scale, hence the C altered mode is an equivalent to Db melodic minor.

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Example 2

One more example of this second altered mode/chord approach can be heard in ‘‘No Means Yes’’ from Sunlight. In the passage that begins around 2:37, the bass line moves up by step each bar, with the chord sequence moving G#7sus–A#m7–B7sus and then reaching an arrival point of C#m7 on the fourth bar. Hancock remains entirely within these structural harmonies for all except the second half of the third bar, where he creates two beats of harmonic tension by moving to a G# altered mode before resolving cadentially by fifth to C#m7. This last phrase is shown in Example 4. Further use of implied cadential movement can be found in Hancock’s Fender Rhodes playing in his title music for the film Death Wish (1974). Much of the performance is based around an eight-bar bass riff, which is made up of two repeated two-bar phrases, with a two-chord oscillating harmonic structure. Example 5 shows the two chords around which this main harmonic motive is based. The voicings shown in the treble staff are intended to illustrate the underlying harmonic progression between these two chords, with the E, G, and Bb pitches of the E halfdiminished chord essentially forming a series of suspensions against the root D which are then resolved to D major. Another way of interpreting this harmonic area could

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Example 3

Example 4

be as Asusb9/D, again implying a strong cadential pull towards the tonic. This simple repeated motive itself is therefore based around a sense of harmonic tension and release. Example 6 shows an extract from Hancock’s solo over this harmonic base. This example illustrates how far outside of the structural harmony Hancock frequently plays, whilst maintaining a clear sense of harmonic progression and purpose. The first two notes Hancock plays in this passage are D# and C#, each a semitone either side of the root note D played in the bass and so creating an instant sense of dissonant tension. This leads to a rising scale in E major, against the D major clearly outlined in the bass line. The tension induced by this bitonality is heightened by the rising shape of the phrase. This tension peaks halfway through the first beat of bar 2 and from this point on the overall shape of the phrase is falling, contributing to a sense of gradual release. However, even once Hancock falls back within the structural harmony at bar 3, this is at the point where this harmony itself implies a sense of tension and so the lack of clear resolution maintains a strong sense of progression and movement. The tension that Hancock creates in this passage can be interpreted by how each implied harmonic area relates to the tonic D major. The passage begins firmly outside of D major, with the E-major scale creating a strong sense of dissonant tension across box [1] in Example 6. The harmonic area that follows at [2] can be perceived in two ways. This moment can be viewed in relation to the E major that preceded it, where these pitches act as Am7. As such, there is an implied cadential resolution by fifth here. These pitches can also be understood in relation to the D major tonic as constituents of D7sus, thus exerting a harmonic pull towards the tonic. At [3], when considered with the pitches immediately preceding it, the C# on the second

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Example 5

Example 6

sixteenth-note of the fourth beat of bar 2 can be taken to belong to A7, thus also exerting a strong cadential pull towards the tonic. All the pitches of bars 3-6 (except a chromatic G#) belong to the E half-diminished structural harmony at this point, and this too exerts a harmonic pull towards D major. Example 7 shows how after the initial E major emphasis, each harmonic area creates a harmonic pull towards D major, thereby creating a continuing harmonic tension that is gradually released— but not fully resolved—by the falling phrase structure. The natural resolution of the Bb that this phrase comes to rest on at the last sixteenthnote of bar 5 would move down a half-step to the A of D major at bar 7. Hancock does not provide such an obvious resolution, and although the pitches he uses in bar 7 all belong to D major, the avoidance of resolution on the first beat of the bar, the emphasis on the ninth (E), and the rising shape of the phrase all contribute to a continued lack of clear resolution that helps to maintain a constant sense of momentum. The sophistication of Hancock’s concept of harmonic tension and release within his solos can be seen on a broader level—i.e., in relation to the harmonic structure of the piece as a whole—in his Rhodes solo on the track ‘‘Sly,’’ from Head Hunters. The overall harmonic structure of ‘‘Sly’’ is as follows:

Jazz Perspectives HEAD TRANSITION SOPRANO SOLO TRANSITION RHODES SOLO

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TRANSITION HEAD

E minor Bb7 E minor E minor Bb7 E minor

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0:00–1:35 1:35–1:52 1:52–2:03 2:03–5:16 5:16–5:25 5:25–9:08 9:08–9:20 9:20–9:29 9:29–10:20

As can be seen, the majority of the piece is based around E minor, with two brief moves to Bb7 (which lies a tritone away) at the end of the first head and the end of the Rhodes solo. ‘‘Sly’’ features one of Hancock’s most sophisticated and masterful Rhodes solos. Paul Jackson plays the same two-bar bass riff with little embellishment throughout the E minor section of the solo, and so the first 3 minutes and 43 seconds of Hancock’s 3-minute-and55-second solo are over a static harmonic backdrop. The degree of harmonic and rhythmic tension and release that Hancock creates in this solo is astonishing. To illustrate one aspect of this, Example 8 shows the opening bars of the solo. The structural harmony of the opening bars shown in Example 8 is firmly rooted in E minor—by both the combination of Paul Jackson’s bass line and the harmonic expectations induced upon the listener by the previous compositional structure—and yet for the first eight bars of Hancock’s solo he plays entirely outside of this harmonic area. This sense of harmonic tension is released at bar 9 with a clear resolution to E minor (this point of arrival is emphasised by the resolution from the superimposed altered dominant). What is so significant about this passage is that the mode with which Hancock chooses to set up this bitonality is Bb Mixolydian, clearly implying the Bb7 harmonic area on which the solo will end. This illustrates the broad-scale vision behind Hancock’s concept of tension and release. In this case, he begins the solo with a high degree of harmonic tension and simultaneously creates a deeper sense of structure by pre-empting the harmony of the solo’s end. When this Bb7 portion of the solo is finally reached at 9:08, Hancock plays almost entirely inside this harmony, thus maintaining a sense of release. In a manner similar to the Death Wish example (Example 6 above), this inside playing is within a structural harmony that itself creates a degree of harmonic tension, so definitive ‘‘release’’ is achieved with the return to the E minor head at 9:29. Rhythmic Characteristics The theorist Keith Waters has written that ‘‘one high point of metric sophistication and subtlety within the traditional jazz framework may be found in the piano solos of

Example 7

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Example 8

Herbie Hancock, especially during his tenure with the Miles Davis Quintet and as a leader during the 1960s.’’19 This observation is indisputable, but Hancock continues to maintain his metric sophistication in his solos outside of the traditional jazz framework, with rhythmic displacement remaining a fundamental feature of all of his Fender Rhodes work. Example 9 shows an extract from one of Hancock’s earliest Rhodes solos, on Freddie Hubbard’s ‘‘Red Clay,’’ recorded in January 1970. The right-hand line from the second beat of bar 1 to the first beat of bar 2 is a rising sequence based on a threenote motif. Each note is given an equal rhythmic value (at the sixteenth-note level), and the way in which Hancock’s phrasing emphasises the first note of each three-note grouping clearly implies a three-against-two cross rhythm against the duple beat of the rhythm section. These three-note cells are annotated in Example 9. Another important stylistic point to note here is how Hancock continues the rising sequence into the first beat of the next bar, where he remains in C# minor despite the chord change to B minor. This choice creates a degree of harmonic tension in the use of a D#, which is released on the second beat of the bar by resolving to D-natural. This

19

Waters, ‘‘Blurring the Barline,’’ 19.

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Example 9. ‘Red Clay’ composed by Freddie Hubbard. Reproduced by kind permission of Hubtones Music Co.

resolution is another clear example of Hancock’s expressive use of dissonance and harmonic tension and release. Further examples of metrical sophistication can be seen in the extract from ‘‘Hop Scotch,’’ shown in Example 10. The rising phrase from the third beat of bar 1 to the first beat of bar 3 moves from rhythmically ‘‘consonant’’ four-note groupings to ‘‘dissonant’’ three-note groupings, as annotated. This example clearly illustrates how tension and release is as equally important a concept rhythmically in Hancock’s Rhodes solos as it is harmonically. As with many of the harmonic examples, Hancock here introduces a sense of tension through a rising phrase, which he subsequently resolves. Another clear example of Hancock’s application of tension and release through cross rhythms can be seen in Example 11, which shows the final bars of his solo on the track ‘‘People Music’’ from Secrets (1976). This extract shows rhythmic variation on a basic motif, which is built on two-, three-, and four-note subphrase note groupings. The basic four-note unit is a stepwise descent from E to B (E, D, C#, B). The two-note unit uses just the two outer pitches (E, B). The three-note unit omits the last of the four pitches (leaving E, D, C#). A further rhythmic variation is created by displacing the strong beat of the four-note unit by moving it forward by a sixteenth note. The order in which the rhythmic variations are applied creates a clear sense of ever-shifting metrical tension, thereby heightening the sense of climax to the solo before the ‘‘release’’ is achieved with the entry of the ensemble parts at the end of bar 3. In its overall design, the passage begins with the rhythmically ‘‘consonant’’ two- and four-note units, before the tension is increased with the displaced four-note unit, leading to the rhythmically ‘‘dissonant’’ threenote unit.

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Example 10

Example 12 shows an example of right-hand compound melody from the Rhodes solo from ‘‘Sly.’’ In Example 13, this passage has been renotated so that the first sounding of each pitch of the compound melody falls on the first beat of a bar to reveal a cross-rhythm first in 5/8 and then 3/4. Each of the first four pitches of the compound melody is exactly five sixteenth notes apart, thus resulting in a complex cross rhythm within straight 4/4 time, and an effect that induces a strong sense of rhythmic tension. The remaining part of the phrase is divided into two subsections phrased in a 3/4 meter. The first of these subsections represents a relaxation of the phrase rhythm as only one pitch of the compound melody is sounded. The second represents a final intensification, with the final pitches of the compound melody sounded on each of the three beats. Weak-beat emphasis is another technique that Hancock employs, and an example of this can be seen in bar 4 of Example 9, from the previously discussed ‘‘Red Clay’’ solo. The bar is made up entirely of equal sixteenth notes, but with the first sixteenth note omitted. This design creates a sense of syncopation and it gives the first note (E#) a strong upbeat character. As with all the solos studied in this essay, the underlying rhythm beneath the solo is based on straight eighths. The second and fourth notes of beats divided into sixteenth notes are therefore offbeats to these straight eighths. In its emphasis on weak beats (particularly by beginning phrases on them), Hancock’s playing brings strong jazz phrasing characteristics to funk contexts. In his study of the Head Hunters album, Steven Pond discusses the characteristics of funk: Funk is dance music, and it is designed to make the body move. Funk rhythms tend to favor stable ostinatos, or grooves (frequently called funk grooves, or dance grooves). Dance groove is both a structure and a quality. Structurally, the ostinato is built to coordinate with funk dance steps, i.e., of one- or two-measure duration, with a strong downbeat gesture (on beat one) and a secondary backbeat gesture (on

Example 11

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Example 12

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Example 13 beat three). Qualitatively in funk, an ostinato is transformed to a dance groove (or funk groove) by its success at putting bodies onto the dance floor.20

A key contrast between jazz and funk aesthetics is the shift in fundamental rhythmic emphasis. As Pond describes above, in funk the emphasis is on the one, with a secondary emphasis on three. With the traditional swing rhythm in jazz, in 4/4 time, the two and the four are emphasised (i.e., the offbeats). In his solos, Hancock moves rhythmically between these two aesthetics (with his use of weak-beat emphasis stylistically linking with the latter). In the majority of the examples studied in this essay, Hancock’s backings retain an emphasis on the first and third beats of the bar, heightening the juxtaposition when Hancock himself moves away from this in his Rhodes soloing. Example 14 shows the opening phrase of Hancock’s Rhodes solo from ‘‘People Music.’’ This brief passage shows three examples of weak-beat emphases within the space of two bars. The phrase starts on the fourth sixteenth note of the third beat of the bar (point [a]); it peaks on the fourth sixteenth note of the fourth beat of the bar (point [b]); and it continues by omitting the first sixteenth note of the following bar (point [c]), and so emphasises the following weak beat. Particularly significant are those notes that appear as upbeats to the strongest beats of the bar (beats one and three), where those beats themselves are then absent. The E at the end of the first bar in Example 14 is an example of this. This moment gives a sense of anticipation of the beat in the Rhodes solo when set against the normative pulse of the rhythm section, a detail that provides a strong sense of forward momentum to the solo. Another example of this approach can be seen in the transition section from ‘‘No Means Yes’’ (see Example 4), where the resolution to C#m7 (after the harmonic tension induced by the superimposed altered dominant) arrives a sixteenth note early. In this latter solo, the effect of this form of rhythmic displacement is further enhanced by its use at a harmonic arrival point. A similar strategy can be seen in the extract from Hancock’s ‘‘Butterfly’’ solo in Example 2, where—in the same way—the resolution from the superimposed altered dominant arrives a sixteenth note before the strong beat (i.e., the first beat of bar 8). The three most common rhythmic units for creating a sense of

20

Pond, Herbie Hancock’s Head Hunters, 103.

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Example 14

weak-beat emphasis are shown in Example 15. In each case, the arrows mark the emphasised weak beats. Another variation on this rhythmic displacement can be typically seen at points where harmonic resolution at the end of phrases is achieved a sixteenth note or eighth note after the strong beat. This strategy essentially forms a suspension effect. Examples of this can be seen at the first beat of bar 3 in Example 10, and at the first beat of bar 8 in Example 3. Example 16 shows a right-hand line in Hancock’s Rhodes solo from ‘‘Come Running to Me’’ (from Sunlight). In this example, the ‘‘dissonance’’ of the off-beat rhythms used in the first half of the bar is resolved with the ‘‘consonant,’’ straight sixteenth-note run of the second half of the bar. As with so many aspects of Hancock’s Rhodes solos, the fundamental underlying concept is one of tension and release. As noted above, in reference to Hancock’s performance of ‘‘Heartbeat,’’ Stuart Nicholson suggested that if there were ‘‘element[s] of jazz improvisation … present’’ in this recording, then they must have been ‘‘locked into a rhythmic straitjacket that could not help but diminish its emotional force.’’ It could be argued that the opposite is in fact true. It is characteristic of funk music that the rhythm remains more stable and less open to augmentation and development than that of modern jazz, but this underlying jazz-funk juxtaposition places all aspects of Hancock’s Rhodes solos in sharper relief against their backings and, as such, intensifies the emotional force of the harmonic and rhythmic complexities that Hancock juxtaposes against the stability provided by his rhythm section. In a 1979 interview, Hancock said: ‘‘In the popular forms like funk, which I’ve been trying to get into, the attention is on the interplay of rhythm between different instruments. It’s almost like African drummers

Example 15

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Example 16

where seven drummers play different parts.’’ 21 In Hancock’s music, this sensibility translates to the highly specific rhythmic roles given to the crucial duties of the electric bass and drums, and to a slightly lesser extent percussion, rhythm guitars, and additional keyboards. The woven, interlocking rhythms create a solid base for Hancock to both solo against and interact with. In the same way that the strength of the rhythm places Hancock’s own rhythmic and harmonic developments in relief against such foundational textures, so it also serves to emphasise the tension created by the rhythm instruments on the occasions when they do step outside of their ‘‘role’’ and interact more closely with Hancock. ‘‘Heartbeat’’ itself is a good example of this aesthetic. At the opening of Hancock’s Rhodes solo (2:01) there are five rhythm parts (electric bass, drums, two rhythm guitars, processed voice), with each playing two-bar repeated phrases that—added together—create a solid and stable rhythmic backing for Hancock to build his solo over. This backing remains largely the same until the harmonic shift at 3:16, where the guitars and processed voice cut out and congas have come in. The rhythm is intense throughout and this intensity is heightened at the points when drummer Mike Clark breaks from his rhythmic role for short periods and engages in a rhythmic dialogue with Hancock. Examples of this can be heard at 3:25–3:35, at 3:47– 3:53, and most clearly at 3:59–4:11. A similar exchange can be seen in drummer Harvey Mason’s interaction with Hancock in the ‘‘Sly’’ solo. In this latter case, Mason makes subtle rhythmic alterations all the way through the solo, whilst maintaining the fundamental propulsion of the beat, and with bassist Paul Jackson and Hancock’s own overdubbed clavinet part each remaining constant. From 8:50 though, Mason engages more closely with Hancock, heightening the rhythmic tension before the significant harmonic shift from E minor to Bb7 at 9:08. Example 17 shows a dramatic example of rhythmic tension induced by close interaction between Hancock and his rhythm section. This example comes from the Rhodes solo of ‘‘No Means Yes.’’ Hancock and Mason link closely on a series of repeated hits, which Mason punctuates with the simultaneous use of the crash cymbal and bass drum (annotated with arrows on Example 17). Jackson obviously plays against this, but the larger point is that all three players work against the metric stability that has been established by the rhythm section up to this point. This approach creates a strong sense of rhythmic tension and shows how the jazz and funk elements are constantly kept in balance, with the ‘‘jazz’’ sense of improvised rhythmic interaction at this point contrasting strongly with the ‘‘funk’’ sense of metric stability of previously in the solo.

21 Interview with Bret Primack, quoted in Mark Gilbert’s CD liner notes to Herbie Hancock, Man-Child, Sony 9563, 2003, compact disc (originally CBS 33812, 1975, LP).

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Herbie Hancock’s 1970s Fender Rhodes Solos

Example 17

Conclusion As demonstrated above, Herbie Hancock’s Fender Rhodes solos of the 1970s offer advanced and progressive jazz improvisation of the highest order. Hancock innovated by bringing strong elements of jazz tradition to funk contexts and by using this juxtaposition to develop a new soloistic language that has strongly influenced later generations of jazz performers. In turn, these performances set a high water mark for harmonic development over an often static harmonic base. Tension and release is the most significant underlying concept both to the harmonic and rhythmic aspects of these solos and Hancock’s playing from this period shows a development of the techniques for outside harmonic playing and metric displacement that had been characteristic of his 1960s acoustic piano playing, taking these approaches to new levels of sophistication and musicality. Abstract Herbie Hancock’s Fender Rhodes electric piano solos of the 1970s, recorded primarily within the jazz-funk contexts of his Headhunters band and other projects (on albums such as Head Hunters, Flood, Man-Child, and others), represent a high-point of improvisation over groove-based forms. These solos built on the developments of Hancock’s piano work from the 1960s to reach new heights of harmonic and rhythmic sophistication. Predominantly in riff-driven settings based on a single harmonic area or few chord changes, he masterfully balanced elements of tension and release over this, with elaborate harmonic development and rhythmic modulation juxtaposed against his harmonically and metrically stable backings, drawing on both jazz and funk aesthetics. This article explores these solos from an analytical perspective, aiming to identify specific harmonic and rhythmic devices and shed new light on this period of Hancock’s output.

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APPENDIX 1 Significant Fender Rhodes solos by Herbie Hancock

Recording ‘‘Red Clay’’ (Hubbard), on Freddie Hubbard, Red Clay, rec. January 27, 1970 ‘‘Sleeping Giant’’ (Hancock), on Herbie Hancock, Crossings, rec. February 1972 ‘‘Scorpio-Libra’’ (Henderson), on Eddie Henderson, Realization, rec. February 1973 ‘‘Chameleon’’ (Hancock, Jackson, Mason, Maupin), on Herbie Hancock, Headhunters, rec. October 1973 ‘‘Sly’’ (Hancock), on Herbie Hancock, Headhunters, rec. October 1973 ‘‘Butterfly’’ (Hancock, Maupin), on Herbie Hancock, Thrust, rec. August 1974 ‘‘Hop Scotch’’ (Mason), on Harvey Mason, Marching in the Street, rec. April-June 1975 ‘‘Butterfly’’ (Hancock, Maupin), on Herbie Hancock, Flood, rec. June 28 or July 1, 1975 ‘‘Hang Up Your Hang Ups’’ (Hancock, Jackson, Ragin), on Herbie Hancock, Flood, rec. June 28 or July 1, 1975 ‘‘Heartbeat’’ (Hancock, Jackson, Ragin), on Herbie Hancock, Man–Child, released 1975 ‘‘People Music’’ (Hancock, Jackson, Ragin), on Herbie Hancock, Secrets, released 1976 ‘‘Come Running to Me’’ (Hancock, Willis), on Herbie Hancock, Sunlight, released 1978 ‘‘No Means Yes’’ (Hancock), on Herbie Hancock, Sunlight, released 1978 ‘‘Butterfly’’ (Hancock, Maupin), on Eddie Henderson, Mahal, released 1978 ‘‘Amoroso’’ (Maupin), on Eddie Henderson, Mahal, released 1978 ‘‘Butterfly’’ (Hancock, Maupin), on Herbie Hancock, Directstep, rec. October 17 or 18, 1978 ‘‘Just Around the Corner’’ (Hancock, Ragin, Washington), on Herbie Hancock, Mr. Hands, released 1980 ‘‘Shiftless Shuffle’’ (Hancock, Maupin, Mason, Jackson, Summers), on Herbie Hancock, Mr. Hands, released 1980* ‘‘Magic Number’’ (Hancock, Cohen, Rubinson), on Herbie Hancock, Magic Windows, released 1981

timing 4:34–6:30 2:29–7:25 6:15–9:52 8:31–13:09 5:24–9:29 4:31–9:10 1:37–3:32 2:51–9:52 13:45–19:01 2:01–4:36 4:04–4:50 3:24–4:32 3:30–5:18 3:25–4:42 4:13–4:44 2:44–3:54 2:57–6:41 1:19–5:05 4:38–6:18

* This track is likely to have been recorded in 1973 alongside the original Head Hunters material

APPENDIX 2 Discography Herbie Hancock as leader (all albums 1969–1983): Herbie Hancock, The Prisoner, Blue Note 84321, 1969, LP; reissued as Blue Note 5456492, 2001, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Fat Albert Rotunda, Warner Bros. 1834, 1974, LP; reissued as WEA 12751, 2007, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Mwandishi, Warner Bros. 1898, 1971, LP; reissued as WEA 12752, 2007, compact disc.

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Herbie Hancock, Crossings, Warner Bros. 2617, 1972, LP; reissued as WEA 12753, 2007, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Sextant, Columbia CK 32212, 1973, LP; reissued as Columbia/ Legacy 64983, 1998, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Head Hunters, CBS 32731, 1974, LP; reissued as Sony Jazz 65123, 1993, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Dedication, CBS/Sony 165, 1974, LP; reissued as Sony 9342, 1997, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Thrust, Columbia 32965, 1974, LP; reissued as Sony International 86568, 1999, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Death Wish Soundtrack, CBS 33199, 1974, LP; reissued as Sony International 491981, 2003, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Flood, Columbia [unknown number], 1975, LP; reissued as Columbia/Legacy 987084, 2006, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Man-Child, CBS 33812, 1975, LP; reissued as Sony 9563, 2003, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Secrets, Columbia 34280, 1976, LP; reissued as Sony/BMG 724836, 2008, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, V.S.O.P., Columbia 434688, 1977, LP; reissued as Sony Jazz 4865692, 1997, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, V.S.O.P.: The Quintet, Columbia 34976, 1977, LP; reissued as Sony Japan 9654, 2001, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Sunlight, Columbia 9654, 1978, LP; reissued as Sony International 486570, 2001, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Directstep, Columbia 3653S, 1979, LP; reissued as Sony International SRCS 9503, 1998, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, The Piano, Columbia 1033, 1979, LP; reissued as Sony Jazz 87083, 2004, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Feets Don’t Fail Me Now, Columbia 35764, 1979, LP; reissued as Sony International 35764, 2001, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, VSOP-Live Under the Sky, Columbia 875, 1979, LP; reissued as Sony 10077, 2007, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Mr. Hands, Columbia 36578, 1980, LP; reissued as Sony International 471240, 2001, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Monster, Columbia 35415, 1980, LP; reissued as Sony International 486571, 2001, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Magic Windows, Columbia 37387, 1981, LP; reissued as Sony International 486572, 2001 compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Lite Me Up, Columbia 32474, 1982, LP; reissued as Sony International 486573, 2001, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Future Shock, Columbia 25540, 1983, LP; reissued as Sony Jazz 4712372, 1994, compact disc.

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Other albums cited: George Benson, Give Me the Night, Warner Bros. 3453, 1980, LP; reissued as Warner Bros. 75371, 2008, compact disc. John Coltrane, A Love Supreme, Impulse! A77, 1964, LP; reissued as Impulse! 001097002, 2008, compact disc. Norman Connors, Dance of Magic, Cobblestone CST 9024, 1973, LP; reissued Norman Connors, Dark of Light/Dance of Magic, Sequel MEM CD 683, 1995, compact disc. Miles Davis, Kind of Blue, Columbia 8163, 1959, LP; reissued as Sony 88697282382, 2008, compact disc. Miles Davis, Miles Davis Quintet, 1965–1968, Columbia 516252, 2004, compact disc. Miles Davis, Miles in the Sky, Columbia CS 9628, 1968, LP; reissue included on Miles Davis, Miles Davis Quintet 1965–1968, Columbia 516252, 2004, compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Perfect Machine, Sony 65960, 2000 (orig. release 1988), compact disc. Herbie Hancock, Future2Future, Transparent Music 50011, 2001, compact disc. Eddie Henderson, Realization, Capricorn 0118, 1973, LP; reissued on Eddie Henderson, Anthology, vol. 2, The Capricorn Years: Realization/Inside Out, Soul Brother CDSBPJ 11, 2005, compact disc. Eddie Henderson, Mahal, 1978, Capitol E-ST 11846, 1978 (deleted), LP; reissued on Eddie Henderson, Anthology, vol. 1, Soul Brother CDSBPJ-3, 2005, compact disc. Freddie Hubbard, Red Clay, CTI 6001, 1970, LP; reissued as King 8209, 2000, compact disc. Quincy Jones, The Dude, Mercury 95028, 2005 (orig. release 1980), compact disc. Harvey Mason, Marching in the Street, 1975, Arista 4054, 1975, LP; reissued as Sinless 682084, 2006, compact disc. Bennie Maupin, The Jewel in the Lotus, ECM 1043, 1974, LP; reissued as ECM 1723520, 2007, compact disc. Tony Williams, The Joy of Flying, Columbia 35705, 1979, LP; reissued as Sony 65473, 1997, compact disc.

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