Miles Davis Quintet - The Complete Columbia Studio Sessions 1965-68 (6 CD, 1998/FLAC)

 

By 1965 Miles Davis had gone through a handful of stages, from the Birth of the Cool nonet's multihued orchestrations to the development of a hard-bop sound keeled on Davis's midregister wooziness and the band's driving backbone in the "first" great quintet (featuring John Coltrane), to the modal freedom of Kind of Blue. So when the solidly established Davis convened a new quintet, known as his "second" great one, and hired youngsters Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams, it seemed a skewed move. 

These six CDs show just how creatively and intelligently skewed the move really was. The material here, which has also been reissued on expanded single CDs of the main full-length original LPs (E.S.P., Miles Smiles, Sorcerer, Nefertiti, Miles in the Sky), is immediately and unceasingly startling. Davis & Co. were quickly discarding their live performance practice of playing loads of standards and were further discarding traditional melodic structures for more rigorous harmonic exercises. Shorter in particular, at times the most prolific composer in the band, was advancing his tunes and his solos in equal proportion. The tunes are increasingly sharp-edged and, with Williams driving the band with a categorical balance of abandon and control, loopily energized. Miles blows with tighter and tighter control of his tone even while the band seems to be finding all kinds of expressive freedoms that easily elongate into lengthier studies. Toward the end of this box, you'll hear the seeds of the Miles that went on to unloose Bitches Brew. Even though the roots of the aggressively electric Miles are in these sessions, there are uncategorizable points of beauty strewn all over the tunes.

 

Ron Carter, Herbie Hancock, Tony Williams - Third Plane (1977-2015) [192-24]

 Third Plane is an album by jazz bassist Ron Carter, released on the Milestone label in 1977. It features performances by Carter, Herbie Hancock and Tony Williams. 

• Ron Carter – bass
• Herbie Hancock – piano
• Tony Williams – drums

01. Third Plane (5:54) 

02. Quiet Times (7:55)

03. Lawra (6:07) 

04. Stella By Starlight (8:26)

05. United Blues (3:02) 

06. Dolphin Dance (8:18)

Herbie Hancock – The Complete Columbia Album Collection, 1972-1988 [34 CD, 2013]

 

Gathered here for the first time are all of the recordings Herbie Hancock (b. 1940) made for Columbia Records U.S. and CBS/Sony Records Japan between 1972 and 1988--a stunningly creative, 17-year period, yielding 31 albums. Eight of the titles in this set have never been released outside of Japan. This collection of 34 newly-remastered CDs showcases Herbie's virtuosity in a dazzling display of musical styles. It is a testament to his fearlessness, innovation, and ever-evolving curiosity, as well as his significant commercial success--the platinum certifications of Head Hunters and Future Shock.

Herbie Hancock & Carlos Santana – Live Under Sky 1981 [2020/FLAC]

 

Live Under the Sky was an annual multi-day summer jazz festival held in Tokyo's 10,000-capacity Denen Hall, featuring the cream of local and international talent. The climax of 1981's festival, broadcast by NHK radio was a jointly headlined set by Herbie Hancock and Carlos Santana, together with a band including Wynton Marsalis, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. A joyous blend of jazz and Latin-tinged funk, it is presented in full here, together with background notes and images. 

•     Double Bass – Ron Carter
•     Drums – Anthony Williams
•     Electric Guitar – Carlos Santana
•     Grand Piano, Keyboards – Herbie Hancock
•     Percussion – Armando Peraza, Orestes Vilato, Raul Rekow
•     Trumpet – Wynton Marsalis

A1 Watermelon Man > Evil Ways > Watermelon Man 25:33

B1 'Round Midnight 7:24

B2 Parade 9:54

B3 Unknown #1 7:47

C1 A Quick Sketch 17:39

C2 Love Theme From Spartacus 8:37

C3 Unknown #2 (Fade Out) 2:59

D1 Unknown #2 (Cont.) 3:24

D2 Unknown #3 5:55

D3 Europa 9:08

D4 Saturday Night 11:28

Miles Davis Quintet - Live At Newport 1966 & 1967 (2010/FLAC)

 It’s one thing hearing about “rare tapes circulating among private collectors” but it’s another thing getting to hear them. Now you can; this is a hugely valuable release, a window into the working life of one of the greatest bands in the history of jazz performing at probably the most famous platform of all during the Golden Era of Jazz (1950s to the late 1960s), the Newport Jazz Festival (plus two bonus tracks taken from a broadcast in Finland on 1 November 1967). The liner notes say “This release contains all of the surviving music from the Miles Davis Quintet’s Newport sets of 1966 and 1967,” and were taken from live broadcasts of the event, complete with Willis Connover announcements, which adds to the atmosphere of the occassion. With the exception of Miles In Berlin and the Plugged Nickel sets, live documentation of this band is thin on the ground, given its (relative) longevity.

• Miles Davis, trumpet
• Wayne Shorter, tenor sax
• Herbie Hancock, piano
• Ron Carter, bass
• Tony Williams, drums

    1. Introduction Into Gingerbread Boy

    2. All Blues

    3. Stella By Starlight [Incomplete]

    4. Gingerbread Boy

    5. Footprints

    6. 'Round Midnight [Incomplete]

    7. Introduction Into Footprints

    8. 'Round Midnight [Incomplete]

Herbie Hancock - Feets Don't Fail Me Now (1979) [2015/FLAC]

 

Herbie Hancock's electric records up until this point were marked by intelligence and adventure, even at their most earthy. But no, this one doesn't have an ounce of either. Herbie falls hook, line and sinker for the disco fad and submerges his personality underneath the plastic vocals and four-on-the-floor disco beat. Hancock's own gauzy vocals through a Sennheiser vocoder are embarrassing, and even his synthesizer work sounds coarse and gimmicky. This time, even the purists were right; this is of no interest to jazz listeners and it isn't even good disco.

• Keyboards, Vocals – Herbie Hancock
• Bass – Ed Watkins
• Drums – James Gadson
• Guitar – Ray Obiedo
• Percussion – Bill Summers
• Backing Vocals – Julia Tillman Waters, Luther Waters, Maxine Willard Waters, Oren Waters

Miles Davis - The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 [8 CD, 1995/FLAC]

 

In late December 1965 recordings were made of two nights of performances by Miles Davis´ second great quintet at the Plugged Nickel nightclub in Chicago. Some tracks were available on Miles Davis compilations, but the full recordings were released thirty years later as a box set under the title The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965. The studio recordings of the quintet consist almost entirely of original compositions by members of the quintet. These club recordings show the group playing tunes which were either standards or had been in Davis's live repertoire for several years. The tunes are performed with substantially more rhythmic and harmonic freedom than on earlier recordings.

Blue Note Works 4000-4100 series [4161-4175]

 

...The Modern Jazz Series continued into the 1970s with the LPs listed below. Many were issued in both monaural versions (BLP series) and stereo versions (BST 84000 series).  Most of the 4000 series have been reissued by Toshiba-EMI in Japan ("Blue Note Works 4000" series); the catalog numbers are TOCJ-4###

BN.4161- George Braith‎- 1963- Soul Stream
BN.4162- Stanley Turrentine- 1964- Hustlin' {RVG Remaster}
BN.4164- Jimmy Smith- 1963- Prayer Meetin' {RVG Remaster}
BN.4165- Jackie McLean- 1963- Destination... Out {RVG Remaster}
BN.4166- Joe Henderson- 1964- In 'n Out {RVG Remaster}
BN.4167- Andrew Hill- 1964- Point of Departure {RVG Remaster}
BN.4168- Freddie Roach- 1964- Brown Sugar
BN.4169- Lee Morgan- 1964- Search For The New Land {RVG Remaster}
BN.4170- Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers- 1964- Free For All {RVG Remaster}
BN.4171- George Braith- 1964- Extension
BN.4172- Freddie Hubbard- 1964- Breaking Point {RVG Remaster}
BN.4173- Wayne Shorter- 1964- Night Dreamer {RVG Remaster}
BN.4174- Big John Patton- 1964- The Way I Feel
BN.4175- Herbie Hancock- 1964- Empyrean Isles {RVG Remaster}

Blue Note Works 4000-4100 series [4141-4150]

 

...The Modern Jazz Series continued into the 1970s with the LPs listed below. Many were issued in both monaural versions (BLP series) and stereo versions (BST 84000 series).  Most of the 4000 series have been reissued by Toshiba-EMI in Japan ("Blue Note Works 4000" series); the catalog numbers are TOCJ-4###

BN.4141- Jimmy Smith- 1963- Rockin' the Boat {RVG Remaster}

BN.4142- Blue Mitchell- 1963- Step Lightly

BN.4143- John Patton- 1963- Blue John

BN.4144- Johnny Coles- 1963- Little Johnny C

BN.4145- Don Wilkerson- 1963- Shoutin'

BN.4146- Dexter Gordon- 1963- Our Man In Paris {RVG Remaster}

BN.4147- Herbie Hancock- 1963- Inventions and Dimensions {RVG Remaster}

BN.4148- George Braith- 1963- Two Souls in One

BN.4149- Hank Mobley- 1963- No Room for Squares {RVG Remaster}

BN.4150- Stanley Turrentine- 1963- A Chip Off The Old Block {RVG Remaster}

Blue Note Works 4000-4100 series [4126-4140]

 

 

...The Modern Jazz Series continued into the 1970s with the LPs listed below. Many were issued in both monaural versions (BLP series) and stereo versions (BST 84000 series).  Most of the 4000 series have been reissued by Toshiba-EMI in Japan ("Blue Note Works 4000" series); the catalog numbers are TOCJ-4###

BN.4126- Herbie Hancock- 1963- My Point Of View {RVG Remaster}
BN.4127- Kenny Dorham- 1963- Una Mas {RVG Remaster}
BN.4129- Stanley Turrentine- 1963- Never Let Me Go {RVG Remaster}
BN.4130- John Patton- 1963- Along Came John
BN.4131- Horace Silver- 1963- Silver's Serenade {RVG Remaster}
BN.4132- Grant Green- 1962- Feelin' The Spirit {RVG Remaster}
BN.4133- Dexter Gordon- 1962- A Swingin' Affair {RVG Remaster}
BN.4134- Horace Parlan- 1963- Happy Frame of Mind
BN.4135- Freddie Hubbard- 1962- Here To Stay {RVG Remaster}
BN.4136- Solomon Ilori- 1963- African High Life
BN.4137- Jackie McLean- 1963- One Step Beyond {RVG Remaster}
BN.4139- Grant Green- 1963- Am I Blue {RVG Remaster}
BN.4140- Joe Henderson- 1963- Page One {RVG Remaster}

Blue Note Works 4000-4100 series [4101-4110]

 

...The Modern Jazz Series continued into the 1970s with the LPs listed below. Many were issued in both monaural versions (BLP series) and stereo versions (BST 84000 series).  Most of the 4000 series have been reissued by Toshiba-EMI in Japan ("Blue Note Works 4000" series); the catalog numbers are TOCJ-4###

BN.4101- Donald Byrd- 1961- Royal Flush {RVG Remaster}
BN.4102- The Three Sounds- 1961- Hey There (with bonus)
BN.4103- Ike Quebec- 1962- Easy Living (not released)
BN.4104- Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers- 1961- Buhaina's Delight {RVG Remaster}
BN.4105- Ike Quebec- 1961- It Might As Well Be Spring {RVG Remaster}
BN.4106- Jackie McLean- 1961- Let Freedom Ring {RVG Remaster}
BN.4107- Don Wilkerson- 1962- Preach Brother!
BN.4108- Lou Donaldson- 1962- The Natural Soul {RVG Remaster}
BN.4109- Herbie Hancock- 1962- Takin' Off {RVG Remaster}
BN.4110- Horace Silver- 1962- The Tokyo Blues {RVG Remaster}

Herbie Hancock - The Herbie Hancock Box (4 CD, 2002/FLAC)

Given that Blue Note Records has issued a definitive 1960s box set of Hancock’s earliest—and some consider his most seminal—work, and the literally dozens of best-of’s that have been issued, more by Columbia than by anybody else, this set with its spare futuristic design might at first glance seem like overkill, as in, “do we really need another Herbie Hancock collection, especially a damned box set?” In this case, it’s very important to take a second and even third look.

The material covered here encompasses a whopping 23 albums recorded over 13 years! There are 34 tracks spread out over these four discs, and while little here is completely unreleased, a number of cuts have never been made available in the States before. Lastly, given all of the Hancock material on the market, this set is the only one to capture the huge depth and breadth of Hancock’s musically restless vision as it has been recorded. The discs are not presented in chronological order, and that, too, is in keeping with Hancock’s modus operandi.

Disc one starts with the first V.S.O.P. project from 1976, which was the Miles quintet with Freddie Hubbard playing all new tunes, so you hear the introduction to “Maiden Voyage” and the track itself. Next, it shifts to 1979 with Hancock’s Live Under the Sky album, with a killer version of “Para Oriente,” and then shifts yet again to The Piano album in 1979, where Hancock plays a “Harvest Time” solo, before moving to “The Sorcerer” from the Quartet album of 1982. Before the disc has concluded, you’ve moved through more V.S.O.P., and the theme from the Round Midnight soundtrack.

Disc two offers more of these same treatments from the same periods generally, but it features a killer version of V.S.O.P. going for broke on a completely unreleased version of Freddie Hubbard’s “Red Clay” from 1977.

Disc three is nearly worth the price of the box alone. This is where you get to explore the electric side of Hancock, and the various guises he worked under from the time he immediately left Miles and worked with some musicians who were totally outside his frame of reference. For instance, there is the glorious “Rain Dance” from 1972, with a large band that included trombonist Julian Priester, synthesist Patrick Gleeson, and drummer Billy Hart. Also, along with more well-known classics such as “Watermelon Man,” from Head Hunters, you get tracks from Flood; Thrust; the killer Death Wish title theme with Wah Wah Watson and Lee Ritenour on guitars; “Sun Touch,” from Man-Child, featuring the most beautiful flute solo ever played by Ernie Watts; Secrets; Sunlight; and the outstanding “4 A.M.,” from the Mr. Hands album. This track, with a quartet that features the late Jaco Pastorius, Tony Williams, and percussionist Bill Summers, reveals the amazing depth of empathy Hancock had for the musicians he employed. His trading of lower runs with Jaco provides a listen to how tender Pastorius could be when presented with a keyboard player who was content to let him sing on the bass, and also how Hancock never has the need to dominate the proceedings, preferring to let the band speak for itself on his tunes.

Disc four also features Hancock’s more electric ventures. While the material ranges chronologically from “Chameleon” on Head Hunters to a Bill Laswell remake of “Maiden Voyage” in 1988, the sense of continuity that the rest of the box has doesn’t seem to flow as easily. The rather jarring juxtapositions of “Stars in Your Eyes,” from 1980’s Monster, to “Rockit,” in 1983, to “Calypso” from Mr. Hands in 1980, to “Nobu,” in 1974, is too vast an expanse—mood-wise as well as aesthetically—to bridge. Perhaps it’s the range of musicians that includes everyone from Ray Parker Jr. and Sheila E to Harvey Mason and Tony Williams, just to name a few. While the individual bands add up to pure delight, the track-to-track moves atmospheres, even in the funk-hip-hop worldview from bumpin’ street funk to jagged, angular grooves, to near-overdriven bass, and time-lines that obliterate continuity.
In all, this is a small complaint; doubtless, many will use the random feature on a CD player to remedy this, or the programming feature. The Herbie Hancock Box does stand as a more than representative view of the musician’s work with Columbia and reveals how lasting and influential his contributions have been, as well as how diverse, and that’s really the point. Hours upon hours of pleasure await the listener who drops the cash for this fine artifact.

DISC ONE (01:12:44)

01. Introduction to Maiden Voyage (Herbie Hancock) 04:33

02. Maiden Voyage (Herbie Hancock) 13:21

03. Para Oriente [live, feat. The V.S.O.P. Quintet] (Tony Williams) 07:16

04. Harvest Time (Herbie Hancock) 04:49

05. The Sorcerer (Herbie Hancock) 07:19

06. Diana [live, feat. The V.S.O.P. Quintet] (Wayne Shorter) 04:34

07. Finger Painting [feat. The V.S.O.P. Quintet] (Herbie Hancock) 06:45

08. ’Round Midnight [feat. Bobby McFerrin] (Bernie Hanighen / Thelonious Monk / Cootie Williams) 05:36

09. The Eye of the Hurricane (Herbie Hancock) 18:32

DISC TWO (01:09:17)

01. Domo (Herbie Hancock) 12:24

02. Dolphin Dance (Herbie Hancock) 10:18

03. Liza (All the Clouds’ll Roll Away) (George Gershwin / Ira Gershwin / Gus Kahn) 08:52

04. Eighty-One (Ron Carter / Miles Davis) 13:03

05. Milestones (Miles Davis) 06:39

06. Stella by Starlight-On Green Dolphin Street (Bronislaw Kaper / Ned Washington / Victor Young) 07:06

07. Red Clay (Freddie Hubbard) 10:55

DISC THREE (01:07:50)

01. Rain Dance (Herbie Hancock) 09:17

02. Watermelon Man (Herbie Hancock) 06:30

03. Butterfly (Herbie Hancock / Bennie Maupin) 11:19

04. Death Wish (Main Title) (Herbie Hancock) 06:12

05. Actual Proof (Herbie Hancock) 08:28

06. Sun Touch (Herbie Hancock) 05:09

07. 4 A.M. (Herbie Hancock) 05:23

08. Come Running to Me (Herbie Hancock / Allee Willis) 08:25

09. People Music (Herbie Hancock / Paul Jackson / Melvin Ragin) 07:08

DISC FOUR (01:07:58)

01. Chameleon (Herbie Hancock / Paul Jackson / Bennie Maupin / Harvey Mason, Sr.) 15:41

02. Stars in Your Eyes (Lisa Capuano / Gavin Christopher / Herbie Hancock / Ray Parker, Jr.) 07:05

03. Rockit (Michael Beinhorn / Herbie Hancock / Bill Laswell) 05:26

04. Calypso (Herbie Hancock) 06:43

05. Satisfied with Love (Herbie Hancock / Jean Hancock) 06:31

06. Karabali (Herbie Hancock / Daniel Ponce) 05:16

07. Spider (Herbie Hancock / Paul Jackson / Melvin Ragin) 07:21

08. Nobu (Herbie Hancock) 07:23

09. Maiden Voyager / P. Bop (Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner / Bootsy Collins / Herbie Hancock / Bill Laswell) 06:33 

Miles Davis - Live-Evil [2 CD, 1971/FLAC]

Live-Evil is one of Miles Davis' most confusing and illuminating documents. As a double album, it features very different settings of his band -- and indeed two very different bands. The double-LP CD package is an amalgam of a December 19, 1970, gig at the Cellar Door, which featured a band comprised of Miles, bassist Michael Henderson, drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist John McLaughlin, saxophonist Gary Bartz, Keith Jarrett on organ, and percussionist Airto. These tunes show a septet that grooved hard and fast, touching on the great funkiness that would come on later.

Herbie Hancock - Mwandishi The Complete Warner Bros.Recordings (2 CD, 1994/FLAC)

This release includes Herbie Hancock's music from 1969-1971 for the Warner Brothers label, released originally as three albums, one of Herbie Hancock's most creative periods. The earliest album, Fat Albert Rotunda, features a fine sextet highlighted by tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson, like Hancock a master at maintaining strong rhythmic grooves while stretching outward. The later music, with a regularly working band, becomes increasingly expansive and exploratory. Like Miles Davis on Bitches Brew, Hancock was increasingly interested in layering rhythms and textures, emphasizing percussion, electric keyboards, and potent soloists, and broadening his palette of sounds to eventually include synthesizers. There are significant contributions from the inspiring drummer Billy Hart and some potent, if neglected, soloists in multireed player Bennie Maupin (also on Bitches Brew) and trombonist Julian Priester (a Sun Ra associate), who also provided the extended compositions "Water Torture" and "Wandering Spirit Song," respectively. This is a sometimes overlooked period in Hancock's music, bracketed by the quality of his earlier acoustic music, both with Davis and as a leader on Blue Note, and his later commercial success, but it's some of his most innovative work.

V.S.O.P. - The Quintet (1977/FLAC)

The Quintet is an album by V.S.O.P. It was compiled from two concert performances: one at the Greek Theatre, University of California, Berkeley, on July 16, 1977; the other at the San Diego Civic Theatre on July 18, 1977. The musicians were Herbie Hancock on keyboards, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet and flugelhorn, Tony Williams on drums, Ron Carter on bass, and Wayne Shorter on tenor and soprano saxophones. The recording was originally released in October 1977 as a 2-disc LP by Columbia Records. 

 

• Freddie Hubbard – flugelhorn, trumpet
• Wayne Shorter – soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
• Herbie Hancock – piano, keyboards
• Ron Carter – double bass
• Tony Williams – drums

Miles Davis - Complete On The Corner Sessions [6 CD, 2007/FLAC]

 

This 6CD box set includes more than 6 hours of music. Twelve of these are previously unissued tracks. Another five tracks are previously unissued in full. They cover sixteen sessions from On the Corner, Big Fun, and Get Up With It until Davis's mid-seventies retirement. Miles is joined in these recordings by Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Hart, and many others.

Miles Davis - Bitches Brew: 40th Anniversary Collector's Edition [3 CD, 2010]

The 40th anniversary of the groundbreaking fusion album Bitches Brew offers an opportunity to expand upon the context of its original unveiling. The impact of this recognition can't even be mitigated by a collision of commerce and creativity that echoes some of the furor over the original 1970 release. The unreleased studio recordings (not included on the previously issued Complete Bitches Brew from 1998) are alternates take, one of which ("John McLaughlin") isn't appreciably different from the official take, while the other ("Spanish Key") moves a little too fast for its own good. Similarly, the two stereo and two mono 45 single edits, for all their brevity, do manage to capture as much of the album's haunting atmosphere as their truncated likes can hold. The August 1970 concert live recording of Davis and his band at Tanglewood, in Lenox, Massachussetts, displays the bravado the trumpeter would always bring to his rock star co-billings, on this date, Santana at the height of the original lineup's powers.