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V.S.O.P. - Live Under The Sky
Release Date: September 21, 2004 C2K87165 CD Album When V.S.O.P. appeared in 1977, it was the definitive mini-retrospective of the career of keyboardist-composer Herbie Hancock. From 1963 to 1968, Hancock (b. 1940) had keyed the phenomenal rhythm section of the second great Miles Davis quintet; he'd led various groups on a number of seminal Blue Note albums; written the soundtracks to such major motion pictures as "Blow Up" and "Death Wish"; pioneered the use of electric keyboards and synthesizers in jazz; crossed over to the pop charts on the strength of funk hits like "Chameleon"; and his deep artistry had made him the single most influential improvising pianist since Bill Evans. Recorded live in June 1976 at the Newport Jazz Festival in New York, V.S.O.P. found Hancock at the helm of three distinctly different small groups. The quintet on disc one is, of course, the second great Miles Davis quintet, minus Davis. In his stead is the incandescent trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, found on Hancock's timeless, mid-1960s Blue Note albums. With fellow heavyweights Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams in tow, the "V.S.O.P. band" blazes through three tracks. Next up is a reunion of the 1968-1973 sextet known as "Mwandishi," for the Swahili name Hancock had taken for himself. Melding Hancock's tuneful impressionism and expanded use of electronics, and featuring a tightly-knit front line of trumpeter-flugelhornist Eddie Henderson and multi-reedman Bennie Maupin, Mwandishi is in superb form on its two contributions. Finally, there's Headhunters, the funk band that Herbie was leading at this time. With the highly-syncopated, funky rhythms of guitarists Wah-Wah Watson and special guest Ray Parker, Jr., bassist Paul Jackson, drummer James Levi, percussionist Kennth Nash, and with Maupin and the leader as principle soloists, Headhunters took funk grooves to bright new places without losing sight of its bedrock origins, and became one of the most popular ensembles to emerge from the world of jazz. Now available for the first time on American CD, V.S.O.P. more than lives up to words for which those four letters stand: Very Special One-Time Performance. |
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Track listing for CD Album 1 Opening (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 2 Eye Of The Hurricane (Live) 3 Tear Drop (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 4 Domo (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 5 Para Oriente (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 6 Pee Wee (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 7 One Of Another Kind (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 8 Fragile (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 1 Opening (Live) ra wma20 wma128 3 Tear Drop (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 4 Domo (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 5 Para Oriente (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 6 Pee Wee (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 7 One Of Another Kind (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 8 Fragile (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 9 Stella By Starlight (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 10 On Green Dolphin Street (Live) ra wma20 wma32 wma128 |
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