The Blue Note Years: The Best Of Herbie Hancock

Album Review

Composer and pianist Herbie Hancock enjoyed a long and fruitful relationship with Columbia Records as a leader. His volume in Sony's super budget Playlist series (these are all signified by possibly the worst design job in recorded music history) contains a decent, well considered representation of his time at the label. His work with the stellar V.S.O.P. band kicks things off with a reading of his own "Maiden Voyage" and is followed by "Song," with saxophonist Dexter Gordon from the soundtrack of Bertrand Tavernier's brilliant film 'Round Midnight. It then moves into electric territory documenting albums such as Mr. Hands, the monumentally influential Head Hunters (two cuts), Thrust, Man-Child, and his later smash title track from the funkfied post-disco hip-hop of Rockit. The only complaint is that there isn't a cut from Sextant here with the Mwandishi band (which morphed into the Headhunters band) as a replacement for either "Butterfly" or "Hang Up Your Hang Ups." It would have showcased all of Hancock's phases with the label. That caveat aside, this is a solid intro to one big slice of his career after Blue Note and Warner Brothers and before the really uneven Verve years, but this set is strictly for the novice.