Unreleased 66 Herbie Blue note jazz-rock session

[Guest ariceffron]

i was reading in some herbie warner bros. stuff that this session exists. what do we know about it. is it good. does he play just grand piano? when can i hear it

[king ubu]

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs NJ

Melvin Lastie, cornet; Stanley Turrentine, tenor sax; Herbie Hancock, piano; Eric Gale, guitar; Billy Butler, guitar; Bob Cranshaw, bass; Bernard Purdie, drums.

tk 21 DON'T EVEN GO THERE

Note: This track, used with Herbie's consent, is the most successful track from a rejected session that was Herbie's first foray into R & B. It is included for historical interest.

This is the details from the discography section of the Herbie Complete Sixties BN box. That one track was included at the end of the box. Later it was also included on the Lost Sessions Connoisseur CD.

This session somehow does not really fit into Herbie's developpement, it seems. It was rather the style he started with THE PRISONER which he pursued on his Warner dates. The one track from this 66 date is similar to the two large group tracks on FAT ALBERT ROTUNDA - yet those, too, do not really fit in with the rest of that album.

ubu

[brownie]

The Ruppli/Cuscuna BN Label discography lists 'Soul Villa' and 'You Know What To Do' among the six titles recorded at that July 19, 1966 session. All of the titles are listed as 'rejected'. Too bad

[king ubu]

The Ruppli/Cuscuna BN Label discography lists 'Soul Villa' and 'You Know What To Do' among the six titles recorded at that July 19, 1966 session. All of the titles are listed as 'rejected'. Too bad

Somehow, I don't think it's that bad. I mean, I do like lots of Hancock's music, including the electric and funk/headhunters stuff, and the one track from this date is not really successful, in my opinion. Turrentine is not the best choice, and generally things do not really lock in, as I hear it.

ubu

[mikeweil]

I mean, I do like lots of Hancock's music, including the electric and funk/headhunters stuff

I saw the Headhunters live in 1974, Hancock, Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson, Mike Clark and Bill Summers, and they were smokin'!!!

The only recording giving a hint at what they were capable of is the Japanese twofer Flood.

[Guest ariceffron]

this sounds like a good session to be issued. what the hell. im sure a lot of people would be interested in it, even those beyond the typical blue note freaks. if it truly is herbies 1st forray into jazz-rock i bet you it could be a hot crossover item. micael cuscanoa do you copy

[Selim Sivad]

I mean, I do like lots of Hancock's music, including the electric and funk/headhunters stuff

I saw the Headhunters live in 1974, Hancock, Bennie Maupin, Paul Jackson, Mike Clark and Bill Summers, and they were smokin'!!!

The only recording giving a hint at what they were capable of is the Japanese twofer Flood.

Heh, funny I listen to Head Hunters for the first time in years today, then I come across this.

Save for HH's over-the-top synth solo on "Chameleon", Flood is an overlooked gem. Wish I could have seen them back in '74, too.

SS

Edited December 27, 2003 by Selim Sivad

[king ubu]

aric, it's not really a jazz-rock date, going from the one released track - rather a r'n'b session with more guitar than usual on similar BN projects (like the Stanley Turrentine dates).

ubu

[ghost of miles]

Save for HH's over-the-top synth solo on "Chameleon", Flood is an overlooked gem.

It sure is. A friend of mine insisted that I listen to this record, finally dubbing a copy of his Japanese import for me to listen to, and it's become one of my favorite Herbie records from this period.

[mikeweil]

Save for HH's over-the-top synth solo on "Chameleon", Flood is an overlooked gem. Wish I could have seen them back in '74, too.

If you'd seen this live, you would understand: Herbie did kind of charm his synth keyboard as if it was a snake, using a pedal invisible to the audience, and building to that climax you hear. Without seeing the show it's kinda cheap. (Well the show was, to us jazz buffs at least - the band didn't need cheap tricks to sustain musical interest - this was for the rock and funk fans seeing Herbie for the first time.)

[Tom Storer]

If you'd seen this live, you would understand: Herbie did kind of charm his synth keyboard as if it was a snake, using a pedal invisible to the audience, and building to that climax you hear. Without seeing the show it's kinda cheap. (Well the show was, to us jazz buffs at least - the band didn't need cheap tricks to sustain musical interest - this was for the rock and funk fans seeing Herbie for the first time.)

Yeah, I saw them around the same time, '74 or '75, and remember quite clearly Herbie's snake-charmer number--as I recall he programmed the synth, then got up from his seat and walked around it, waving his arms at it like a magician and seeming to make it do his bidding from afar. Silly, but good clean fun. They rocked the joint, though - Carnegie Hall. The opening act was Minnie Ripperton. Remember her? Hitting that high note on "Lovin' You"--everybody was just waiting for that note, not quite believing it was real. But she sang it, all right.

I saw Return to Forever around that time too, and Corea got up from his keyboard and danced for a little while, wiggling his hips. The crowd loved it.

[mikeweil]

The opening act was Minnie Ripperton. Remember her? Hitting that high note on "Lovin' You"--everybody was just waiting for that note, not quite believing it was real. But she sang it, all right.

I (regrettably?) never heard that one, but clearly remember Rahsaan Roland Kirk's raving on one of his very last LPs where he covered that song. Is this worth searching out?

[Tom Storer]

You mean the original version by Minnie Ripperton? Depends. It's a very catchy 70's pop tune, perhaps a bit cloying, distinguished by a rather startling jump in the melody to a note ridiculously higher than the preceding. It's kind of like she dances along and the next thing you know she reappears at the top of a high cliff, then gracefully comes back down again. Quite a range she had. I like it, but that's probably just because it's a pop hit from my adolescence. Still, that high note is a memorable hook in the annals of pop music history. I only know that song, but I believe she's still highly regarded by fans of soul and pop music, although she died at the end of the 70's.

[jazzbo]

Somewhere in my dwelling I have a few of Minnie's lps. She really was a fantastically gifted singer in all the ways that singers can have gifts. That was her standout tune, but she had paid her dues and she was a major talent. It's worth looking for that tune as an MP3 on the net somewhere and checking it out.

[JSngry]

Minnie had also been a significant voice (no pun intended) in the Rotary Connection, if you remember that wacked out crew. A major talent indeed, and somebody should post that album cover of hers where she's holding a melting ice crem cone in her hand while grinning the slyest of grins in th e Babe Thread as a tribute, except that that doesn't really pay tribute to her talent, but what the hell, we know what we mean, right?

[mikeweil]

I had a look and I know what we mean .

The pic is in the babe thread as requested.

[JSngry]

It is?

[JSngry]

It is!