Herbie Hancock - 'Man With a Suitcase' - comp. 20

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Hello. Yes, it's been 18 months, so I thought I'd get an entry in for what's left of 2015. 

I was listening to the blistering Herbie Hancock rhodes solo in Joe Farrell's fantastic cover of Stevie Wonder's "Too High", and decided to compile some of my favourite Hancock electric piano tracks from other people's albums - so here's a selection from 1968-1978. The compilation title refers to the portable "suitcase" Fender Rhodes. 

Of course, there are endless Miles Davis tracks from this period with Hancock on rhodes, and I didn't want to get bogged down there, but I've included 1968's "Stuff" because you can hear Hancock in transition, using the Rhodes in a raw state, referencing his acoustic piano style while he learns the new instrument. This continues throughout the turn of the decade through tracks like Joe Henderson's "Black Narcissus"; Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay" and Miroslav Vitouš' "Infinite Search".

Within a few years, Hancock''s already developed his clustered chord structures and adjusted the amplification for a punchier, rhythmic style on tracks like Joe Farrell's "Too High" and Milt Jackson's "People Make the world Go Round". He's also exploring the in-built chorus, tremelo, delay and panning effects, and incorporating them in his writing and playing style on tracks like Eddie Henderson's "Scorpio-Libra", and Norman Connors' "Blue"and "Revelation".

The latest track here is Quincy Jones' beautifully-orchestrated 1978 version of Hancock's "Tell Me a Bedtime Story". Jones has scored Hancock's rhodes solo from the 1969 original version for strings, then brought Hancock in to create new textures around that arrangement. 

TRACKLIST

01 Miles Davis - Stuff (1968)

02 Joe Henderson - Black Narcissus (1969)

03 Miroslav Vitouš - Infinite Search (1970)

04 Freddie Hubbard - Red Clay (1970)

05 Norman Connors - Blue (1972)

06 Milt Jackson - People Make The World Go Round (1973)

07 Norman Connors - Revelation (1974)

08 Freddie Hubbard & Stanley Turrentine ‎– Hornets (1974)

09 Eddie Henderson - Scorpio-Libra (1973)

10 Harvey Mason - Hop Scotch (1975)

11 Joe Farrell - Too High (1974)

12 Norman Connors - Carlos II (1974)

13 Quincy Jones - Tell Me A Bedtime Story (1978)

14 Eddie Henderson - Ecstasy  (1978)

15 Miroslav Vitouš - Epilogue (1970)

It seems that Divshare has died, so all of the previews on previous posts are gone, grrrrr .... I'd appreciate any advice about other players I can use - even during the writing of this post, Soundcloud has deleted a few of my preview excerpts because they sensed what they were. I've re-upped all previews on the blog three times now, and I realise that nothing ever lasts. 

For those of you who are new, there are more rhodes compilations here,  there's a large selection of live Herbie Hancock 1970s bootlegs here, or just browse through the blog for other stuff - it's all active ... for now .... 

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this 20th rhodes compilation - grab it from the links at the top of the post, and please say hi in the comments below, so I know that I'm not just talking to myself.