#HerbieHancock Is Still Hurtling Forward

Herbie Hancock performs at the BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival in August 2016. (NPR)

August 4, 20179:00 AM ET
NATE CHINEN

There's an emblematic photograph of Herbie Hancock on the back cover of his album Sunlight, which he began recording 40 years ago this month. He's depicted against a red backdrop with a Sennheiser vocoder headset on his cranium, which is bowed in deep focus.

He's also totally boxed in by his keyboards. The LP insert sleeve includes a diagram to help identify them by name: Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer, Sequential Circuits Prophet Synthesizer, ARP 2600, ARP Odyssey, Micro-Moog, Mini-Moog, Poly-Moog. (This is not a complete tally.)


At the time, Hancock had already proven his ability to work in a few divergent modes: taut acoustic postbop, of the sort he'd refined in the Miles Davis Quintet; coloristic chamber-jazz, on albums including Speak Like a Child; and earthy jazz-funk, in and out of his spectacularly successful band The Headhunters. But Sunlight opened yet another door to pop crossover, pushing even some admiring listeners to their limit.

read more at: http://www.npr.org/2017/08/04/541565573/on-the-cusp-of-his-north-american-tour-herbie-hancock-is-still-hurtling-forward