VOTD 4/16/2023

 Herbie Hancock: Mwandishi (Warner Bros.)

Purchased at The Attic

It would be an exaggeration to say that Herbie Hancock has always been a musical blind spot for me, but it took me some years to understand his importance. It was some time into adulthood before I really started to dig into the "second classic quintet" of Miles Davis (though was it really the second?) with Herbie, Wayne Shorter, etc. It's practically self-evident to say how important all five players were in that group. Wayne was the obvious star of the group, the way that Eric Dolphy was for the circa 1964 Charles Mingus Band. Herbie might sneakily be the "secret weapon" in the Miles group, pushing the harmonies further into ambiguities while not necessarily calling attention to himself. Similarly, my own opinion is that Jaki Byard did a great deal to drive that Mingus group, able to shift suddenly with the bandleader's whims, recalling much of the history of jazz with his fingers.

There's a some of Herbie's catalog that doesn't interest me. I actually admire that in a way. It means he didn't release the same record over and over. His interests take him in different directions, and I as a listener don't necessarily need to be along for the ride every time. In this respect I could draw a comparison to Willem de Kooning. There are periods of de Kooning's paintings that I don't particularly like, but I admire the fact that they don't all look alike. 

It's very easy to write this, but the shadow of both In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew hangs over this album. The sound is unquestionably similar: Fender Rhodes with delay, bass clarinet, trumpet, percussion (+ trombone and guitar). "You'll Know When You Get There" (written by Herbie) reminds me of some of the excised materials from the IASW sessions, available on the "complete" box set. So too does Julian Priester's "Wandering Spirit Song." The darker "Ostinato (Suite for Angela)" with its driving (if irregular), accelerando vamp takes on more of a Bitches Brew color.

I think this brings to question, how important are those two Miles albums? For that matter, what is "importance"? Is it the original artifact, the original statement, or the influence on others? And is part of historical importance of Bitches Brew be the reaction against it?

Mwandishi seems to me not to be commercial music, whatever that means. There's even a group squonking on the latter portion of the Priester piece. There's a great deal of reserve demonstrated here; you don't hear from some players for some longer stretches of time. It's a good session, but I wonder what it would be like if it was recorded during CD era? Not the content, that would have been different. I'm guessing there'd be more solos, more trading, more shifting, over longer performances.