This Sunday we welcome UK pianist Tom O’Grady back to the Floripa stage for a very special evening in tribute to one of the 20th century’s most influential musicians, Herbie Hancock. Anyone who caught Tom’s band Resolution 88 playing at The Jazz Meet late last year will attest they have ‘the groove’ and as he spoke in detail of transcribing some of Herbie’s best-loved compositions in an interview we conducted with him around the same time, it was clear that the pioneering pianist is one of Tom’s musical heroes. As such, when the initial idea to do a Herbie Hancock special was floated earlier in the year (we originally wanted to do it on his birthday weekend back in April), we decided we had to approach Tom again to take care of the live element. He thankfully agreed and now with the gig just days away and after weeks of intensive work behind the scenes by the pianist to get the finer details of the set list tweaked, we thought it about time we caught up with Tom to ask him what actually were his five favourite Herbie tracks. Here’s what he had to say…
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“It is nigh-on impossible to choose five definitive tracks that sum up Herbie’s career; he has been so prolific across so many genres over more than half a century. I tried to think about how I could group my choices in a way that wouldn’t leave people frustrated that I’d left out one of their favourites. I haven’t gone down the route of mentioning really obscure recordings or label my choices as ‘definitive five best…’; in the end, I’ve decided to present five of Herbie’s songs that have affected me most”
Herbie Hancock – Chameleon (from the album ‘Head Hunters’ on Columbia Records, 1973)
An obvious one but an incredible track – this is the reason that ‘Head Hunters’ became the biggest selling jazz album of all time at one point (damn you Kenny G!). People were dancing to this in clubs at the time yet it’s so complex that hundreds of thousands of bands around the world can’t get close to it when they cover it. This is also an example of what could be achieved in the studio – the melody and the bassline are heavily overdubbed / doubled in octaves to create an earthy, fat sound. This also has one of the best synth solos and one of the best Rhodes solos of all time in my opinion too.
Herbie Hancock – I Have A Dream (from the album ‘The Prisoner’ on Blue Note Records, 1969)
I remember once reading somebody say that the instruments were ‘all out of tune’ on this album! Clearly they hadn’t learned to love the dissonance in the harmony. I was really struck by ‘The Prisoner’ album the first time I heard it – Herbie’s arrangements (clearly influenced by Gil Evans) are sublime. This piece is beautiful and Herbie demonstrates so much freedom re-harmonising the parts underneath the melody.
Herbie Hancock – People Music (from the album ‘Secrets’ on Columbia Records, 1976)
This piece blew me away when I first heard it; it is so beautifully mellow. Somebody once said to me that they thought Herbie should have swapped the title of this with ‘Gentle Thoughts’. At this point in his career, Herbie had mastered the playing style for every keyboard in his expanding arsenal – one synth that was heavily used on the ‘Secrets’ album was the Oberheim 8-voice (a mammoth, white-faced synth). One thing I love about this era of Herbie’s playing (and particularly this track) is the voicings Herbie used when playing the Oberheim and Solina etc – and also the sounds he managed to programme. To my ears, the synths still sound really organic (rather than dated).
Herbie Hancock – Come Running To Me (from the album ‘Sunlight’ on Columbia Records, 1978)
This is a masterpiece of arranging / composition, with a rhythm section, orchestral strings and brass – and Herbie’s huge synth collection (see the ‘Sunlight’ LP back cover!). I was torn between choosing this or ‘Sun Touch’ for the same reason, but ‘Come Running To Me’ just shaded it. Every time I hear the strings rise during the Rhodes solo (about 4 minutes in), I get goosebumps. Herbie’s Rhodes sound on this entire album is heavenly – his playing is so fluent too. It’s been great to see Herbie revisit this composition recently (on his 2012 tour).
Herbie Hancock – Butterfly (from the album ‘Thrust’ on Columbia Records, 1974)
It’s a little-known fact that this track could have been released with the ‘Head Hunters’ LP; it was one of eight compositions that were recorded with the original line-up. As it was, they ran out of room on a 33rpm record – ‘Head Hunters’ was eventually put out as four of those tracks with an edited-down version of ‘Chameleon’. That original version of ‘Butterfly’ has still never seen the light of day, which is heartbreaking… anyway, when they re-recorded it for ‘Thrust’, it still became one of the defining songs of Herbie’s career. The gentle, close voicings of the Rhodes, the melody played with soprano sax but doubled with bass clarinet *and* synth, the conga rubs, the Solina fading in and out – this is one of the most beautiful songs Herbie has ever composed – and that’s saying something. It’s also hilarious to see him in videos live from 1974 where he dedicated this song to ‘The Laydeeeyz’.
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For a little insight into what Tom’s been working on in the studio before the gig, take a listen to some of the rehearsal clips that he’s been capturing and uploading to his Soundcloud. In Tom’s own words. the set list will be “heavy on Head Hunters, Thrust and Secrets” era of the musician’s catalogue, so as you can hear from the above videos, you can expect plenty of funk to go with the jazz!
As well as the live set up led by Tom and the band, Jazz Meet resident DJs Rob Coley and Sid Ford will be on hand from 5pm to delve a little further into the Herbie Hancock discography, playing entire sets of his own compositions dating right back to his Blue Note Records period, covers of his tracks by other artists and of course a few other bits and pieces where the pianist acted as sideman in notable settings over the course of his extensive career. Earlier this week, we dropped an alternative take of some Herbie Hancock classics and certainly some of these will make it into the records bags on Sunday, among many more!
Podcast #101: 06.05.13 Herbie Hancock: A Version Excursion by The Jazz Meet on Mixcloud
It all kicks off at 5pm this Sunday at Floripa with the band’s first live set starting around 7.30pm. As always, entry is FREE – we hope to see you there!