Gershwin's World CD

GERSHWIN'S WORLD won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Individual Or Group. "St. Louis Blues" won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocal(s).
This is a Super Audio CD playable only on Super Audio CD players.
Gershwin's World is a tour de force for Herbie Hancock, transcending genre and label, and ranking among the finest recordings of his lengthy career. Released to coincide with the 100th anniversary of George Gershwin's birth, this disc features jazzman Hancock with a classy collection of special guests. The most surprising of Hancock's guest stars is Joni Mitchell, who delivers a gorgeously sensual vocal on "The Man I Love," then provides an airy, worldly take on "Summertime." On these two tracks, she shows she has come a long way from her folksinger beginnings to become a first-class jazz singer in her own right. Stevie Wonder's unmistakable harmonica complements Mitchell's singing on "Summertime" and shares lead instrument space with his own voice on the W.C. Handy classic "St. Louis Blues." Jazzman extraordinaire Wayne Shorter smokes a solo spot on Duke Ellington's "Cotton Tail" and carves out some space for his soprano saxophone in the midst of "Summertime." A number of the young lions of jazz are featured on various cuts, and Herbie's old pal Chick Corea joins the leader for a piano duet of James P. Johnson's "Blueberry Rhyme." Gershwin's wonderful, extended "Lullaby" finds Hancock teamed with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, as does an attractive arrangement of a "Concerto for Piano and Orchestra" by Maurice Ravel, whose jazz influence can be heard on the piece. In addition, one of the most beautiful tracks on the album places star soprano Kathleen Battle's voice at the forefront of Gershwin's own "Prelude in C# Minor." Yet with all the fine performances by his guests, Gershwin's World remains Hancock's show, and he plays magnificently throughout. From beautiful to funky, percussive to melodic, improvisational to tightly arranged, Hancock and cohorts take a wondrous journey through the music and world of Gershwin. ~ Jim Newsom
The epitome of a 20th Century musician, Herbie Hancock has always traversed wildly divergent stylistic paths, finding his way easily into jazz, funk, fusion, dance-pop and more. His ability to make valid individual statements in all these genres is part of what makes his compositions and performances so rich. So it doesn't seem at all incongrous for Hancock to interpret the work of George Gershwin, redefining much of the Gershwin canon in the process (with assistance from some world-class compatriots). Hancock's stated aim for GERSHWIN'S WORLD is to get inside the pieces, illustrating their essence rather than knocking off rote versions of these standards. Towards that end, "St. Louis Blues" is transmogrified by the soulful vocals and funky chromatic harmonica of Stevie Wonder; "It Ain't Necessarily So" becomes an ominous, angular jazz vamp, with saxmen James Carter and Kenny Garret trading arch, sly interjections. Another genre-buster, Joni Mitchell, makes a case for a potential career as a jazz vocalist via her performance on "The Man I Love" and "Summertime."