Herbie Hancock: Great Sessions CD

Personnel: Herbie Hancock (piano); Jerry Dodgion (alto flute); George Coleman (tenor saxophone); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Thad Jones (flugelhorn); Peter Phillips (bass trombone); Ron Carter (bass instrument); Mickey Roker, Tony Williams (drums).
At the same time that he was gaining prominence as a member of Miles Davis's second great quintet, Herbie Hancock embarked on an adventurous solo career, kicking off with a number of superb recordings for Blue Note. Three of those albums--1964's EMPYREAN ISLES, 1965's MAIDEN VOYAGE, and 1968's SPEAK LIKE A CHILD--are collected on Blue Note's GREAT SESSIONS box, providing an excellent cross-section of Hancock's early work.
The albums feature playing from the finest musicians on the jazz scene of the 1960s, including Ron Carter, Tony Williams, Freddie Hubbard, and George Coleman, and also showcase Hancock's fine compositions. With their mix of groove-based jams, lyrical modal flights, and carefully orchestrated, sometimes unusual arrangements (especially on SPEAK LIKE A CHILD), these three discs offer up some of the best and most satisfying post-bop of the era.
This installment of Blue Note's Great Sessions box set wonderfully captures the portrait of an artist as a young man who constantly helped to reinvent the jazz vernacular. The three discs in this set capture Herbie Hancock during the crucial formative years of his exploration of jazz and finding his place as a bandleader. 1964's Empyrean Isles, 1965's Maiden Voyage, and 1968's Speak Like a Child all capture some of Hancock's best performances, and also show how much influence such artists as Miles Davis and Gil Evans had on him. These are the Rudy Van Gelder editions, which were carefully remastered with painstaking attention and also include brand new liner notes giving insight into each of the sessions. If you don't already own these albums, this is a solid purchase and a wonderful way to start exploring the music of one of jazz's most important treasures. ~ Rob Theakston