Herbie Hancock recommendations, please

Looking for help in finding some Herbie Hancock material. He has a lot of albums and I was looking for material that was in the Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Steely Dan type of sounds. No atonal/ free form/unstructured, please.

Cheers!

Mwandishi Trilogy (Mwandishi, Crossings, Sextant) are absolutely essential.

Guldbamsen wrote: What you need is the funk fusion trilogy of Headhunters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UbkqE4fpvdI Thrust: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knbmKDUYDXc and Sun Child: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgBrPQCSdW4 I do prefer the three albums preceding them ie the Mwandishi albums, but they are pretty hard to handle if you don't dig the more 'out-there' stuff.

Hancock's Maiden Voyage is my favorite even after all these years....but the bands you mentioned above actually made me think more of Corea. I'm a big fan of Hymn of the 7th Galaxy by Return To Forever.

I like Sextant a lot, the other 2 I've never really warmed up to.

I like Headhunters through Secrets, obviously his overall best period. Jaco's self titled debut album came out in this time period.







After that, he dabbled with electro-pop and disco. I wouldn't call them good albums, but the late 70s and early 80s albums actually have gems among the bland mess. Not worth checking out until you get the more essential stuff, but good stuff, like a crazy instrumental jazz-fusion track on the album Sunlight with Tony Williams and Jaco Pastorius.



But in 1980, Hancock released Mr. Hands, and that album is one of his best, partially because it's mostly "leftovers" from earlier sessions, but wow, they don't sound like leftovers.








Edited by darkshade - February 04 2014 at 12:28

I haven't heard many Herbie albums but I'd recommend 'Man-Child' for it's awesome, technical funkiness. The song 'Bubbles' is a knock-out.

schizoidman wrote: Appreciate all the replies. His catalog is so incredibly huge that I wasn't sure where to start.   To say Thanks I'd like to post this Tommy Bolin tune that I've liked a like for a long time. Maybe you all might like it!

I know the OP is looking for more of Herbie's work in 70s jazz-fusion, but I've come to appreciate some of the lesser talked about Herbie albums, and this ain't a bad place to bring them up.

Future Shock (1983) is a good album, especially for the time it was released in. Of course, everyone knows Rock-It, but there is some great stuff after that big hit. If you're in the mood for more electronic tinged funky grooves with flourishes of jazz-fusion only Herbie Hancock could play, Future Shock is very good. The other 2 albums released after this, Sound System and Perfect Machine, are good, but aren't as essential, and more-of-the-same.




Another good album from Herbie's later career, is The New Standard (1996), which mixes the funk-fusion of the 70s, with more post-bop jazz as well as more world influences heard on the Mwandishi albums. This is all I could find on YouTube.




I also think Herbie's only album to experiment with Acid Jazz is also very good. Dis Is Da Drum (1994) is great if you're into Acid Jazz and features great playing from HH, as well as samples of dialogue heard on V.S.O.P. and other things.

Like been said before Headhunters! And Man Child.Thrust
On a different note I would check out David Sancious the Transformation Speed Of Love 1976 album