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The Herbie Hancock Box Set - An Introduction to Herbie's Man

Mark | East Coast | 07/21/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Herbie Hancock from Maiden Voyage is not the same Herbie from Head Hunters. And he is definitely not the same as the Herbie from Future Shock. And if you got interested in Herbie, or perhaps only re-aquainted, after his very successful album of last year, River: The Joni Letters (with Bonus Tracks), then you will be further confused still.



That is because no other living artist truly has covered as much ground in the world of music as Mr. Hancock. And when you are a part of the very demanding and sometimes rigid world of Jazz, no artist can be as confusing as Herbie either.



For starters, I want to admit that while I own many Herbie Hancock albums I have not collected all the various re-releases of his work as I have with other Jazz artists. That is why so much of this box set was a surprise to me. I was surprised to be reminded that he had composed the theme to the movie Death Wish, and even more surprised by the scratch infused hip-hop and break-dancing anthem Rockit being his as well. In that sense this box set provided some education.



And yet the bulk of this box can really be enjoyed on the Maiden Voyage and Head Hunters albums combining live selections from V.S.O.P.: Live Under the Sky and sprinkling in tunes from The Piano and Secrets. So those who already own those albums ( which will probably be 90% of Mr. Hancock's audience ) will find themselves wondering whether this box is worth it for them.



For starters, these recordings showcase great musicians. It comes as no surprise that while Herbie has been a leader of many Jazz greats, the majority of this album was recorded with the VSOP cast of all-stars, which is basically the group that formed Miles Davis' second famous quintet: Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Ron Carter on bass, Tony Williams on drums along with Herbie on keys. The irony of that is that history would have been forever changed if Miles had joined on with Herbie when he stepped out from the shadow. But it was not in the cards.



You must also add in the amazing Wayne Shorter on tenor saxophone, and he has some nice moments on several tracks. You've also got tracks with Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis, and Bobby McFerrin as well.



Where this album really shines is in the remastering. I am not a "remastering purist" and many such re-releases are not "must-owns" as far as I'm concerned. But here you can truly re-hear these albums in their full glory. The amount of nuances and clarity that are added here makes listening to this worthwhile.



I must say that disk 4 of this set might have been re-thought. Some of the fusion and R&B songs are kind of mixed in with the jazz songs in an ordering that may be logical but does not lend to the best listening experience. Perhaps there were not enough disks to include all his best work, but they seem to have chosen to go for the most known works instead.



I think the box is attractive. The product picture makes it look black and white, but it's more purple and white than what it appears. But the box itself, while durable plastic coated cardboard stock, does not seem to be as functional as it could be. No sleeve holds the book inside, and it will slide out easily. This means to protect this over time you will really have to handle it gently.



The book itself has a little paragraph about each song, and appears to be in Herbie's voice. I'm not sure if he actually dictated his notes to somebody or wrote them and had them edited and transcribed into the booklet.



While the content of the liner book is great, the paper seems somewhat stiff and all the photos are monochrome. I really feel like Herbie deserved perhaps a little bit better packaging of a box set with his name on it!



So they may have decided to try to do too much by making a box that's supposed to represent all of Herbie Hancock and yet only including 4 disks. They probably would have done better to create 2 box sets, one jazz only and another with the more experimental fusion works. Or they might have wanted to expand this set out to 5 or 6 disks. Either way, this comes across as an introduction and overview of key albums of his career. It will be most useful for the novice or for those who are not very familiar with Herbie's work.



The other thing that is somewhat perplexing is the way some of the live versions on this set are marked as "album" versions because the original live recordings were taken from the album. Live is live. Just listen to "The Eye of the Hurricane" and you'll know what I mean.



This is a worthwhile purchase as long as you know what you are looking for. I for one am satisfied. While I thought about docking a star for some of the cons, the quality of the remastered recordings themselves just makes me unable to do that. All I have to do is listen to this and all the shortcomings fade away. In that lies the one thing that should make at least some die-hard fans a little happy with this set.



Give it a listen on a very nice headset and you will hear lots to love. And I hope you give this box set a try.



Enjoy!"