Herbie Hancock - Live at the Barbican 2004
Both veterans of the Miles Davis Quintet from the mid-1960s, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter have spent the subsequent decades pursuing divergent paths that still manage to cross at regular intervals. For this reunion, they have recruited bassist Dave Holland and Shorter's regular percussionist, Brian Blade, to form a jazz supergroup of sorts - one that doesn't suffer from the battling egos the term usually implies.
The foursome play jazz that thinks on its feet and dances on tiptoe. They never take the obvious route to a musical conclusion, but nor are they lured into obscurity for its own sake. Blade is too subtle a drummer to hammer relentlessly on the beat, but synchronises with the firm, elastic pulse of Holland's double-bass to ensure that the rhythm section can swing ferociously or diffuse into a weightless shimmer at the flip of a coin.
It was only after the first three numbers - during which Hancock pondered chords both allusive and quizzical at the piano, while Shorter alternated between light, fluttery tones and lean, sculpted lines on saxophone - that Hancock got up to speak. "I haven't got anything to say really, I just couldn't sit there any longer," he muttered. But he did offer a few clues about how the quartet work from skeleton arrangements: "We're constantly reclassifying the bones - it's forensic music."
At times the sounds suggested a small boat in distress as Hancock thundered out low-register rumblings amid waterspouts of percussion; then the sun would suddenly come out as Holland stretched the tempo into a confident, loping blues. And when Hancock clanged out honky-tonk chords or dabbled in Debussy, Shorter countered with birdsong or pulsating hard bop.
Sonrisa
Pathways
Footprints
Canteloupe Island
Herbie Hancock – p
Wayne Shorter – s
Dave Holland – db
Brian Blade – d
| SOURCE | FM | SOUND QUALITY | A | FORMAT | Mp3 | BITRATE | 224 | TRACKS # | 4 |
| LOCATION / VENUE | London | Barbican Center | DATE | 05–07–04 | |||||
| NOTES: | This concert is a rare opportunity to witness such massed talent on one stage!!! | ||||||||
Labels: Brian Blades, Dave Holland, Herbie Hancock, JAZZ, Wayne Shorter
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posted by zazafromjohor at 9:18 AM
3 comments
Shorter formed his current band in 2000, the first permanent acoustic group under his leadership, a quartet with young musicians, pianist Danilo Perez, bassist John Patitucci, and drummer Brian Blade, playing his own complex compositions, many of them reworkings of tunes from his substantial portfolio going back to the 1960s. Two albums of live recordings featuring this quartet have been released (Footprints Live (2002) and Beyond the Sound Barrier (2005)). The quartet has received great acclaim from fans and critics, especially for the strength of Shorter's tenor saxophone playing. The Shorter biography Footprints by journalist Michelle Mercer contains an insight into the working life of these musicians as well as insight into Shorter's life, thoughts and Buddhist beliefs. Beyond the Sound Barrier received the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Jazz Album.
