Herbie Hancock and Friends - Spotlight (Day 8)

Back again and we have a variety of sounds for our next batch of albums. 

First for today we have the double live album VSOP which features tunes from 3 different bands led by Hancock. The first 4 tunes are from The VSOP Quintet featuring Ron Carter on bass, Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, Wayne Shorter on sax and Tony Williams on drums. Nothing to see here except for 5 legends making a little music together. Great version of "Maiden Voyage" and "Eye Of The Hurricane" before we move on. 

The next 2 tunes are from the Mwandishi band with Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Julian Priester on trombone, Bennie Maupin on flute, Buster Williams on bass and Billy Hart on drums. Here we have "Toys" and "You'll Know When You Get There" before we switch up the group for the final 2 tunes. 

For the final 2 tunes we have The Headhunters band with Maupin on saxophone, Ray Parker Jr. and Wah Wah Watson on guitar, Paul Jackson on bass and James Levi on drums. "Hang Up Your Hang Ups" and a great version of "Spider" which are the highlights for me, personally. All in all a great live album with something for everyone. 

Lucky for us we have another Eddie Henderson album for today. Released in 1977 on Captial, Comin' Through is another fantastic offering from the trumpeter. Julian Priester is here on trombone, George Cables is on piano, Paul Jackson is on bass, Patrice Rushen and Mtume on percussion with Howard King on drums. The funkiest of the Henderson albums so far we start off with great tempo on "Say You Will." I absolutely love Eddie's sound on this album. "Morning Song" slows the tempo way down and Jackson on bass with Eddie's soft trumpet is a delight. Another funky one in "Movin' On" followed up by "Return To The Source" that again features a great bassline from Jackson. "The Funk Surgeon" might be the best tune here and it sounds about as you'd expect. I'm not sure when Eddie started getting criticized for veering "too commercial" with his sound - but it better not have been after this gem.

We also have another one from Julian Priester. This time released under Julian Priester and Marine Intrusion, Polarization is a bit more accessible than Love, Love. All new faces on this one as far as I can tell. Joining Julian we have Ron Stallings on tenor and soprano sax, Curtis Clark on piano, Ray Obiedo on electric and acoustic guitar, Mark Williams on bass with Augusta Lee Collins on drums.

We start off with the title track that is nearly solo Priester which leads to "Rhythm Magnet" which has a nice groove to it. "Wind Dolphin" is more free/avant-garde which is OK but doesn't do too much for me. "Coincidence" is a nice tune from Obiedo featuring his acoustic guitar. "Scorpio Blue" is a beautiful tune from Clark that begins with a nice 4-minute solo intro from Priester. He and Clark play wonderfully together here. Another Clark tune in "Anatomy Of Longing" closes this one out and sums up quite well the different sounds of the album. A little groovy at times and a little out there during others. A nice tune to finish up on.  

We're going to squeeze one more in for today. We've yet to have an album from drummer Billy Hart. Enchance was released in 1977 on Horizon and has a few familiar faces as well as some new. On trumpet and flugelhorn we have Eddie Henderson, on trumpet and koto we have Hannibal Marvin Peterson, on alto sax and flute we have Oliver Lake and on tenor sax we have Dewey Redman. On piano we have Don Pullen and on bass we have Buster Williams and Dave Holland. Described as free/avant-garde, this one is a bit scattered and out there at times. "Layla-Joy" is my personal favorite and it's maybe the most accessible tune of the lot. 

I hope you dig!