Herbie Hancock and Friends - Spotlight (Day 10)

We are nearing the home stretch here with only a couple of posts remaining. Our albums from yesterday were relatively straight ahead and today we will veer back towards the funky. 

First for today is an album that I've read mixed reviews on but I absolutely love. Tempo abound, and adjacent to disco at times, Sunlight was released in 1978 and features Herbie's vocals through the Sennheiser vocoder. Personnel on this one is somewhat complicated because a variety of musicians were used on the 5-track album. If you check this link you can see a better breakdown for each tune.

While the most popular tune from this one is the opening "I Thought It Was You" we definitely have some other gems on here. "Come Running To Me" and "No Means Yes" are equally good, in my opinion. The closing tune "Good Question" has always garnered attention due to beloved bassist Jaco Pastorius being featured, but to me it doesn't quite fit the sound of the rest of the album. Not a bad tune though, by any means. The little app I use for instrumentals struggled with the vocoder so I've only included the original album here.

Next up is our final Bennie Maupin solo album. Also released in 1978, Moonscapes is a wonderful jazz-funk album and my favorite from the reeds expert. Joining Bennie, we have some new faces: Bobby Lyle is on keys and plays wonderfully, Mike Sembello is on acoustic and electric guitar, Abraham La Boriel is on bass, Mingo Lewis is on percussion and Harvey Mason is on drums. 

This one jumps right out of the gate with the great tune "Nightwatch." I love the change a couple minutes in with bassist La Boriel and Lyle on the clavinet setting the pace for Bennie to come in with the tenor. Another one I love is "Anua" which again features a great bassline from La Boriel and a nice piano part from Lyle. Also really dig "Just Give It Some Time" which does flirt with an early smooth jazz sound - but a great tune nonetheless.

1978 also saw the release of another album from trumpeter Eddie Henderson. Mahal was Eddie's second release on Capital and another that I've read mixed reviews on. Again, I absolutely love this one. Mostly familiar faces as we have Herbie Hancock on keys, Bennie Maupin on tenor and saxello, Julian Priester on trombone, Hubert Laws on flute, Ray Obiedo on guitar, Paul Jackson on bass, Bill Summers and Mtume on percussion and Howard King on drums.

This one starts off with a fantastic rendition of Hancock tune "Butterfly" that's worth the price of admission on it's own. A trio of fantastic Mtume tunes follow in "Cyclops", "Emotions" and my favorite, the uptempo "Prance On" which also has a somewhat disco vibe to it. The title track slows the tempo back down and is reminiscent of what we heard on Comin' Through. Another great album from Henderson.

Last for today we're going to have our first album from drummer Tony Williams. Released in 1979, The Joy Of Flying is somewhat of a jazz-rock/fusion masterpiece if you ask me. Quite different from what we've heard from Herbie's trio albums with Williams. Another album with a ton of talent spread out across the various tunes, we have some huge names on this one. This link gives a proper breakdown and you'll see names like George Benson, Stanley Clarke, Herbie Hancock, Michael and Randy Brecker, to name a few. 

I really dig the Benson tune "Hip Skip" which features an entourage of talent. We also have more of a rock vibe than we've heard so far on "Open Fire" which I dig in doses. Favorite tune for me overall is the Clarke tune "Tony" featuring Hancock on keys. A lot of different sounds on this one. Dive in if you're unfamiliar. 

One post left - see you tomorrow.