5 Herbie Hancock

Inventions & Dimensions

BLUE NOTE, 1963

You say: “Piano, bass and Latin percussion… Distinctively his own sound, loose, improvised. You’ll never tire of this one.” David Mayocchi, via Facebook

From the motorik hustle and rustle of opener Succotash, to the dashing proto-techno urgency of A Jump Ahead, this is a streamlined killer of an LP, Hancock tight and fast, using the piano to explore rhythm, melody, and the economical use of space, backed by Paul Chambers’ dubby bass, Willy Bobo’s tight rimshot drums and the Latin percussion of Osvaldo Martinez. Long dismissed by snooty jazz purists as a failed experiment, it deserves to be rediscovered, if it hasn’t already been, by a new generation of listeners and musicians raised on rhythm, repetition and beat.