FunkFreak75 The band is loose and funked up, maybe having more fun now that they're all so comfortable with each other, and with Herbie really going out there with his experimentations into electronic keyboards and sounds but, on the other end, there seems to be less attention to quality sound engineering on this album than on Mwandishi and Crossings.

Line-up / Musicians: - Herbie Hancock / Steinway piano, Fender Rhodes, Mellotron, Hohner D6 clavinet, handclaps With: - Bennie Maupin / soprano sax, bass clarinet, piccolo, cabasa, kazoo - Eddie Henderson / trumpet, flugelhorn - Julian Priester / bass, tenor & alto trombones, cowbell - Patrick Gleeson / ARP 2600 & Soloist synths - Buster Williams / electric (with wah-wah & fuzz) & acoustic basses - Billy Hart / drums - Buck Clarke / congas, bongos - Billy Bonner / Fx

1. "Rain Dance" (9:18) lots of experimental sounds here (mostly synthesizer generated). Drums and bass are probably the two most prominent and loyal to their acoustic origins than any other instrument here. As a matter of fact, there is very little input from the horn players on this one. Interesting for the fact that it previews the later world of computer sounds and sequencers but not really a song that I enjoy or wish to hear repeatedly. On the outlying edges of what I'd call music. (17/20)

2. "Hidden Shadows" (10:12) funky with quite a variety of keyboards under Herbie's hand (including Mellotron!), there is quite a bit more dynamic range in this sonic presentation of this song than that of the previous Mwandishi albums. (18/20)

3. Hornets (19:31) I wouldn't doubt that this song was the inspiration for the famous SNL "Killer Bees" sketches a year or two later, as trumpet, clavinet, kazoo, ARP, percussion, and other crazed sounds coming from Bennie Maupin all contribute to a serious attempt to reproduce the chaotic busy-ness of the eusocial wasps known as "hornets." Crazy yet brilliant, chaotic yet so disciplined and focused. Just like hornets. Though Herbie and Billy Hart make a strong play for the title, Bennie Maupin, however, is by far the craziest hornet of them all. Entertaining and fun/funny, historically important, but not really a song that draws me back. (I wonder if the band were able to replicate this song live, in concert.) (34.5/40)

Total Time 39:02

B/four stars; a solid piece of progressive rock music from the domain of experimental jazz-rock fusion--where it may be deserving of more acclaim and accolades.

FunkFreak75 Herbie's first studio album since decommissioning his Mwandishi project. Herbie is stated to have said that he was tired of the spacey, high-end stuff and just wanted to bring it back down to Earth with some funk. It is important when listening to this album to remember how influential it was: both to other artists as well as on the tastes of the popular ear; this was, after all, at the time (until the 1976 phenomenon of George Benson's Brezzin'), the highest selling jazz album of all-time! 1. "Chameleon" (15:41) the opening funk bass sound and line lets us know right off the bat what's going to be different about this music compared to the famous "Mwandishi sound" of Herbie's previous three years of work: Funk is paramount here. The problem here is how long Herbie stays affixed to a particular pattern and motif: it's as if it takes him 30 measures to get the feel of a pattern enough to be able to play within much less diverge or solo above it. I don't know if the rhythm section (or engineer) realized that they were speeding up in the sixth minute, beneath Herbie's funky ARP Soloist solo, but it's awkward for a bit until they all return to the pocket. At 7:40 there is a reset to let Paul Jackson and Harvey Mason reset their rhythm pattern. Now we're in Fender Rhodes territory--the soundscape that will become BOB JAMES' standard/go-to palette. Paul and percussionist Bill Summers start playing off one another, which is highly entertaining despite Herbie supposedly being in the lead up top. Harvey's innovative use of the hi-hat here might also have served to influence all future Disco drummers. I prefer this middle section to the opening one. At the 12-minute mark there is a reset bridge with those rich ARP strings and panning Fender Rhodes play. J-R Fuse Heaven! Now this is where Smooth Jazz came from! At 13:15 there is another reset bridge that allows the band to restart the opening motif. Here Bennie Maupin finally gets some front-time on his tenor sax. Nice. A song that contains so much innovation I can't justify down-rating it despite my not really liking the majority of it. (27/30)

2. "Watermelon Man" (6:29) a very popular song that is denigrated by the fact that to me it is a very thinly-veiled revisitation on Dobie Gray's big hit from 1964 (a Billy Page compostion), "The 'In' Crowd." Then there is the presence at the opening and ending of the odd breath and voice percussion (what would probably inspire a whole generation of Bobby McFerrins. (8.875/10)

3. "Sly" (10:18) a reference to the "Sly" of the Family Stone? What starts out deceptively in some disarray becomes, quite suddenly, at the two-minute mark, a meteoric flight through high altitude with bass, drums, percussion, and clavinet all rushing wildly along in a very loose weave beneath Bennie Maupin's wild soprano saxophone play. Then Herbie gets a turn on his Fender electric piano. The man is so smooth! Paul Jackson's low end bass play paired up with Harvey Mason's hi-hat and cymbal work is pure genius! Somebody (Bennie Maupin) must be playing the clavinet beneath/alongside Herbie's two-handed Fender Rhodes exposition. I have to admit that I'd never really appreciated the drumming of Harvey Mason before this--cuz I'd never heard anything quite like this before. High marks for the extraordinary work of that dynamic middle section. (19/20)

4. "Vein Melter" (9:10) It would seem here that Harvey's semi-automatic militaristic snare and hi-hat riff would run contrary to the somber, etheric world being created by the rest of the band, but somehow it all works (except the ARP sounds: they sound so dated!) My favorite part is hearing Bennie Maupin playing with such feeling and emotion without having to blast it or even raise his "voice." Also, you can hear here the reverberating Fender Rhodes electric piano sound that everybody will be using over the next ten years: KOOL AND THE GANG "Summer Madness," Donald Fagen/STEELY DAN, BOZ SCAGGS Silk Degrees and so many more. (17.5/20)

Total Time 41:38

Thrust is my favorite Herbie album.

A-/five stars; a minor-masterpiece (and landmark album) of Jazz-Rock Fusion.

FunkFreak75 An album of brave, masterful performances, production, and mutually supportive collaboration--the first in a series of albums produced over the course of three years in which experimental techniques in collaboration, song structure, and sound manipulation were radically explored. Even the discordant, unstructured 'free jazz' parts of "Wandering Spirit Song" are eminently listenable, enjoyable, even add to the spiritual 'letting go' space and process that the band has lulled you into by that time. Though some people choose to begin this period of Herbie's creativity with the 1969 album Fat Albert's Rotunda because it marked his first release under his new Warner Brothers label after some years in the Blue Note stable, I choose to begin with this album due to the fact that it's the first appearance of the lineup of musicians that he played with over the next five years--his so-called "Mwandishi sextet."

1. "Ostinato (for Angela)" (13:10) starts the album off with an incredibly infectious groove and many fascinating production effects that introduce the listener to the new Herbie: Engineer and Producer. Herbie's fender playing is the glue over which his band mates perform highly entertaining, often unusual solos, but these are never obtrusive or outside or above the thread and weave of the group's mix (a feat due, in part, to the recording engineering). The use of two drummers (at times flanged!) and along with a percussionist is, to my ears, highly entertaining and enjoyable. Eddie Henderson's lead trumpet play is great, as is Bennie Maupin's bass clarinet, but it's Herbie's keyboard work that I find most engaging--whether it's in the lead or support role. Again, however, it's the effects used on the instruments and track orientations that make the sound of this song so ground-breaking and fascinating. (23/25)

2. "You'll Know When You Get There" (10:15) is a beautiful piece of kind of ambient jazz in which echo and space, slow tempo, and subtlety are kings for the day. It's easy to float off and let go of this one, but so worth paying attention if you can/when you do. The first half is almost an Eddie Henderson solo but then the music congeals again in a truly beautiful and intricate weave in the fifth minute. Great bass play from Buster Williams and awesome interplay of sometimes-conflicting or tension-building melodies by Herbie, Bennie, and others. Truly a masterpiece of experimental jazz music. (19/20)

3. "Wandering Spirit Song" (21:28) My favorite of this album of sublime music. This is for me a soundtrack for deep spiritual introspection and regeneration. Amazing things music can do! Definitely a masterpiece of music--offering the highest gifts to humans that other humans can give: transportation and transcendence. Kudos to Buster, Herbie, and the horn players and percussionists for this mighty piece. (37/40)

Total Time 44:50

A/five stars; a masterpiece of experimental jazz fusion and, by inclusion, a milestone in progressive rock music. Despite the fact that I like the lineup's next album, Crossings, better (due, I think to the fresh injection provided by Patrick Gleeson's synthesizers and the all-female background vocalists), this one rates slightly better on my Fishscales metric system (in the Top 25, in fact).

FunkFreak75 Of Herbie's three Mwandishi sextet/septet albums, this is my favorite. Here the band (now a septet since the official addition of synthesizer guru Patrick Gleeson) is more seasoned, working seamlessly, almost effortlessly, in cohesion. The music feels more rehearsed, more repeatable, and still quite organic despite the addition of Patrick Gleeson's synthesizers and the advent of spacier sonic backdrops. The production is so clean and clear, with each instrument standing prominently in the mix wherever its place. (The previous album had a more equanimous washed feel to it and the next album Sextant suffered from poor sound engineering.)

1. "Sleeping Giant" (24:48) Herbie's lone compositional credit on the album manages to fill an entire side of the album and, to my ears, represents the most structured jazz-like tune on the album. Opening with an awesome polyrhythmic percussive tribute to Africa, the song jumps into more Western-friendly arenas with bass and electric piano in the fourth minute. This is a sonic palette and style that will be replicated with much success by the likes of Emir Deodato and Brian Auger within the next year. A song that plays out like a smooth MILES DAVIS song (despite the Fat Albert-like theme interjected into the twelfth minute). (46.25/50)

2. "Quasar" (7:25) though the structure and flow are quite unusual and experimental, the sounds used, for the most part, are pretty straightforward traditional jazz instruments. (14/15)

3. "Water Torture" (13:54) piccolo and percussion and strange ARP and Moog sounds open this Bennie Maupin composition, truly mimicking some of the sounds of water. That feeling and sensation of waterflow somehow is maintained continuously, though in varying forms, throughout this extraordinary piece. After 90 seconds an actual musical soundscape is built around bass, keys, and clarinet while percussives and trumpet play around on the edges. (28/30)

Total Time 46:21

A/five stars; a masterpiece of progressive rock music coming from the jazz-rock fusion subgenre. My favorite of Herbie's three "Mwandishi" albums--earning a Top 20 ranking among my Favorites.

FunkFreak75 After the final sessions with his Mwandishi collaborators, Herbie was all-in for the Funk and all-in for exploring the latest sounds that technology could provide. Thrust is the result of his deep dive--on of the first jazz artists and jazz albums to take music into the Second, more melodic and pop-oriented, Wave of Jazz-Rock Fusion.

Line-up / Musicians: - Herbie Hancock / ARP Odyssey, 2600, String & Soloist synths, Fender Rhodes, Hohner D6 Clavinet, co-producer With: - Bennie Maupin / soprano & tenor saxophones, saxello, bass clarinet, alto flute - Paul Jackson / electric bass - Mike Clark / drums - Bill Summers / percussion

1. "Palm Grease" (10:37) using simpler structures, simpler melodic hooks, simpler more pop-oriented rhythm patterns, Herbie turns his music into a product that is more oriented toward the entertainment of the masses instead of something trying to impress the traditionalists. The musicians he has chosen to surround himself on this one are, of course, incredibly solid but also carry that single-minded vision of serving the masses and thus help in producing eminently listenable, enjoyable, and danceable songs. Great drumming from Mike Clark and great bass play from Paul Jackson while Bennie Maupin and Herbie test all the funk sound boundaries with their futuristic sounds. (17.75/20)

2. "Actual Proof" (9:40) with the smooth synth strings and floating flute, this one crosses both the Stevie Wonder-like funk and Bob James-like Smooth Jazz worlds despite the wonderfully funky bass and clavinet play. From a keyboard-perspective, this song lets me know that Herbie had heard Eumir DEODATO's hit-generating music from Prelude. From a bass and drums perspective I can hear that Paul Jackson and Mike Clark had been hearing the stuff that Buster Williams and Stanley Clarke as well as Billy Cobham and Lenny White were doing since the Bitches Brew sessions; just stupendous play from both of them! One of the coolest funk-laden Smooth Jazz songs you will ever hear! (19.75/20)

3. "Butterfly" (11:17) awesome late night cabana smooth jazz with Bennie Maupin's bass clarinet and saxello carrying a lot of the melody load--but from the back! Herbie sits back with his synth strings supporting the scene for the first two minutes before revealing his clavinet and Fender Rhodes while Bennie solos. The drums, percussion and bass are simple--like a good R&B rhythm section in relax and groove mode throughout Bennie's two-plus minute solo. Herbie takes the next extended solo--for the next five mintues!--on his Fender. Lovely. What a great earworm of a bass riff! At 7:00 Herbie moves to his clavinet for a bit and, with it, the band into a great funkified variation of the main theme before he returns to a more vibrant solo form on his Fender. (19/20)

4. "Spank-A-Lee" (7:12) an exercise in pure funk à la the recent STEVIE WONDER work (think "Boogie on Reggae Woman"). The four rhythmatists are wonderful--and obviously having a great time grooving with one another, but from the one-minute mark on it's really the Bennie Maupin show and I'm not really a sax man. While not as catchy or melodic as the previous songs, it is still demonstrative of some mighty high talent. (13.375/15)

Total Time 38:46

I think that humble, uber-talented bandleader Herbie Hancock here demonstrates that he is finally convinced that his keyboard playing can be front and center--as the main attraction--and that all of the funk tendencies taking over the radio waves and technological advances going on in keyboard instrumentation needed tending to--and advantage taken of. While I loved his 1960s work and his Mwandishi period, I am LOVING this stuff WAY more!

A/five stars; a certifiable masterpiece of Second Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion, my favorite Herbie album of all-time, and one of my favorite albums in the J-R Fuse lexicon.