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HERBIE HANCOCK | Gershwin's World
TRACK LISTING
1 Overture (Fascinating Rhythm)
2 It Ain't Necessarily So
3 The Man I Love
4 Here Come De Honey Man
5 St. Louis Blues
6 Gershwin: Lullaby
7 Blueberry Rhyme
8 It Ain't Necessarly So (Interlude)
9 Cotton Tail
10 Summertime
11 My Man's Gone Now
12 Gershwin: Prelude In C# Minor
13 Ravel: Concerto For Piano And Orchestra In G, Second Movement
14 Embraceable You
Herbie Hancock's 40-year career as a recording artist is graced by a series of astonishing musical landmarks. Few other musicians of the 20th century have exhibited the wide range of interests and mastery of various genres that this jazz legend has brought to his remarkable body of work. Nonetheless, at the age of 58, Hancock still expresses the kinds of irrepressible curiosity and restless creativity that keep him pushing at the boundaries of modern music.
"At this point in my career," Hancock says, "I'm much more interested in projects that have the potential to be events, not just records. I want to do something broad-based that has the potential to reach into the life of people in more ways than just their ears." The wedding of that ambitious artistic vision to his extraordinary musical versatility put Hancock in the perfect position to approach his new Verve recording, Gershwin's World , a far-reaching tribute to the life and times of the great composer who did so much to popularize the jazz and blues idioms.
"I have always loved Gershwin's music," Hancock says. "I want to give respect and tribute to all of George Gershwin's musical origins. The particular genres that Gershwin chose -- classical music, jazz, and pop -- are ones that I've explored, too." Featuring performances by vocal superstars Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell, and Kathleen Battle, and the instrumental contributions of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, pianist Chick Corea, saxophonists Wayne Shorter, James Carter, and Kenny Garrett, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, and bassist Ira Coleman, Gershwin's World finds Hancock applying his unique piano genius not only to classic songs by Gershwin, but to pieces by contemporaries closely associated with Gershwin -- stride piano master James P. Johnson, blues popularizer W. C. Handy, classical composer Maurice Ravel, and jazz giant Duke Ellington.
Hancock probes the essence of Gershwin's muse in exciting new contexts, from the opening "Overture", with its African drum extrapolation of "Fascinating Rhythm", through the final, heartfelt solo treatment of "Embraceable You". But he doesn't stop with Gershwin. The piano duet performance with Corea on Johnson's "Blueberry Rhyme", the powerful Hancock and Stevie Wonder interpretation of Handy's "St. Louis Blues", the sumptuous, orchestra-accompanied improvisation on Ravel's Concerto for Piano in G , and the rousing version of Ellington's "Cotton Tail", with Shorter soloing on tenor, open new windows on the world from which Gershwin emerged and the world he himself influenced. The African-American blues tradition, the musical ferment in Harlem, and French impressionism all inspired Gershwin. In turn, his "I Got Rhythm" became the basis for countless later jazz compositions, including "Cotton Tail".
The concept for Gershwin's World was presented to Hancock by Robert Sadin, who produced album. "Herbie Hancock and I discussed this project for more than a year before we started recording," Sadin explains. "We both felt that to celebrate Gershwin, we wanted to honor his largeness of spirit, the musical and personal generosity which was so characteristic of the man. Also, in searching to penetrate the spirit of his music we wanted to create an album which had elements of jazz, classical music, African music, and some flavors which we couldn't necessarily categorize at all. . . . We wanted to bring out the melodic beauty and rhythmic vitality of Gershwin, but even more, we wanted our work to reflect his searching, adventurous spirit."
That Hancock should devote such energy and commitment to such Gershwin material as "It Ain't Necessarily So", "The Man I Love", "Summertime", and "Prelude in C# minor", as well as the complementary pieces from other composers, is another example of his lifelong quest for new ways to express his own profound creativity and adventurous spirit. Gershwin's World comes from the same man who gave us his stunning 1963 debut as a leader, Takin' Off , the 1973 platinum-selling jazz-rock milestone Headhunters , the unprecedented Grammy®-winning MTV dance hit "Rockit", the 1986 Academy Award-winning score to the film Round Midnight , and the Grammy®-winning 1996 Verve debut The New Standard.
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