 | Tracklist:
1. Maiden Voyage
2. The Eye of the Hurricane
3. Little One
4. Survival of the Fittest
5. Dolphin Dance
Release Date: 1965 | |
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On 7 Lists
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| Summary: A modal Jazz record that holds together beautifully, with introspective textures and moods. |
2 of 4 thought this review was well written
Herbie Hancock's Empyrean Isles showed him writing adventurous, sometimes introspective pieces of Modal Jazz. His experimentation with different textures, and moods was realized with it's predecessor, Maiden Voyage.
Herbie Hancock's band was:
Freddie Hubbard â€" Trumpet
George Coleman â€" Tenor saxophone
Herbie Hancock â€" Piano
Ron Carter â€" Bass
Tony Williams â€" Drums
On Maiden Voyage, Hancock used his band as his tools in creating his masterpiece. While one of members took the lead, usually either Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, George Coleman on tenor saxophone, or Hancock himself on Piano, the rest of the band would create a solidifying rhythm, that would follow the leads, but not try and top them. The solos run freely with the rest of the band, and aren't constricted by anything the rest of the band does. It created a new dimension of mood and texture to the music that would not be there if everyone in the group was just soldering off into different directions of self-indulgent solos. In this way, it's obvious Hancock was taking notes from his mentor, the great Miles Davis. And while Davis might've loosened things up in terms of leads and maybe even self indulgence, Hancock's textures would've been much less introspective if Davis didn't show him the ropes.
Instead of Freddie Hubbard trying to bring old fashioned playing in and overshadowing the very introspective leads that I've mentioned many times, he adds to the textures and moods, while bringing fast paced solos that often goes straight into the tenor saxaphone. Sometimes they are undistinguishable, and flow together, note by note. All in all, the lead players relent throught the record, and give the rhythm section much to work with.
The piano playing is very relaxed, but at the same time it has a soul. The piano playing is probably the most improvised aspect of the record. It dosen't seem to hold too tightly to what Hancock wrote, but it can also hold together with the rhythm section nicely.
Sometimes, the entire band takes a big leap, and plays together, note by note, and creates some of the most intricate harmonies I've heard. It takes the introspective textures mentioned before and keeps them running ingeniously throughout the record. The fleeting rhythm section of Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums) gives the album a Hard Bop flavor, that Hancock had been digging out since his early days on his first record, Takin' Off, but giving it a fast paced tempos that drove into Hard Bop, even shuttling the term post-bop. The bass playing of Ron Carter playing is fairly bouncy, but mainly stays low and adds precise rhythm even if it is slow in he mix at times. Tony Williams more often finds his rhythm in his cymbals, sometimes overshadowing the rest of the preformance with a overbearing cymbal crash. But he retreats to his bass and snares enough to keep the beat flowing and to show the rhythm an album like this needs.
At times the solos might slip off, and the band might take it too far, but they still find themselves back on track eventually, usually to show off the backing rhythm, or start off another solo. So despite not being as adventurous and as time killing as his previous works, it still proves itself influential for it's introspective textures, harmonies, and solos.
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| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
>: ( I was writing a review for this you 32r*@!Rjf031jh1$.
For some reason this review sounds like you've wiki'd or googled this album and paraphrased the one which sounded the best and which fit most effectively with your opinion. Comparing the way this is written to your posts, it's easy to see a clear difference and either you've been using microsoft word's thesaurus to make it sound better (Quoting Jom, "Sacrosanct synonymy Batman!") or you didn't write it, idk.
And anyway, this review is far too short for such an expansive album.
| | | Album Rating: 4
This album is excellent, it's certaintly Hancocks finest accomplishment if you don't include his funk stuff. This review was pretty good however I disagree about Herbie's piano playing being the most "improvised" on the album. The majority of his playing is just simple chords and cadences.
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modal album eh? Skim over some of your sentences, some of them are missing words.This Message Edited On 07.13.07
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[quote=review]The exceptional rhythm section of Ron Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums)[/quote]
That sentence would suggest so, as its word for word AMG. There are alot of other similarities between AMG's review and this, and it seems that at the very least you used it as a primary reference.
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Hmmm I compared them and there are a few similiarites. I might have to change this up a bit...
Digging: Lil Wayne - Dedication 2 Digging: Lil Wayne - Dedication 2
| | | Album Rating: 4
Not my favorite Hancock record, but its still a realy good listen. The review was realy good too.
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Hancock is pretty damn good, so I'm going to check this one out.
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John Hancock...It was Heeeerbie Hancock!
I have Rockit and that's it. I've been wanting to check this album out for a long time though. good review btw.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Love this album. Does anybody else have an other recommendations for modal jazz?
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Probably his best jazz album IMO. Plays a bit like Kind of Blue-lite at times though, not that that's
strictly a bad thing
Digging: Trojan Records - Trojan Ska Box Set Digging: Trojan Records - Trojan Ska Box Set | | | Album Rating: 4
i like herbies modal stuff better than miles tbh... i mean i dig miles stuff more when he played with hancock/carter/williams/shorter but kind of blue doesnt move me the way this or empyrean isles does.
and i would say empyrean isles is better than this.
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miles modal stuff is too laid back a lot of the time. the tracks from these sessions get crazy heavy. i'm seeing shorter tomorrow pretty much gonna melt.
Digging: ASAP Rocky - Live.Love.A$AP.
| | | Album Rating: 4
fuck yeah who is he playing with?
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its a quartet featuring no one as old/legendary as himself but who really cares. seriously going to be so rad.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
shorter is a god
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definitely one of if not the greatest surviving player/composer of his or any period of jazz history.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I'd drink to that
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although there's still chick, herbie and tyner around from his era too so idk. regardless, he's the man.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I always thought Hancock>Corea in terms of his recorded work, if not technical skill. Chick did some awesome stuff, with Return to Forver especially, but I don't reckon it's on the same level as this or Headhunters, or indeed Herbie's work on E.S.P and Jack Johnson
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have only listened to Head Hunters so far (a classic for me), I should listen to his other acclaimed works as well
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