Sextant, an album by Herbie Hancock, released in 1973, along with Mwandishi and Crossings, forms a wonderful trilogy that blends traditional jazz with "electric" funk, with what was dubbed the "electric twist."
This is a 2012 reissue on 180g vinyl.
Herbie Hancock is an American pianist, keyboardist, and composer, born in Chicago in 1940, who has explored various genres with excellence and mastery, from jazz, fusion, and funk to an innovative use of electronics. He debuted with the great Miles Davis in the Miles Davis Quintet and achieved success primarily as a soloist with iconic albums such as Maiden Voyage and Head Hunters, which helped define the fusion and funk sound.
An album dominated by synthesizers, sounds from outer space, mechanical and fluid sounds in motion, tube calculators, acoustic bass grooves, and cascades of bits.
The three tracks are all masterpieces: "Rain Dance," "Hidden Shadows," and "Hornets." These are complex compositions with a pioneering use of synthesizers. The most ambitious of these is undoubtedly "Hornets," a song about which I quote a full review from the internet: "It synthesizes in its nineteen minutes all of Hancock's 1973 knowledge, blending slurred brass and dimensional passages, wah-wah synths and chattering cymbals, off-beat rhythms and sweat, in a riot of edges that almost stuns."
The work of genius by a genius, to be listened to in one go at full volume.
Note: All links to the musicians' works are in the TAGS under the article title or on the "Artists" page.
Tracklist
1. Rain Dance (9:18)
2. Hidden Shadows (10:12)
3. Hornets (19:31)
Duration 39:02
LineUp
- Herbie Hancock - Steinway piano, Fender Rhodes, Mellotron, Hohner D6 clavier, handclaps
Featuring:
- Bennie Maupin - soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, piccolo, cabasa, kazoo
- Eddie Henderson - trumpet, flugelhorn
- Julian Priester - bass, tenor and alto trombones, cowbell
- Patrick Gleeson - ARP 2600 and Soloist synthesizers
- Buster Williams - electric bass (with wah-wah and fuzz) and acoustic bass
- Billy Hart - drums
- Buck Clarke - congas, bongos
- Billy Bonner - effects
