INFINITE SPIRIT - Revisiting Music of the Mwandishi Band
FMR record FMR CD 398-0915
Bob Gluck: piano, electronics; Jabali Billy Hart: drums; Mganga Eddie Henderson: trumpet; Christopher Dean Sullivan: bass
After he left the Miles band, Herbie Hancock took the Swahili name Mwandishi and set about exploring further the rich electronic sounds he’d been brewing since the mid 1960s. On albums such as Mwandishi (1971) and Crossings (1972), these sounds found a febrile mix with a broad range of percussion to produce some of his most interesting tunes. Two of the artists on this set, Hart and Henderson, were with Hancock during that time and appear here with the Swahili names that they took in the Mwandishi band. The tracks are from these classic albums – ‘You know when you get there’ (track 2) from Mwandishi, and ‘Sleeping Giant’ (track 1), ‘Water Torture’ (track 5) and ‘Quasar’ (the second half of track 3) from Crossings. These Hancock or Bennie Maupin pieces are accompanied by originals from Sullivan, ‘Spirit Unleashed’ (track 4) and Gluck, ‘Sideways’ (the first half of track 3).
The inspiration for revisiting these pieces came from Gluck as he wrote his 2102 book “You’ll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band” (University of Chicago Press). For this book (which is recommended as a great account of an often overlooked period in jazz history), Gluck interviewed Hancock’s band mates (Hancock himself is a notoriously private person who shuns interviews) and each talks about the near spiritual experience of collective improvisation and exploration of new sound-worlds by the band. I guess that their enthusiasm for that time of their careers might have sparked a desire to recreate something along similar lines.
So, how well does this line-up reflect the original pieces? I think that it is testament to the respect that the players have for each other and for Hancock’s legacy that there is little sense of slavish repetition here. Rather, the mood, spirit and underlying logic of the original pieces are noted and then developed in new directions. These directions build from Hart’s percussion, with time signatures shifting from 11/4 to 7/4 and back again, and with the bubbling, seething electronics that Gluck feeds in to the mix. To some extent, there is bravery on Gluck’s part in taking on the piano role on these pieces, but his playing is so different from Hancock’s that this also gives an original feel to the pieces. Indeed, apart from some of the better known themes and bridges from the originals, this band is really pushing for different sounds and textures. As always Henderson’s trumpet appears in a variety of guises, sometimes clear, sometimes muted, sometimes distorted, but always with the right notes at the right time. What is also interesting here is the way that pieces originally played in a sextet (with Bennie Maupin on sax, clarinet, flute etc. and Julian Priester on trombones) or septet (with the addition of Patrick Gleeson’s moog) are reshaped for the quartet here. The enthusiasm of the playing contrasts neatly with the respect with which the pieces are handled to produce a very listenable set and fitting tribute to some great jazz. The CD is dedicated to the memory of Ornette Coleman and comes with gratitude to the other members of the Mwandishi Band. I think that they will all appreciate and enjoy the way that these pieces shape up here.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
FMR record FMR CD 398-0915
Bob Gluck: piano, electronics; Jabali Billy Hart: drums; Mganga Eddie Henderson: trumpet; Christopher Dean Sullivan: bass
After he left the Miles band, Herbie Hancock took the Swahili name Mwandishi and set about exploring further the rich electronic sounds he’d been brewing since the mid 1960s. On albums such as Mwandishi (1971) and Crossings (1972), these sounds found a febrile mix with a broad range of percussion to produce some of his most interesting tunes. Two of the artists on this set, Hart and Henderson, were with Hancock during that time and appear here with the Swahili names that they took in the Mwandishi band. The tracks are from these classic albums – ‘You know when you get there’ (track 2) from Mwandishi, and ‘Sleeping Giant’ (track 1), ‘Water Torture’ (track 5) and ‘Quasar’ (the second half of track 3) from Crossings. These Hancock or Bennie Maupin pieces are accompanied by originals from Sullivan, ‘Spirit Unleashed’ (track 4) and Gluck, ‘Sideways’ (the first half of track 3).
The inspiration for revisiting these pieces came from Gluck as he wrote his 2102 book “You’ll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock and the Mwandishi Band” (University of Chicago Press). For this book (which is recommended as a great account of an often overlooked period in jazz history), Gluck interviewed Hancock’s band mates (Hancock himself is a notoriously private person who shuns interviews) and each talks about the near spiritual experience of collective improvisation and exploration of new sound-worlds by the band. I guess that their enthusiasm for that time of their careers might have sparked a desire to recreate something along similar lines.
So, how well does this line-up reflect the original pieces? I think that it is testament to the respect that the players have for each other and for Hancock’s legacy that there is little sense of slavish repetition here. Rather, the mood, spirit and underlying logic of the original pieces are noted and then developed in new directions. These directions build from Hart’s percussion, with time signatures shifting from 11/4 to 7/4 and back again, and with the bubbling, seething electronics that Gluck feeds in to the mix. To some extent, there is bravery on Gluck’s part in taking on the piano role on these pieces, but his playing is so different from Hancock’s that this also gives an original feel to the pieces. Indeed, apart from some of the better known themes and bridges from the originals, this band is really pushing for different sounds and textures. As always Henderson’s trumpet appears in a variety of guises, sometimes clear, sometimes muted, sometimes distorted, but always with the right notes at the right time. What is also interesting here is the way that pieces originally played in a sextet (with Bennie Maupin on sax, clarinet, flute etc. and Julian Priester on trombones) or septet (with the addition of Patrick Gleeson’s moog) are reshaped for the quartet here. The enthusiasm of the playing contrasts neatly with the respect with which the pieces are handled to produce a very listenable set and fitting tribute to some great jazz. The CD is dedicated to the memory of Ornette Coleman and comes with gratitude to the other members of the Mwandishi Band. I think that they will all appreciate and enjoy the way that these pieces shape up here.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
