Hancock called Mwandishi "my favourite record of all the records I have ever made" in 1971. Surely the music on this album remains some of the most startling and experimental music on Hancock's entire discography, more suited perhaps for the 21st century than the one in which it was created. Just as beautiful as well known blue-note releases such as "Maiden Voyage" and "Speak Like a Child," this music contains a subversive and revolutionary edge (unlike it's predecessors) that still sits it at the forefront of contemporary music thirty years after its original release.
In explaining why he switched to a more funky and accessible style popularized on "Head Hunters" Hancock complaines to Bob Blumenthal in the notes to "Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Bros Recordings" (also definitely worth the purchase) that "I'd go to friends' homes and see my albums on the shelves with lots of other people's records, and they'd play all the others except mine." Sad. Perhaps Hancock didn't know how far ahead he was at the time, but surely time will confirm this blatantly self evident fact, especially with the crystalline sonic-quality evident on reissues of this remarkable offering on CD.
No comments:
Post a Comment