{"id":41,"date":"2007-10-13T10:58:43","date_gmt":"2007-10-13T14:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/2007\/10\/herbie_enriches_joni\/"},"modified":"2011-04-28T16:35:05","modified_gmt":"2011-04-28T20:35:05","slug":"herbie_enriches_joni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2007\/10\/herbie_enriches_joni.html","title":{"rendered":"Herbie enriches Joni"},"content":{"rendered":"

A decade ago, pianist Herbie Hancock established his “New Standards” initiative, aiming to wed sophisticated improvisation to a contemporary American pop songbook (post-Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, et al). At last, after several disastrous attempts, he’s justified such a project with River: The Joni Letters<\/i><\/a> — infusing well-known high art pop songs by inimitable Joni Mitchell with the depth of lyrical, inspired jazz.<\/p>\n


\nMitchell demonstrates her mastery of story-song and narrative singing on “Tea Leaf Prophecy,” while Corinne Bailey Rae is hypnotically compelling on “River.” Tina Turner, Luciana Souza and Norah Jones vocalize, too, and poet Leonard Cohen declaims. But the unexpected beauty of this album comes from the variegated soli and obligatti of saxophonist Wayne Shorter (whose composition “Nefertiti” is explored at length), subtle rhythmic ambiance provided by guitarist Lionel Louke, bassist Dave Holland and drummer Vinnie Colaluta, and most especially the creativity of Hancock himself.
\nAs a pianist-composer-electric keyboardist going on five decades Hancock has recorded more rangily than anyone else. His Maiden Voyage<\/i><\/a> of 1965 is one of my lifelong favorite albums (I’m only linking to most highly recommended albums below), a re-envisioning of his then-employer Miles Davis’ modal masterpiece Kind of Blue<\/i><\/a> with Miles bandmates Ron Carter (bass), Tony Williams (drums) and George Coleman (tenor sax) plus wunderkind trumpeter Freddie Hubbard; its predecessor from ’64 Empyrean Isles<\/i><\/a> (same team without Coleman) is also fine. Hancock hit heights of experimentalism post Miles’ In A Silent Way<\/i><\/a>) with his early ’70s Mwandishi band (on Crossings<\/i> and ) and has touched nadirs of dullness (everything from his mid ’70s-early ’80s South California period to such recent duds as Future2Future<\/i> and the Starbucks star-studded bust Possibilities<\/i>). He has written persuasive crossover hits (the boogaloo “Watermelon Man,” the fusion anthem “Chameleon,” the hip-hop\/turntable mega-seller “Future Shock”), scored memorable movies (Blow-Up<\/i>, Death Wish<\/i>, ‘Round Midnight<\/i>, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling<\/i>, <\/i>Harlem Nights<\/i>), and hosted a hip PBS music series (yes, there has been at least one), Rock School<\/i> (the other is the regrettably unavailable late ’70s WTTW-production Soundstage<\/i>).
\nHancock has worked to re-establish the mainstream (with V.S.O.P. and his 1980 sponsorship of Wynton Marsalis) and has also released projects of severe abstraction (on 1+!<\/i>, in duet with Shorter on soprano). Since 1997 he has served the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz<\/a>, mentoring several classes of elite music students toward professional goals. His determination to popularize jazz and jazz pop is long-established, but his efforts, especially of late, have often missed their mark.
\nHis failures to engage either jazz or pop audiences with last year’s Possibilities<\/i> (in which he was rendered irrelevant by Sting, Paul Simon, Joss Stone, John Mayer, Christina Aguilera and others whose fanbases are likely ignorant of Hancock and remain so), Future2Future<\/i> (pretentious and unsuccessful pursuit of youth, 2001), The New Standard<\/i> (dismal repertoire, unconvincing performances, 1996), and Dis Is Da Drum<\/i> (ugly sludgy mix, 1994) have been painful. In live concerts I’ve caught in recent years Herbie has quite often been boring, vague, unable to catch fire or hold attentions — unforgivable jazz sins.
\nBut on River: The Joni Letters<\/i>his touch, choices and nuances seem limitless and inviting. The music is languid as still water or slow clouds, but it has substance, stimulating reflection and ushering in welcome repose. Over the course of early listenings, it feels (at least in part) like a masterpiece; it is certainly Hancock’s best album since Gershwin’s World<\/i><\/a> of 1998, on which Joni Mitchell contributed a wrenching intepretation of “The Man I Love” and Stevie Wonder played rousing harmonica on “St. Louis Blues.” Shorter was superb on that one, too.
\nStick to it, gents (and Ms. Mitchell). If you can reaffirm the conjunction of pop and jazz we will all be the richer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A decade ago, pianist Herbie Hancock established his “New Standards” initiative, aiming to wed sophisticated improvisation to a contemporary American pop songbook (post-Berlin, Gershwin, Porter, et al). At last, after several disastrous attempts, he’s justified such a project with River: The Joni Letters — infusing well-known high art pop songs by inimitable Joni Mitchell with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[8,10,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-41","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"tag-herbie-hancock","8":"tag-jazz-and-pop","9":"tag-joni-mitchell","10":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1i3CL-F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":34,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2007\/10\/singers_of_the_songs.html","url_meta":{"origin":41,"position":0},"title":"Singers of the songs","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"October 14, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Corrine Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza and Leonard Cohen are not voices necessarily dear to fans of serious jazz, but Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter don't alone make River: The Joni Letters a must-hear. In yesterday's post I didn't do justice to the singers who deliver Joni\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":426,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2011\/07\/unesco-names-pianist-herbie-hancock-goodwill-ambassador.html","url_meta":{"origin":41,"position":1},"title":"UNESCO names pianist Herbie Hancock “goodwill ambassador”","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"July 25, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Pianist Herbie Hancock has been appointed a \"goodwill ambassador\" by UNESCO. The 71-year-old multiple Grammy winner, Chicago-born child prodigy, Miles Davis' keyboards man ushering open-form improvisation, electronic instruments and studio procedures into the past half-century of jazz-based music and talent scout with global interests joins an international coterie that currently\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":62,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2007\/12\/2007_favoritesgift_ideas.html","url_meta":{"origin":41,"position":2},"title":"2007 favorites\/gift ideas","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"December 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Gifts for the listener who's heard everything... for your jazz-beyond-jazz companeros . . . for yourself . . . I won't say these are all the year's \"best\" recordings, but they're the one's I've listened to the most for inspiration, surprise and pleasure. Click on the title to buy online-\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":78,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2008\/02\/rivers_win_bad_for_jazz.html","url_meta":{"origin":41,"position":3},"title":"Rivers’ win: Bad for jazz?","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"February 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Listeners who like their music strong, fresh, mysterious, challenging might share pride in pianist Herbie Hancock's Grammy Award for River: The Joni Letters -- but some snipe it celebrates moderation more than creativity. What's your take? I voted \"Yea!\" back last October when River was released, writing \"The music is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":819,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2012\/03\/which-herbie-hancock-comes-to-jazz-at-lincoln-center.html","url_meta":{"origin":41,"position":4},"title":"Which Herbie Hancock comes to Jazz at Lincoln Center","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"March 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Pianist Herbie Hancock is a chameleon -- as I say in my newest column in\u00c2\u00a0CityArts-New York. For his first appearance at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Friday night (3\/9 ) he leads a trio, and on Saturday (3\/10) adds Benin-born guitarist Lionel Loueke, \u00c2\u00a0in formats a far cry from The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2019,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/2016\/04\/kudos-wayne-shorter-sole-jazz-guggenheim-fellow.html","url_meta":{"origin":41,"position":5},"title":"Kudos Wayne Shorter, sole “jazz” Guggenheim fellow","author":"Howard Mandel","date":"April 7, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Though the Guggenheim Foundation has in\u00c2\u00a0recent practice\u00c2\u00a0conferred several of its prestigious annual fellowships on musicians of jazz or beyond, only\u00c2\u00a0Wayne Shorter,\u00c2\u00a0the great 83 year old saxophonist-composer -- an NEA Jazz Master, co-founder of Weather Report, veteran of Miles Davis' great 1960's quintet and before that Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "main"","block_context":{"text":"main","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/category\/main"},"img":{"alt_text":"Wayne Shorter (@Wayne_Shorter) Twitter","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/imgres-1-300x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/jazzbeyondjazz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}