'Maiden Voyage' excerpt
'Actual Proof' excerpt
What better way to start Sunday than with thirty minutes of "new" Herbie Hancock from 1974 ?
Miles from Birds With Broken Wings was recently digging through some old boxes from the 1970s, a time when he worked as an announcer at a jazz radio station, and came across a tape of this broadcast performance, which he has kindly donated to this blog.
I've checked through the main Hancock bootleg database at db.etree and there doesn't seem to be any matching entry, so I think we've got a first here, which we'll of course also add into the ever-growing Herbie Hancock bootlegs post ...
Two long tracks here. The first is an extraordinary solo piano improvisation, which over the course of fifteen minutes dips in and out of "Maiden Voyage" several times.
In the second edit here, the band joins "Maiden Voyage" before soon segueing into an acoustic version of "Actual Proof", which Hancock recorded the same year on the album "Thrust".
Bennie Maupin features strongly on flute, and I'm unaware if there are any other recordings of this track featuring Hancock on acoustic piano. Anyway, it's great stuff.
While there's no certain information on the other players, the Headhunters' lineup stayed pretty solid throughout 1974, so I think we can reasonably assume the the lineup is as below ... though there's touches of Pastorius in the basslines, but is this too early? hmmm ...
Quality note : My recording and production background has led me to be a bit of a quality fascist when it comes to bootlegs, and even though this has been through a cassette stage, it's all properly miked and mixed to the point where you're not missing any of the nuances of this great group of musicians. There's a bit of tape flutter in the last five minutes of "Actual Proof", but it's not too bad.
Enjoy this one! A big thanks to Miles, and you can check out more of his stuff at Birds With Broken Wings.
TRACKLIST
01. Improvisation / Maiden Voyage (14:57)
02. Maiden Voyage / Actual Proof (15:43)
MUSICIANS (PROBABLE)
Herbie Hancock - piano
Bennie Maupin - flute
Paul Jackson - electric bass
Mike Clark - drums
PRODUCTION DETAILS
Recorded at The Boarding House, San Francisco, 1974
MORE HERBIE
Herbie Hancock discography by Christian Genzel
Herbie Hancock discography with downloads @ BlaxJive
Herbie Hancock bootlegs - the big post
POST CREDITS
Digitisation by Miles.
Post links to Birds With Broken Wings, Call It Anything and Blaxploitation Jive