Fifty years ago, Herbie Hancock formed a sextet on the vanguard of electroacoustic music.
We remember it now as Mwandishi, after the title of its debut album — the first of three studio releases in as many years, during a run that has largely been overshadowed in the scope of Hancock’s career. Wedged between the curvilinear post-bop of the 1960s and the strutting jazz-funk of Head Hunters, Mwandishi embodied a distinct alignment of time and space, a moment unlikely to be replicated.
This episode of Jazz United turns a spotlight on that legacy. Mwandishi sounded equally at home in outer space as on the ground. And it was a crucial antecedent for many bands today that pursue a fiery and futuristic Afrocentrism, with jazz and funk swirling together in the mix.
During this period, the early 1970s, Hancock became a leading figure on a newfangled instrument, the Fender Rhodes piano. Mwandishi also featured an explosive front line of multireedist Bennie Maupin, trombonist Julian Priester and trumpeter Dr. Eddie Henderson. Drummer Billy Hart and bassist Buster Williams forged new rhythmic pathways, with elasticity and forward pull. (Later Hancock added Dr. Patrick Gleeson on synthesizers, and enlisted a permanent sound man, Fundi Bonner, on tour.)
It so happens that four members of the band — Hancock, Maupin, Henderson and Hart — turned 80 in 2020. Every artist in the lineup has enjoyed a major career, but we feel Mwandishi embodied a distinct alignment of time and space, a moment unlikely to be replicated. We hope you’ll join us in paying homage now.
Music Featured in This Episode:
- “Tell Me a Bedtime Story” (from Fat Albert Rotunda, 1969)
- “Ostinato (Suite For Angela)” (from Mwandishi, 1971)
- “Sleeping Giant” (from Crossings, 1972)
- “Hornets” (from Sextant, 1973)
- “Rain Dance” (from Sextant, 1973)
Further Reading:
- You’ll Know When You Get There: Herbie Hancock’s Mwandishi Band, by Bob Gluck
- Herbie Hancock: Energy in the Environment, by Jeff Tamarkin in JazzTimes
Jazz United is produced by Sarah Kerson.
