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Herbie Hanccock: 1 + 1 (Herbie Hancock & Wayne Shorter)

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Verve Records
Released: 1997
Time:
 61:53
Category: Jazz
Producer(s): See Artists ...
Rating: ********.. (8/10)
Media type: CD
Web address: www.herbiehancock.com
Appears with: Chick Corea, Jack de Johnette
Purchase date: 2003.01.04
Price in €: 3,99



 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Meridianne - A Wood Sylph (W.Shorter) - 6:09
[2] Aung San Suu Kyi (W.Shorter) - 5:45
[3] Sonrisa (H.Hancock) - 6:26
[4] Memory of Enchantment (M.Borstlap) - 6:20
[5] Visitor from Nowhere (H.Hancock/W.Shorter) - 7:44
[6] Joanna's Theme (H.Hancock) - 5:22
[7] Diana (W.Shorter) - 5:32
[8] Visitor from Somewhere (H.Hancock/W.Shorter) - 9:04
[9] Manhattan Lorelei (H.Hancock/W.Shorter) - 7:22
[10] Hale-Bopp Hip-Hop (H.Hancock) - 1:51

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


HERBIE HANCOCK - Piano
WAYNE SHORTER - Soprano Saxophone

TAMOO SUZUKI - Engineer
DARRELL SMITH - Assistant Engineer
ALVIN MCGILL - Assistant Engineer
DOUG SAX - Mastering
CAMILLE TOMINARO - Production Coordination
MELINDA MURPHY - Production Coordination
MICHAEL O'NEILL - Photography
DAVE HAMPTON - Studio Technician
KATHY LUCIEN - Liner Notes, Production Coordination

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1997 CD Verve 537564



Beyond category in idiom, audacious in its very idea, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter perform a little over an hour of spontaneous improvised duets for grand piano and soprano sax. That's all — no synthesizers, no rhythm sections, just wistful, introspective, elevated musings between two erudite old friends that must have made the accountants at PolyGram reach for their Mylantas. Hancock's piano is long on complex harmonies of the most cerebral sort, occasionally breaking out into a few agitated passages of dissonance. His technique in great shape, Shorter responds with long-limbed melodies, darting responses to Hancock's lashings, and occasional painful outcries of emotion. The leadoff track, "Meridianne — A Wood Sylph," clearly takes off from a base of Satie to set the reflective mood for nearly the whole CD; only the final, brief "Hale-Bopp, Hip-Hop" offers a hint of comic relief. All of the tunes, save for Michiel Borstlap's "Memory of Enchantment," are Hancock or Shorter originals; some, like Hancock's "Joanna's Theme" (from the film Death Wish) and Shorter's "Diana," date back to the '70s. As avidly as this music was awaited and as wildly as it was acclaimed by critics, it doesn't really touch the emotions as deeply as the best of the pair's work together and apart. It stands as a graceful, high-minded anomaly in the output of both, but not something you would expect to pull off the shelf to hear too often.

Richard S. Ginell, All-Music Guide, © 1992 - 2003 AEC One Stop Group, Inc.



On this remarkably intimate session, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter reduce themselves to their purest instrumental voices, Hancock's piano and Shorter's soprano sax. In some way the improvisatory character is a return to their musical roots, eschewing the techno-grooves and layered sounds of their most successful commercial ventures. For Hancock it's a return to the spontaneity of the duets with Chick Corea, while for Shorter it's akin to the recording with Jim Hall and Michel Petrucciani. Either way, it's one of the most arresting dates of their later careers, a work of creative introspection and retrospection, two artists turning to a pivotal partner for inspiration. Whether the music is wistful or unsettling, it's the subtlety--almost the minimalism--that's most startling, a mature knowledge that you can sometimes make the most with the least.

Stuart Broomer - Amazon.com essential recording



Bei dieser bemerkenswert intimen Session beschränken sich Herbie Hancock und Wayne Shorter auf die bloßen Stimmen ihrer Instrumente -- das Klavier Hancocks und das Sopransaxophon Waynes. In gewisser Weise bedeutet die Spontaneität dieser Begegnung eine Rückkehr zu den musikalischen Wurzeln der beiden Musiker. Das Album verzichtet bewußt auf die Art von Techno-Grooves und sich überlagernden Klängen, die die erfolgreichsten kommerziellen Projekte dieser beiden Musiker auszeichnen. Für Hancock bedeutet dies eine Rückkehr zur Spontaneität der Duette mit Chick Corea, während es im Falle von Shorter an die Aufnahmen mit Jim Hall und Michel Petrucciani erinnert.
Ohne Zweifel handelt es sich bei diesem Album um eine der faszinierendsten Zusammenkünfte ihrer späteren Karrieren, um ein Werk kreativer Inspiration und Retrospektive, in dem zwei Künstler sich gegenseitig anregen. Ob die Musik nun wehmütig oder unruhig ist -- das Verblüffendste an ihr ist ihre Subtilität, ja fast Minimalismus, das Ergebnis einer Reife, die im Wissen darum besteht, daß weniger manchmal mehr ist.

Stuart Broomer - Amazon.de



Was gibt es Schöneres, als wenn zwei Menschen sich verstehen und perfekt ergänzen? Der eine sagt ein Wort, der andere denkt weiter, ergänzt liebevoll oder beharrt freundlich. Oder aber er revidiert, was ihm selbst nicht geheuer erscheint. So intensiv und offen kommunizieren zwei Altmeister der Moderne: Pianist Herbie Hancock sowie sein alter Freund und Kollege Wayne Shorter. Letzterer nimmt diesmal ausschließlich das Sopransaxophon an die Lippen; dessen Töne klagen und jubilieren, offenbaren zarte, verletzliche Gefühle und wilde Kraft. Das aufwühlende "Aung San Suu Kyl" widmeten die beiden dem gleichnamigen zum Hausarrest verurteilten Oppositionspolitiker aus Burma. Daß die Musik von leiser Melancholie umflort ist, mag daran liegen, daß Shorters Frau Annemaria und eine Verwandte beim Absturz der TWA-Maschine im Sommer 1996 ums Leben kamen. So meint der Titel "Sonrisa" nicht nur ein Lächeln, sondern auch bewegenden, schmerzlichen Aufschrei. Hier wie in fast allen Titeln liegen stilles Einverständnis und ungestüme Gefühlsausbrüche eng beieinander. Die Ideen springen hin und her, wobei Hancock und Shorter ihre Gedanken eigenständig entwickeln, ohne sich aber vom anderen zu lösen. Wie die zwei Rhythmen und Themen aufeinander abstimmen, wie sie sich zuhören und antworten - das geht unter die Haut: Ihre Dialoge stellen Jazz-Kammermusik vom Allerfeinsten dar.

© Audio



Das Sopransax von Wayne Shorter klagt, jauchzt, jubiliert, schreit, summt, kündet von Freude und wirkt andernorts völlig verzweifelt. Herbie Hancocks Klavierspiel steht der ausdrucksvollen Saxophonstimme nicht nach. So hauchen sie alten Themen wie "Diana" oder "Sonrisa" ein neues Leben ein und spielen beseelte Eigenkompositionen. Die beiden wirken schon fast wie ein einziger, Klang verströmender Organismus.

© Stereoplay



What the Critics Say...

Down Beat (8/97, p.48) - 3 1/2 stars (out of 5) - "The Headhunter meets the Weather Man on peaceful acoustic ground in this intimate, inward looking CD....old Hancock and Shorter fans will enjoy hearing these men find their way back to unmediated musical interplay..."

Musician (9/97, pp.87-89) - "...Hancock's lushly harmonized pianistics and Shorter's long, liquid lines on soprano sax bathe much of this duo album in muted light....They play together like intelligent friends having a conversation..."

Entertainment Weekly (7/11/97, p.69) - "From Hancock's first stark, compelling acoustic piano notes to Shorter's final taut soprano sax tones, one is struck by the depth of these duets....The music is not always pretty, but it is honest--and strong." - Rating: A

Vibe (9/97, p.239) - "...Being eclectic is nothing new to veterans Shorter and Hancock, who both went funk/rock/pop in the '70s. These cats are among the two greatest multistyled musicians in the history of jazz..."



In recent years I've cringed every time a new Herbie Hancock or Wayne Shorter recording has crossed my desk. Each, in his own way, has alienated these ears with his propensity for cuteness, as manifested in electronic gizmos and gadgets. Such hardware, ironically, softens, if not sterilizes, most ensembles. My doubts, however, were quickly allayed upon popping this disc into the machine: 1+1 is an all-acoustic pairing of two giants whose talents made Miles Davis' mid-'60s quintet one of the most galvanizing in the history of jazz. Hancock (piano) and Shorter (soprano sax) penned three tunes apiece and collaborated on three others; "Memory of Enchantment," the CD's only outside contribution, comes from the pen of pianist Michiel Borstlap, winner of the 1996 Thelonious Monk Composition competition. Pristine sonics and focused-yet-unhurried intimacy characterize this 62-minute platter, which, in the best improvising tradition, contains several originals adapted by the principals from previous pieces-Shorter's "Diana" (5:32) and Hancock's "Joanna's Theme" (5:22, from the score to Death Wish). Equally airplay-worthy, and topical, are Hancock's snappy "Hale-Bopp, Hip-Hop" (1:51) and Shorter's "Aung San Suu Kyi" (5:45), a touching, slow-tempo testimonial to the Burmese pro-democracy leader imprisoned in Myanmaar.

Gene Kalbacher - Jul 21, 1997
CMJ New Music Report Issue: 530
© 1978-2003 College Media, Inc., Inc. All Rights Reserved.

 

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