Audio CD review:
Herbie Hancock - Cantaloupe Island

Herbie Hancock - Cantaloupe Island

Band: Herbie Hancock Title: Cantaloupe Island Rating: Release Date: 1994-06-14 Media: Audio CD Tracks: 1: Cantaloupe Island 2: Watermelon Man 3: Driftin' 4: Blind Man, Blind Man 5: And What If I Don't 6: Maiden Voyage

"FOR THE 'MEAT' OF HERBIE'S BLUE NOTE OUTPUT....THIS IS WHERE YOU WANT TO START" Now for the Deep Jazz Heads I'd advise you to seek out the 'Original' Full Length Albums (Compact Disc) that has several Straight-Out Jazz Tracks, but for those who like Jazz you can Move 'n' Groove to this is the best collection to start with. Although Herbie didn't record a mass of recordings for Blue Note like Jimmy Smith, Donald Byrd, and others, this collection (Compilation) focus more on his Uptempo, Fingersnappin' Tracks like the Title Track, "Watermelon Man", "Blind Man, Blind Man" & 3 others. . Good: but there are better buys Although an excellent collection, none of the originial albums are particularly expensive, and all have great music. A collection of Herbie's earliest, this is sort of a "Best Of" of his early solo career. "Maiden Voyage" in particular is such a dexterous and contemplative album that it seems wrong not to appreciate it in its entirety. Great Intro To Early Herbie There's the hard electronic pop of Rocket. Hancock has so many distinct personalities, I know of few people who like all facets of his music/career. The "Headhunters" Fusion era. His stunning work with Miles Davis. There is also the handful of records he did on Blue Note. This is a compilation from those records, released to capitalize (ahem) on the success of Us3, who sampled from (among others) Hancock's "Cantaloupe Island. " Other reviewers have gone on at some length about the particular tracks on this compilation, so I won't rehash all that here. A hard core Hancock fan would argue that you need all of the Blue Note discs. I'm not enough of a fan to comment on that level. I can say, however, that I had all those discs, and this compilation was the disc that got all the play. If you are new to jazz, this is a great introduction to "traditional" jazz, with line ups ranging from quartet to septet (? seven members). In general, it swings, it jumps, it bops. If you have an incomplete take on Hancock's music this would be a very painless way to dip into his Blue Note material. Arbitrary Selection If you want a sampler of his best, "The Best of herbie Hancock" is a better starting point. These tracks are wonderful, but so are some of the other tracks on the original albums. It's a trick! The thing is though, every album that this music is from is also a must-have classic; e. Don't get this album! It's a trick! This wasn't a real album put out by Herbie, it's just a collection of a lot of his good stuff (look at the original release date). g. "Takin' Off" and "Maiden Voyage. " You'll be much happier if you go buy the real albums instead. You can see a complete list of all Herbie Hancock discography, or go back to the Herbie Hancock tabs