Empyrean Isles - Herbie Hancock (1964)
Like John Coltrane before him, Hancock’s path was intertwined with Miles Davis’s orbit from an early phase of his career. Also like Coltrane, Hancock would quickly emerge both as Miles’s creative partner and as a visionary on his own.
This is an early session, featuring his Miles Davis Quintet co-workers Tony Williams and Ron Carter as a rhythm section. He adds trumpeter Freddie Hubbard (actually playing cornet), and the band puts together some majestic late-era bop.
Cantaloupe Island from this set is one of Hancock’s signature songs, and one of the most recognizable piano riffs around.
Hancock would bring jazz into the territory of funk, rock, and electronic music over the following decades, but he wasn’t just a wrecking ball. He was an excellent jazz pianist before he added all those other dimensions.
