The concert was one of a world tour based on the Grammy award-winning CD, “Directions in Music: Celebrating Miles Davis and John Coltrane.” Hancock is going all out to bring his many years of music-making to a heady climax combining everything he has acquired in performances, film-making, and producing during his extraordinary career. On this particular night, he put together a concert that brought together “not less than everything” into a virtuosic ensemble effect that was delightfully exhausting, relentlessly pushing the musical envelope. The musical approach itself was, however,
conservative, an expansion of the solid base that Hancock has developed
over the years, rather than a new or different “direction” for him. As
he initiated the evening with a synthesizer effect on his original
composition, “Dolphin Dance,” I thought he might be going for a
radically new approach. But what emerged was a recapitulation of hard bop
and jazz fusion that brought Hancock into the center of jazz in the
1960’s and 1970’s. The group took the “Hancock effect” as far as
it could go, and the synthesizers were used to elaborate by now
traditional sounds and moods rather than to create a new musical form. A further effect offered by the synthesizers at certain junctures was to provide a feeling of motion picture soundtracks. In 1958, Art Blakey led a group that recorded the soundtrack for a film, “Les Femmes Disparaissent,” and in that same year Oscar Peterson and associates did the musical backdrop for another film from France, “Les Tricheurs.” The soft “francais” blues effects captured on these soundtracks occasionally were evoked during the performance of the Hancock group. A question that occurred to me during the concert was whether the group was simply making a “joyful noise” with the new sounds available to them, or getting deep and down with genuine musical expression. I came to the conclusion that, on the whole, they did achieve artistic, creative expression, even while blowing all over the place. Roy Hargrove’s playing had moments of subtle emotion that highlighted the expressive aspect, and Hancock’s work on the piano grew more and more confident throughout the evening, echoing aspects of his fabulous early Blue Note recordings. Hancock’s sheer virtuosity has never been better, and the pianistic energy that is uniquely and simply “Herbie” was thrilling to hear once again. The Kimmel Center and Mellon Jazz are to
be complimented for putting together an outstanding series of performances
that are re-charging jazz energy in Philadelphia. Thus far, I’ve caught
the Pat Martino/Jim Ridl “Duets,” James Moody, Joey DeFrancesco, and
Keith Jarrett there. There have been many other concerts as well. Dave
Brubeck with Marian McPartland, Diane Reeves with Jimmy Scott, and the
Count Basie Orchestra are all coming up. The bright, lively acoustics and
relaxing atmosphere of Verizon Hall make for a great experience. If you
live in the Philadelphia area, I highly recommend that you check out this
ongoing series. |