Herbie Hancock: My Point of View (Tone Poet series) [BLUE NOTE]

Why you'll love it

This Tone Poet edition is an all-analog 180g pressing in a gatefold jacket, made in the USA. My Point of View caught Hancock and Tony Williams two months before both joined Miles Davis, and its "King Cobra" points straight toward "Maiden Voyage."

This edition

• Tone Poet series
• 180g vinyl
• Gatefold jacket
• Pressed in the USA
• Stereo mix

About the album

Herbie Hancock's first album had handed the world "Watermelon Man," so the second one had a tune to live up to. On March 19, 1963, he went back to Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, with Alfred Lion producing and a bigger band than before: Donald Byrd on trumpet, Hank Mobley on tenor, Grachan Moncur III adding trombone, Chuck Israels on bass, Tony Williams on drums and Grant Green on guitar for two tunes.

"Blind Man, Blind Man" grew from a memory of a blind guitarist on a street corner in Hancock's Chicago neighbourhood, a grooving soul jazz cousin to "Watermelon Man." "A Tribute to Someone" is a long, lovely ballad, and "King Cobra" was Hancock's attempt to push the flow of a tune in directions beyond the usual. "The Pleasure Is Mine" is short and graceful, and "And What If I Don't" lets Green's guitar dig into the blues. All five pieces are Hancock originals.

Byrd had given Hancock his Blue Note start on Royal Flush, and every player here bar Israels went on to lead records of his own through the '60s and '70s. The drummer was 17, and he plays as if he'd been at it for 30 years.

Also at Kops: more Herbie Hancock on vinyl · browse Classic Jazz

Tracklist

Listen

On Blue Note (cat# B0031882-01), a reissue of the 1963 album.