Artist: Herbie Hancock
Album: Thrust
Genre: Fusion, Jazz-Funk
Label: Audio Fidelity
Released: 1974/2016
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Palm Grease (Hancock) - 10:38
- Actual Proof (Hancock) - 9:41
- Butterfly (Hancock-Maupin) - 11:18
- Spank-A-Lee (Hancock-Clark-Jackson) - 7:16
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- Personnel:
- Herbie Hancock - Fender Rhodes electric piano, Hohner D6 clavinet, ARP Odyssey, ARP Soloist, ARP 2600, ARP String Ensemble
- Bennie Maupin - soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, saxello, bass clarinet, alto flute
- Paul Jackson - electric bass
- Mike Clark - drums
- Bill Summers - percussion
The follow-up to the breakthrough Headhunters album was virtually as good as its wildly successful predecessor: an earthy, funky, yet often harmonically and rhythmically sophisticated tour de force. There is only one change in the Headhunters lineup -- swapping drummer Harvey Mason for Mike Clark -- and the switch results in grooves that are even more complex. Hancock continues to reach into the rapidly changing high-tech world for new sounds, most notably the metallic sheen of the then-new ARP string synthesizer which was already becoming a staple item on pop and jazz-rock records. Again, there are only four long tracks, three of which ("Palm Grease," "Actual Proof," "Spank-A-Lee") concentrate on the funk, with plenty of Hancock's wah-wah clavinet, synthesizer textures and effects, and electric piano ruminations that still venture beyond the outer limits of post-bop. The change-of-pace is one of Hancock's loveliest electric pieces, "Butterfly," a match for any tune he's written before or since, with shimmering synth textures and Bennie Maupin soaring on soprano (Hancock would re-record it 20 years later on Dis Is Da Drum, but this is the one to hear). This supertight jazz-funk quintet album still sounds invigorating a quarter of a century later.
Review by Richard S. Ginell