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Herbie Hancock: The Complete Blue Note '60s Sessions

Richard Cook, MOJO, January 1999

THESE DAYS he's an avatar of jazz-funk, but Hancock's salad days offered a lot more than apprentice-work. Only 24 when he composed and recorded the music for Maiden Voyage and Empyrean Isles, the Chicagoan pianist was a conservative next to some of his contemporaries in what was an enthralling period for jazz. But those records still stand very tall in the music of the era, and they're the heart of this six-disc set, which also brings together Hancock's other five Blue Notes of the period and various odds and ends.

Total word count of piece: 391

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