The Prisoner [Remaster]

Performer: Herbie Hancock
Artist: Johnny Coles; Garnett Brown; Joe Henderson; Buster Williams; Albert "Tootie" Heath; Hubert Laws; Jerome Richardson
Engineer: Rudy Van Gelder
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Herbie Hancock (acoustic & electric pianos); Joe Henderson (tenor saxophone, alto flute); Johnny Coles (flugelhorn); Garnett Brown (trombone); Tony Studd, Jack Jeffers (bass trombone); Jerome Richardson (flute, bass clarinet); Hubert Laws (flute); Romeo Penque (bass clarinet); Buster Williams (bass); Albert "Tootie" Heath (drums). Producer: Duke Pearson. Reissue producer: Michael Cuscuna. Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on April 18, 21 & 23, 1969. Originally released on Blue Note (84321). Includes liner notes by Herb Wong and Bob Blumenthal. Digitally remastered using 24-bit technology by Rudy Van Gelder (2000, Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey). This is part of the Blue Note Rudy Van Gelder Editions series. Personnel: Herbie Hancock (vocals, piano, electric piano); Oren Waters (vocals); Jerome Richardson (flute, bass clarinet); Joe Henderson (flute, tenor saxophone); Hubert Laws (flute); Romeo Penque (bass clarinet); Johnny Coles (trumpet, flugelhorn); Garnett Brown (trombone); Jack Jeffers, Tony Studd (bass trombone); Albert "Tootie" Heath (drums). Audio Remasterer: Rudy Van Gelder. Liner Note Authors: Herb Wong; Bob Blumenthal. Recording information: Nj (04/18/1969-04/23/1969); Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (04/18/1969-04/23/1969). As one of the first albums Herbie Hancock recorded after departing Miles Davis' quintet in 1968, as well as his final album for Blue Note, The Prisoner is one of Hancock's most ambitious efforts. Assembling a nonet that features Joe Henderson (tenor sax, alto flute), Johnny Coles (flugelhorn), Garnett Brown (trombone), Buster Williams (bass), and Albert "Tootie" Heath (drums), he has created his grandest work since My Point of View. Unlike that effort, The Prisoner has a specific concept -- it's a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, evoking his spirit and dreams through spacious, exploratory post-bop. Often, the music doesn't follow conventional patterns, but that doesn't mean that it's alienating or inaccessible. It is certainly challenging, but Hancock's compositions (and his arrangement of Charles Williams' "Firewater") have enough melody and space to allow listeners into the album. Throughout the record, Hancock, Coles, and Henderson exchange provocative, unpredictable solos that build upon the stark melodies and sober mood of the music. The tone is not of sorrow or celebration, but of reflection and contemplation, and on that level, The Prisoner succeeds handsomely, even if the music meanders a little too often to be judged a complete success. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine There is no mistaking the influence of the great Gil Evans on Herbie Hancock's THE PRISONER. The dark textures, the creative voicings, and the way in which Hancock assembles his arrangements are evocative of Evans' work with the pianist's former boss, Miles Davis. However, Hancock does more than pay homage here, as he exercises yet another aspect of his exceptional musicianship and applies it to the large ensemble format he had begun to approach on his previous date, SPEAK LIKE A CHILD. THE PRISONER is significant for other reasons; for one, it was recorded at the beginning of a great upheaval in jazz, when the form incorporated the adoption of electric instruments and rock-influenced rhythms in a move towards the fusion of the '70s. Yet, although Hancock uses an electric piano on some pieces, the session is mostly a performance of beautifully crafted acoustic chamber music with a significant undercurrent of swing. The date also marked the end of Hancock's association with Blue Note, the label that had launched his solo career. Subsequently the pianist would move into the full flow of '70s fusion.

One of the most open-eared and forward-thinking jazz musicians of his day, Hancock has, more than just about anyone else, consistently tried to broaden the music's horizons by mixing it with the most interesting elements of contemporary pop. Hancock has consistently pushed the envelope, from his earliest days with Miles Davis to his jazz-rock fusion of the early '70s and his early embrace of synthesizers and electronic instruments, his early-'80s experiments with hip-hop and sampling, or more recently, his acoustic piano reinterpretations of songs--the new standards, in his parlance--by everyone from Don Henley to Nirvana.

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