Inventions & Dimensions [Bonus Track]

Performer: Herbie Hancock
Artist: Paul Chambers; Willie Bobo
Engineer: Rudy VanGelder; Rudy VanGelder
Producer: Alfred Lion; Alfred Lion; Michael Cuscuna (Reissue)
Distributor: EMI Music Distribution

Notes: Personnel: Herbie Hancock (piano); Paul Chambers (bass); Willie Bobo (drums, timbales); Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez (congas, bongos). Recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on August 30, 1963. Includes liner notes by Nat Hentoff. Personnel: Herbie Hancock (piano); Herbie Hancock; Paul Chambers (bass instrument); Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez, Osvaldo Martinez (congas, bongos, finger cymbals, guiro); Willie Bobo (drums, timbales). Audio Remasterer: Rudy Van Gelder. Liner Note Authors: Nat Hentoff; Bob Blumenthal. Recording information: Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, NJ (08/30/1963). Photographer: Francis Wolff. For his third album, Inventions and Dimensions, Herbie Hancock changed course dramatically. Instead of recording another multifaceted album like My Point of View, he explored a Latin-inflected variation of post-bop with a small quartet. Hancock is the main harmonic focus of the music -- his three colleagues are bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Willie Bobo, and percussionist Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez, who plays conga and bongo. It is true that the music is rhythm-intensive, but that doesn't mean it's dance music. Hancock has created an improvisational atmosphere where the rhythms are fluid and the chords, harmonies, and melodies are unexpected. On every song but one, the melodies and chords were improvised, with Hancock's harmonic ideas arising from the rhythms during the recording. The result is risky, unpredictable music that is intensely cerebral and quite satisfying. Inventions and Dimensions displays his willingness to experiment and illustrates that his playing is reaching new, idiosyncratic heights. Listening to this, the subsequent developments of Miles Davis' invitation to join his quartet and the challenging Empyrean Isles come as no surprise. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine For his third album, Inventions and Dimensions, Herbie Hancock changed course dramatically. Instead of recording another multifaceted album like My Point of View, he explored a Latin-inflected variation of post-bop with a small quartet. Hancock is the main harmonic focus of the music -- his three colleagues are bassist Paul Chambers, drummer Willie Bobo, and percussionist Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez, who plays conga and bongo. It is true that the music is rhythm-intensive, but that doesn't mean it's dance music. Hancock has created an improvisational atmosphere where the rhythms are fluid and the chords, harmonies, and melodies are unexpected. On every song but one, the melodies and chords were improvised, with Hancock's harmonic ideas arising from the rhythms during the recording. The result is risky, unpredictable music that is intensely cerebral and quite satisfying. Inventions and Dimensions displays his willingness to experiment and illustrates that his playing is reaching new, idiosyncratic heights. Listening to this, the subsequent developments of Miles Davis' invitation to join his quartet and the challenging Empyrean Isles come as no surprise. [The 2005 RVG remaster includes an alternate take of "Mimosa".] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

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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