Customer Reviews

1+1

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This a return of sorts for both artists...but a return to what? What we here is not the HH of Maiden Voyage, or the WS of the Miles Davis Quintet that produced such masterpieces as Nefertiti...this is music that escapes categorisation, and by that I do not mean that is 'fusion' or 'crossover.' With no support from drums or bass, the two musicians have to plumb the depth of their artisry to find compelling ways to paint beautiful pictures on blank, hostile canvases. If you've only previously experienced HH on something like 'Future Shock', or Shorter on a Weather Report album, you'll be in for quite a shock. This is music of illusion, dreams, and serenity. Familiar sounds poke there heads through the mist, then dissappear again just before you can identify them. At times, it doesn't work, but at others, notably 'Memory of enchantment', it's perfect. Is it classical...jazz...who cares. It's sublime.

This album steps outside of the familiar musical categories with which people seem so familiar. That's the crux of the matter. A lot of people get so used to feeling music a certain way that they can't shift gears.

But that's precisely what I like about this album. It doesn't have typical song structures. One of the pieces has no II-V progressions at all (but isn't that a trend in modern jazz anyway?) Hancock has presented original compositions that, yes, use development sections and other compositional techniques more associated with European Classical music. This is played by master jazz musicians with a free feel and includes some nice improvisation. (To the people who think this music is mediocre: YOU try blowing over those changes.)

It is a reminder to me that 'jazz' doesn't have to be a restrictive noun. It can be a liberating verb that allows to explore new ideas and draw inspiration from any musical idiom. It can even smash old preconceptions about what 'jazz' should be. I say bring it on.

This album is a real manifest of brilliance, two geniuses in the studio collaborating. The music is free, liquid and liberal. There is not much form, nor is there much planning. This album is mostly free jazz and I am pretty sure that much of the people who rated this recording low were probably not very appreciative of free jazz in general. Because this album is not as musically simple or structured as something like "Kind of Blue," it really requires a different listening style than most music in the mainstream. You wouldn't listen to this album in the same way that you would listen to "Kind of Blue" just as you wouldn't read Salman Rushdie the same way you would read Hemmingway. This album really requires the listener's brain to be completely engaged. Though there is much to analyze on all jazz records, many can be put on as background music and the sounds can be enjoyed and appreciated passively. That is not the case with this disc. The listener can only really appreciate this album by getting into the mindset of Hancock and Shorter and trying to figure out what exactly is going on. What the listener can discover besides the fact that both are incredible players with an incredible technical mastery of their instruments, is that this album is essentially four golden ears at work. The two players are constantly in eachother's heads. Rarely is either player soloing, instead, the two players are creating an intricate dialog of sound, chords, melodies and rhythm that requires the use of the amazing ears each player has. They make the sparse setting of piano and saxophone not just work, but engulf you. I have to disagree with reviewers who claim this album lacks emotion, shape or inspiration. I just don't understand how that accusation can be made. Listen to the brilliance, engage your brain and try to dissect the dialog Shorter and Hancock compose. The only thing simple about this album is the title. Everything else is going to require a little bit more engagement. If you are willing to take on that task, more power to you.

These two men are beyond the normal realms of jazz. And their communication on the album is astounding. Maybe this is why certain people do not feel this album is worthwhile.. Herbie's style of piano now dabbles between classic jazz and classical, while wayne shorters probing horn can be smooth, and to the other extreme painful. These two musicians bring their full palete to the forefront and only they alone support their musical statments. If you are looking for completely normal jazz look someplace else.. But if you are like me, and eclectic and look for the more remarkable albums which shape what we call jazz, you will love this album

"1+1" doesn't sound like much of anything else from the recorded output of either of these artists, either from their earlier post-bop/modal jazz eras, or the fusion music that both of them played, and, then, much later, the sort of "fusion lite" that gave fusion a bad name.

Despite the large amounts of empty space that a saxophone/piano duet promises, neither Hancock nor Shorter seems daunted, or tempted to overplay in a fashion that a younger player might approach this space.

Many of the pieces are slow, ruminative, but not particularly brooding; atonal slightly here and there, but never really peering that far over the precipice. There's a feeling that, if Hancock and Shorter were going to make an album that doesn't have a particular "jazz" sound to it, perhaps they should have tried something a little more adventurous than this.

The ponderous, repeated, vaguely modern-classical overtones of Hancock's playing on "Meridianne" sound much better on the records of the classical musicians who influence Hancock. "Aung Sang Suu Kyi" sounds like riff-based blues, only without a riff and without any blues. The stretch of tracks from 3-7 are probably the strongest on the records...

Shorter's playing veers between moments of beauty and what could only be described as eccentric; overly concerned with the higher end of the horn and long notes without any melodic development or flow on the weaker material, yet playing some repeating motifs on songs such as "Sonrisa" that are truly beautiful and moving. That being said, he sounds a bit like he's playing outside of his style, although it could be pointed out that Ornette Coleman's playing has evolved in a similar fashion through the ensuing decades; more exploring timbres, space, the implications of a single note or repeated note, rather than playing flurries of quicker notes through changes. Listen to the Shorter of "Super Nova" and this one, and it's not even clear it's the same player.

So, really, about 4 or 5 good tracks-"Sonrisa", "Memory of Enchantment", "Diana", perhaps "Manhattan Lorelei" (the music seems to sound more close to what one would consider typical jazz duets as one continues to listen). Both Hancock and Shorter have much better records that should be considered first; however, you could turn to this one to check out what each player does without the net of a rhythm section, or the comfort of really well-defined charts and boundaries (some of the songs are quite hard to reduce in your mind to the melody-solos format, which is on one hand great, but on the other hand...where's the song?).

Interresting to read reviews of this CD. It seems that you either love or hate it. I can truly understand the criticism, but as one reviewer put it: it depends on your expectations. Listen with an open mind. Now I will get personal.

This record is one of the most important ones to me. I don't listen to it as much now as I did a couple of years ago. For me it summarizes all the possible and impossible feelings you have and show life as it is. Shorter and Hancock are artists AND craftsmen. They know what they do. It is not random soul searching. They generously let us se life by means of their musical ability.

The raw beauty of Shorters soprano and Hancocks grand piano tapestry is worth listening to and I really hope you would consider to buy this CD even though it is not your ordinary "keep-it-as-it-is" jazz record.

If you ask me, any artist whose forty-first album is one that sounds unlike anything else I've ever heard deserves plenty of recognition. This is duets album with Wayne Shorter on saxes. Now here's the kicker: it's just Herbie and Shorter. It's about as abstract as it gets, due to the lack of a traditional rhythm section (Herbie's more of a soloist, though he also plays the traditional harmonic role). And it's some of the prettiest music Hancock's ever made ("Meridanne"). And his piano technique hasn't diminished one bit ("Aung San Suu Kyi", which also has top-notch playing from Shorter). It's also interesting to hear the two solo simultaneously on "Sonrisa" - either that, or Hancock's harmonies are so complicated they sound like a solo. Plus there are some unexpected changes of tempo, as on "Memory of Enchantment". To be fair, I can see why some people would criticize this: it's sketchy from a songwriting perspective, with little to no melody. And the tracks more or less follow a formula - quiet, atmospheric start ;build-up; gigantic emotional release; return to atmosphere. The formula really takes over on "Visitor from Nowhere" and "Johanna's Theme". But both those tracks have their moments, and the breakage of formula on the brisk "Diana" and the free-jazz experiment near the end of "Visitor from Somewhere". And besides, every track has moments of genius - even "Manhattan Lorelei" has a sweeping piano solo. Well, every song other than the two-minute throwaway "Hale-Bopp, Hip-Hop", which doesn't count because it's like two minutes and everything else is at least five. Good stuff. Now, it's not something you're almost guaranteed to enjoy (unlike, say, Headhunters), but good stuff.

It's a little hard to define this album. Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter are two of the world's great jazz musicians, establishing themselves in the 1960s, both of them deviating from acoustic 'true' jazz and moved into Funk and Fusion in the 70s/80s. They have resurfaced in recent years with a return to jazz that their earlier fans love, so one would expect this collaboration to be the jazz album of the decade.

I would have loved to hear these two collaborate on a body of work, perhaps Modal in nature, with touches of Funk and Fusion if they could have done so without sounding dated. This is not the sound I heard when I put this disc in rotation, but after I got over my initial expectations I found that this is an intriging album to have in my collection.

This is quite a moving album, and yes it is jazz; but it is not the free expression jazz, or even modal jazz that I anticipated, but rather a body of material that is almost baroque in nature at times, having more than a passing nod to Classical music.

I come away with an intersting mood after investing myself in this album, one of isolation yet intimacy. Needless to say, casual listeners may find this album tedious at times, but the astute listeners will find this material very interesting and absorbing.

I recommend this album for those who fall into the second group, as no doubt this album will end up being a little treasure in your collection.

I found this album to be intriguing but uninvolving. As a fan of Mr. Hancock's work, the interplay with Mr. Shorter was certainly worth investigating. But none of the numbers managed to truly connect with me like many of his earlier ones had.

I was lucky enough to see these two talented composers in Melbourne, Australia during their 1+1 tour. 1+1 is a brilliant musical composition which regularly takes the listener back to the Jazz music of the 1950's and 1960's but in a strangely subliminal way. You can hear the tones of Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk in bursts and yet this CD is a fresh and novel composition. The second track by Shorter received the highest award in the American Musical Industry for its inate creativeness and political statement. I love this CD.