Customer Reviews

Crossings

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm the synth player. I joined Herbie's band as this album was being recorded--much to the displeasure of the rest of the band (who are now my lifelong friends). At the first rehearsal Buster Williams, Herbie's incredible bass player, said, "What do you call that thing anyway?" "An Arp 2600." Buster glared and said, "Well, it sounds like a big vacuum cleaner." The earliest critical responses were in the same vein. The downbeat reviewer was particularly merciless. Then after we'd toured the album for almost a year something very strange happened. Kids would come back stage and want to know where they could buy what I was playing. Downbeat nominated me for outstanding new jazz artist! And an older black jazz fan made a point of apologizing to me for not liking what I was doing the previous time we were in town (although he'd said nothing negative to me before). At that point synths had made their way into funk and jazz.

Now, some thirty-five years later, I look back on this album with such pride--for my contribution, for the band's excellence generally,for Herbie's brilliance as a player--at this point no jazz piano player in the world was any better-- and for Herbie's open-mindedness in hiring this weird academic geek and turning him into a jazz musician. I've played on something like 200 albums since, and this for me was absolutely the best: composition, performance, conception certainly and also for the brotherhood it engendered among the players. "Sextant" was also good, and probably even more electronic, but from a player's viewpoint this album is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Turn down the lights and just listen. It's pretty amazing music.

I`ve been praying for this to get a proper CD reissue with the original magnificent cover artwork, and NOW WE HAVE IT !! Finally! (The previous "Complete W. Bros. Recordings" did not reproduce the painting).

"Mwandishi" from 1971(the first incredible recording by this line-up), was just the beginning. Hancock refined that compositional style to the greatest imagineable heights with this groundbreaking 1972 release, "Crossings". He took his Miles` influences & surpassed the master himself. Miles rarely wrote such evolved, complex compositions like this.

Side one (of the original LP, which is essential too, for it`s marvelous, full-size gatefold cover.... I`ve got mine on the wall!), is an intricate piece entitled "Sleeping Giant", which clocks in at 24:50 !!! and is sheer bliss throughout. It begins w/ an arsenal of percussion played by the entire sextet, & trippy effects from Herbie & Patrick Gleason`s Moog synth, which builds & builds, & then swells into a marvelous fluid solo from Herbie on electric piano.

There are numerous elements constantly at play. This is an album of contemporary 'classical' composition w/ gorgeous ensemble themes, meets infectious funk grooves,alongside psychedelia, often laced w/ concise solos, all within one monstrous epic.

The next 2 pieces are both penned by Bennie Maupin......... "Quasar" is sheer beauty & magnificence. It features Maupin`s lovely alto flute,& Eddie Henderson`s potent flugelhorn (...when, O when will his "Realizations" album, which features the identical personnel here, see a CD reissue?!) More trippy effects from P. Gleason & it all fades away into an aquatic drowning wash........

The final joy here is Maupin`s "Water Torture" 14:04 , probably my favorite piece, ...but I adore it all. It`s eerie, beautiful, trippy as can be,(phasing, stereo-panning, moog effects, and those exquisite mellotron passages & bass clarinet!!) The choral section & mellotron at the end of this give it a 'holy' quality. Transcendent!!

I cannot possibly recommend "Crossings" highly enough. Next essential purchase is his subsequent title, "Sextant", which is more of the exalted same, but for me, "Crossings" is *it*!!

...Approach with a very open mind, & the rewards are boundless.

I owned this album in high school, but had not listened to it for over twenty-five years until I purchased the CD. It was deep and mysterious, as I remembered--multilayed and multitextured. It takes you on a journey into alien regions. It was a rich experience through headphones, as I remember.

Indeed it still does all these years later. Herbie was exploring electronic music (he plays mostly electric piano and synthesizer) and a more funk orientation. (I almost wrote funk-rock, but there is little rock sensibility here, beside the electric bass.) But he was not yet into his Headhunters stage of pure funk.

This album is made of of one very long piece by Herbie and two shorter pieces by band member, Bennie Maupin. The music bears some resemblance to early Weather Report, such as "Sweetnigher" (pre-Jacko days), but has a richer, more exploratory sense to it.

The notes say Herbie was influenced by Sun Ra at the time, which gives it an "outside" kind of feel at many places. But there is melody, harmony, and set time to all the pieces. (And there are no lyrics, which plagued Sun Ra too often.) Yet there is an ambient feel to some of it, without being boring. This is jazz, after all.

All in all, "Crossings" is something of a neglected materpiece. I cannot think of another recording quite like it.

Douglas Groothuis

Crossings is the centerpiece of a musical phase in the life of Herbie Hancock: before was Mwandishi and after, Sextant. These three records stand out as a unique type of music, which neither Herbie himself nor his "compeditors", such as Miles Davis or Weather Report, nor King Crimson for that matter (on their first four LPs, which were recorded before Crossings!), nor any other musician since, were ever able to reach nor top. I've called the music on these three LPs "Psychedelic Jazz".

Crossings contains three pieces. The first, Sleeping Giant, a Hancock composition, fills Side One. There are several parts held together by a theme or motive; however, the structure of the song fails to live up to the ambition of the music. It contains great moments, though, especially the one when Julian Priester plays a lovely trombone solo on free harmonies and an irregular beat and suddenly, the entire circus rises and leaves with a joyful vamp that evokes the music soon to be focused on (on Headhunters). Side Two consists of to gorgeous Bennie Maupin compositions - by the way, Bennie Maupin's contributions (composition, bass clarinet, saxes) cannot be overemphasized. And here, the concept works perfectly. The music is free and timeless and has proved to have no age - classical music! Acoustic instruments, combined with synthesizers, mellotron and voices - it's a pretty indescribable experience. The cover art is a perfect companion for this extraordinary record. Very highly recommended!

What I don't understand is why the title cut "Crossings", an
almost 3 minute composition that I have only found on Herbie's
"Treasure Chest" double lp set (vinyl only) is not included in
either this cd, or "The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings"? It's
from the same session and is certainly essential listening, yet
it's not included. Go figure??? This is Herbie at his WAY OUT
best. Timeless. My favorite Mwandishi group recording. Hancock,
Bennie Maupin, Julian Priester, Eddie Henderson all are just in-
credible on this. Mind bending and brilliant music that was WAY
ahead of its time. It's a shame this group only made 3 records
as the Mwandishi band led by Hancock. For even further brilliant
work by Priester (trombone), check out "Love, Love" on ECM, which
also has Patrick Gleeson prominently featured, or Bennie Maupin's
"Jewel in The Lotus", also on ECM, a staggeringly beautiful session
that includes Hancock, Buster Williams, and Billy Hart from the
Mwandishi group. And even more brilliant work from the Mwandishi
group (minus Priester) is NOW available on Eddie Henderson's cd
"Anthology: vol. 2, The Capricorn Years", from Soul Brother Records,
which includes the complete recordings of his two long unavailable
masterpieces "Realization" and "Inside Out", which both include the
fabulous Patrick Gleeson on these mind-blowing sessions. All of these
magnificent recordings are desert island discs for open minds and
ears. Brilliant stuff.

I purchased this album shortly after it came out and it was a bit much to soak in initially. I was in college studying music and really into synths and I got an earful on this album. In addition this album predates Headhunters in which Herbie combines synths with the funk. Most of my friends couldn't dig Crossings because Herbie was searching and the grooves, timbres, moods and tempos constantly shifted. This album required serious listening. I recently gave it a listen and I re-discovered compositions and sounds of incredible beauty. My favorite tune is Quasar. It is strange how this tune sounds like it could be used in someone's SciFi space thriller today and it would still sound futuristic. Awesome!

This is a fabulous album by Herbie Hancock and his 1970s African inspired sextet - which became a septet with Gleeson on synthesizers - that I hope is not forgotten. I bought the record more than 30 years ago in college (after first hearing Sextant), lost it in 1992 courtesy of Hurricane Andrew and just rebought it on CD. I love it. There are 3 tracks. The first, Sleeping Giant written by Hancock, is a heavily percussioned 25min jazz composition with great piano and trombone solos, followed by a wailing energetic Bennie Maupin on saxophone.
But it's the two Maupin compositions on the B side (not that CDs have B sides) that I really love. They kind of connect to me - I wouldn't really consider listening to them separately. Haunting hypnotic piano figures behind brass harmonies with synthesizers reaching out to the edge of space are suddenly cloven by a Buster Williams baseline and then it's jazz again, for awhile. Instruments overlay on top of instruments building to another space-shot. Billy Hart plays with phenomenal subtlety and intelligence through all this (I don't think Herbie has played with a better drummer). Over it all floats the ghost of Miles, channeled by Eddie Henderson (not that Miles was dead when this was recorded, but he wasn't playing in Hancock's sextet).
A number of other reviewers on other sites prefer Sextant to Crossings. I listen to a lot of 20th century classical music now. I haven't heard Sextant in more than 15 years, but for whatever it's worth (maybe nothing) I'd make Crossings an approachable Berg to Sextant's more cerebral Schoenberg.
It was interesting to hear this group reprise their stuff on the VSOP live album, though for me it didn't quite work...

I've been a fan of Herbie Hancock for a few years now. I listen to his "Head Hunters" and "Thrust" CDs repeatedly and love the mix of jazz and funk he creates. Hancock creates long form compositions with memorable riffs and melodies, then produces rich improvisations out of them. I recently read in Bill Bruford's autobiography that they were listening to "Crossings" during his wedding reception. Among others, Jon Anderson and Jamie Miur were at the reception talking about Paramahansa Yogananda's "Autobiography of a Yogi." Their conversation became the seed for Yes' "Tales from Topographic Oceans" which has been a large influence on my own musical development. Now, listening to "Crossings" I can hear the influence, especially the heavily percussive sections and the use of the mellotron. I've never heard anyone mention that "Crossings" may have been an influence on the making of "Tales...". On "Crossings" you can hear the beginings of what Hancock was going to do on "Head Hunters" and other subsequent releases with the use of dense layers of percussion and "world musical instruments" (for lack of a better term). For fans of exploratory music, "Crossings" is a must-have.

This is a fabulous album by Herbie Hancock and his 1970s African inspired sextet - which became a septet with Gleeson on synthesizers - that I hope is not forgotten. I bought the record more than 30 years ago in college (after first hearing Sextant), lost it in 1992 courtesy of Hurricane Andrew and just rebought it on CD. I love it. There are 3 tracks. The first, Sleeping Giant written by Hancock, is a heavily percussioned 25min jazz composition with great piano and trombone solos, followed by a wailing energetic Bennie Maupin on saxophone.
But it's the two Maupin compositions on the B side (not that CDs have B sides) that I really love. They kind of connect to me - I wouldn't really consider listening to them separately. Haunting hypnotic piano figures behind brass harmonies with synthesizers reaching out to the edge of space are suddenly cloven by a Buster Williams baseline and then it's jazz again, for awhile. Instruments overlay on top of instruments building to another space-shot. Billy Hart plays with phenomenal subtlety and intelligence through all this (I don't think Herbie has played with a better drummer). Over it all floats the ghost of Miles, channeled by Eddie Henderson (not that Miles was dead when this was recorded, but he wasn't playing in Hancock's sextet).
A number of other reviewers on other sites prefer Sextant to Crossings. I listen to a lot of 20th century classical music now. I haven't heard Sextant in more than 15 years, but for whatever it's worth (maybe nothing) I'd make Crossings an approachable Berg to Sextant's more cerebral Schoenberg.
It was interesting to hear this group reprise their stuff on the VSOP live album, though for me it didn't quite work...

This is a fantastic album, but it is available domestically as part of the set "Mwandishi: The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings" for literally pocket change more than this price. It's worth it to have the two other albums that come in the set.