Customer Reviews

HERBIE HANCOCK TRIO: Hurricane!

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

 

 

This title is worth renting. The playing is excellent, and is easily worth 5 stars. However, I've given this DVD less than 5 stars for two reasons.

First, the sound quality is mediocre. It's certainly good enough to enjoy the great playing. But it sounds like a copy of an analog copy of an analog master tape. There's a lot of background hiss, and when herbie plays a note or chord and holds it, the pitch is not perfectly steady - as if the analog tape player's motor is not passing the tape across the head at a perfectly constant rate.

Perhaps more importantly, we've heard a lot of this before. In the 1980s and 1990s, most (perhaps all) of Herbie's straight ahead jazz features selections from the same fairly narrow repetoire, with similar arrangements.

Now, don't get me wrong - the tunes are great, the arrangements are great, the solos are great. I certainly don't mean to offend any Herbie fans (and I'm a huge fan myself). But I have most of Herbie's CDs and DVDs, and I can tell you, the tunes and arrangements on this DVD are taken mostly from the same repetoire that has also yielded most of Herbie's other live straight ahead jazz recordings since the days of VSOP in the 1970s.

So, this title is definitely not "essential", and is probably better rented than purchased.

Three of the best musicians in jazz, pianist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter and drummer Billy Cobham join forces in this unique Swiss reunion concert, recorded in 1984, that features Hancock's "Dolphin Dance" and "Eye of the Hurricane." JazzTimes described the video as "nothing short of breathtaking... In all, a classic!"

# 1329 (60 min, Hi-Fi Stereo)

His rhythym section get's plenty of solo time and they ain't too, shabby either! This is a great opportunity to see upclose the remarkable talents of drummer Billy Cobham and the equally magnificent ("THE MAN of the string bass") Ron Carter. It's so good to watch Billy playing straight ahead jazz here with two of the truly greatest exponents of the art. Billy has switched his style to playing the ride cymbal with his left hand and if you think he has any problem swinging, think again!

having Herbie,RON&COBHAM on one stage is a must have no matter what the style or arrangements.and this one cooks.i saw it along time ago.now remember Herbie was big on the pop charts with ROCKIT so he was doing what he usually does Music for a whole SPectrum.this is a must.

This is technically a good quality DVD. I purchased it looking for something with Herbie playing some serious acoustic Jazz piano in trio style.

For the most part I was satisfied. My only complaint was that there seems to be a bit too much drum and base soloing and not enough evocative piano work going on... but I guess thats the nature of the beast with Herbie... He seems to seldom get into a melodic groove in a live setting or atleast not enough for me. Ron and and the Drummer are indeed great musicians so there is great musicianship on this DVD ... Just not enough piano for me. Sound and Image quality are excellent.

Oddly enough, the best part of the DVD (for me) was the Bonus track, where they play Herbie's Speak like a child, although a somewhat deconstructed version.