The Mwandishi Era Albums

Soon after 1969, a year in which experimentation with the use of electrified instruments in jazz music multiplied drastically, in which modern advances in recording, editing, and sound processing techniques affected the way recorded sound could be manipulated and published, and in which the dominance of rock 'n' roll as a popular and creative art form came to the fore, many open-minded, curious, and/or forward-thinking jazz musicians began to jump on the bandwagon of what would eventually become known as Jazz-Rock Fusion. Herbie Hancock was one such figure. Over the course of the entire decade of the 1960s, Herbie had established himself as a conduit for the expression of new ideas--which was, no doubt, one of the reasons he had been asked by Miles Davis to join his second "great quintet"--which culminated in the recording sessions that created the music for Miles' revolutionary "electric big band" albums, In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew. Despite many people crediting Herbie's 1969 release of soundtrack music for Bill Cosby's Saturday morning cartoon series, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, which collected in album form was called Fat Albert Rotunda, as the first of his "Mwandishi Period" of music, I choose to use the Mwandishi album itself as its launching point. To me, the "Mwandishi Period" incorporates the use of a fairly set lineup of collaborating musicians, whereas the lineup for the music on Fat Albert Rotunda contains only one of the musicians who would be collaborating on Mwandishi, Crossings, Sextant, Realization, Inside Out, and Love, Love and The Jewel in the Lotus, much less the live concert performances Herbie would be leading over the period of 1971 through March of 1973.

HERBIE HANCOCK Mwandishi (Released in March of 1971)

An album of brave, masterful performances, production, and mutually supportive collaboration--the first in a series of albums produced over the course of three years in which experimental techniques in collaboration, song structure, and sound manipulation were radically explored. Even the discordant, unstructured 'free jazz' parts of "Wandering Spirit Song" are eminently listenable, enjoyable, even add to the spiritual 'letting go' space and process that the band has lulled you into by that time. Though some people choose to begin this period of Herbie's creativity with the 1969 album Fat Albert's Rotunda because it marked his first release under his new Warner Brothers label after some years in the Blue Note stable, I choose to begin with this album due to the fact that it's the first appearance of the lineup of musicians that he played with over the next five years--his so-called "Mwandishi sextet."

Line-up / Musicians:
- Herbie Hancock / Fender Rhodes electric piano, arrangements
With:
- Eddie Henderson " Mganga" / trumpet, flugelhorn
- Bennie Maupin "Mwile" / bass clarinet, alto flute, piccolo
- Julian Priester "Pepo Mtoto" / tenor & bass trombones
- Buster Williams "Mchezaji" / bass
- Billy Hart "Jabali" / drums 
- Leon Chancler "'Ndugu" / drums, percussion
- Ronnie Montrose / guitar (1)
- Jose Cepito Areas / congas & timbales (1)

1. "Ostinato (for Angela)" (13:10) starts the album off with an incredibly infectious groove and many fascinating production effects that introduce the listener to the new Herbie: Engineer and Producer. Herbie's fender playing is the glue over which his band mates perform highly entertaining, often unusual solos, but these are never obtrusive or outside or above the thread and weave of the group's mix (a feat due, in part, to the recording engineering). The use of two drummers (at times flanged!) and along with a percussionist is, to my ears, highly entertaining and enjoyable. Eddie Henderson's lead trumpet play is great, as is Bennie Maupin's bass clarinet, but it's Herbie's keyboard work that I find most engaging--whether it's in the lead or support role. Again, however, it's the effects used on the instruments and track orientations that make the sound of this song so ground-breaking and fascinating. (23/25)

2. "You'll Know When You Get There" (10:15) is a beautiful piece of kind of ambient jazz in which echo and space, slow tempo, and subtlety are kings for the day. It's easy to float off and let go of this one, but so worth paying attention if you can/when you do. The first half is almost an Eddie Henderson solo but then the music congeals again in a truly beautiful and intricate weave in the fifth minute. Great bass play from Buster Williams and awesome interplay of sometimes-conflicting or tension-building melodies by Herbie, Bennie, and others. Truly a masterpiece of experimental jazz music. (19/20)

3. "Wandering Spirit Song" (21:28) My favorite of this album of sublime music. This is for me a soundtrack for deep spiritual introspection and regeneration. Amazing things music can do! Definitely a masterpiece of music--offering the highest gifts to humans that other humans can give: transportation and transcendence. Kudos to Buster, Herbie, and the horn players and percussionists for this mighty piece. (37/40)

Total Time 44:50

92.94 on the Fishscales = A/five stars; a masterpiece of experimental jazz fusion and, by inclusion, a milestone in progressive rock music. Despite the fact that I like the lineup's next album, Crossings, better (due, I think to the fresh injection provided by Patrick Gleeson's synthesizers and the all-female background vocalists), this one rates slightly better on my Fishscales metric system (in the Top 25, in fact).

HERBIE HANCOCK Crossings (Recorded February 15-17, 1972, and then released in May.)

Of Herbie's three Mwandishi sextet/septet albums, this is my favorite. Recorded in San Mateo, California on February 15-17 at Pacific Recording Studios, Herbie was convinced by producer David Rubinson to take the session tapes over to Patrick Gleeson's Different Fur studio in San Francisco in order to experience some of Dr. Pat's synthesizer/sound magic. The rest is history as thereafter Gleeson became a band fixture both on and off the stage (much to the chagrin and discomfort of the rest of the all-Black band).

Line-up / Musicians:
- Herbie Hancock / acoustic & electric pianos, Mellotron, percussion
With:
- Bennie Maupin / soprano sax, bass clarinet, alto & piccolo flutes, body percussion
- Eddie Henderson / trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion
- Julian Priester / bass & tenor & alto trombones, percussion
- Patrick Gleeson / Moog synthesizer
- Buster Williams / acoustic & electric basses, percussion
- Billy Hart / drums, percussion
- Victor Pontoja / congas
- Candy Love / chorus vocals
- Della Horne / chorus vocals
- Sandra Stevens / chorus vocals
- Scott Beach / chorus vocals
- Victoria Domagalski / chorus vocals

1. "Sleeping Giant" (24:48) Herbie's lone compositional credit on the album manages to fill an entire side of the album and, to my ears, represents the most structured jazz-like tune on the album. Opening with an awesome polyrhythmic percussive tribute to Africa, the song jumps into more Western-friendly arenas with bass and electric piano in the fourth minute. This is a sonic palette and style that will be replicated with much success by the likes of Emir Deodato and Brian Auger within the next year. A song that plays out like a smooth MILES DAVIS song (despite the Fat Albert-like theme interjected into the twelfth minute). (46.25/50)

2. "Quasar" (7:25) though the structure and flow are quite unusual and experimental, the sounds used, for the most part, are pretty straightforward traditional jazz instruments. (14/15)

3. "Water Torture" (13:54) piccolo and percussion and strange ARP and Moog sounds open this Bennie Maupin composition, truly mimicking some of the sounds of water. That feeling and sensation of waterflow somehow is maintained continuously, though in varying forms, throughout this extraordinary piece.
     After 90 seconds an actual musical soundscape is built around bass, keys, and clarinet while percussives and trumpet play around on the edges. (28/30)

Total Time 46:21

Here the band (now ready to become a septet since the reluctant though-official addition of synthesizer guru and token white person, Patrick Gleeson) is more seasoned, working seamlessly, almost effortlessly, in cohesion. The music feels more rehearsed, more repeatable, and still quite organic despite the addition of Patrick Gleeson's synthesizers and sound treatments and the advent of spacier sonic backdrops. The production is so clean and clear, with each instrument standing prominently in the mix wherever its place. (The previous album had a more equanimous washed feel to it and the next album, Sextant,

suffered from poor sound engineering.)

92.89 on the Fishscales = A/five stars; a masterpiece of progressive rock music coming from the jazz-rock fusion subgenre. My favorite of Herbie's three "Mwandishi" albums--earning a Top 20 ranking among my Favorites.

HERBIE HANCOCK Sextant (Recorded in early 1973; released on March 30.)

The band is loose and funked up, maybe having more fun now that they're all so comfortable with each other, and with Herbie really going out there with his experimentations into electronic keyboards and sounds but, on the other end, there seems to be less attention to quality sound engineering on this album than on Mwandishi and Crossings.

Line-up / Musicians:

- Herbie Hancock / Steinway piano, Fender Rhodes, Mellotron, Hohner D6 clavinet, handclaps
With:
- Bennie Maupin / soprano sax, bass clarinet, piccolo, cabasa, kazoo
- Eddie Henderson / trumpet, flugelhorn
- Julian Priester / bass, tenor & alto trombones, cowbell
- Patrick Gleeson / ARP 2600 & Soloist synths
- Buster Williams / electric (with wah-wah & fuzz) & acoustic basses
- Billy Hart / drums
- Buck Clarke / congas, bongos

- Billy Bonner / Fx

1. "Rain Dance" (9:18) lots of experimental sounds here (mostly synthesizer generated). Drums and bass are probably the two most prominent and loyal to their acoustic origins than any other instrument here. As a matter of fact, there is very little input from the horn players on this one. Interesting for the fact that it previews the later world of computer sounds and sequencers but not really a song that I enjoy or wish to hear repeatedly. On the outlying edges of what I'd call music. (17/20)

2. "Hidden Shadows" (10:12) funky with quite a variety of keyboards under Herbie's hand (including Mellotron!), there is quite a bit more dynamic range in this sonic presentation of this song than that of the previous Mwandishi albums. (18/20)

3. Hornets (19:31) I wouldn't doubt that this song was the inspiration for the famous SNL "Killer Bees" sketches a year or two later, as trumpet, clavinet, kazoo, ARP, percussion, and other crazed sounds coming from Bennie Maupin all contribute to a serious attempt to reproduce the chaotic busy-ness of the eusocial wasps known as "hornets." Crazy yet brilliant, chaotic yet so disciplined and focused. Just like hornets. Though Herbie and Billy Hart make a strong play for the title, Bennie Maupin, however, is by far the craziest hornet of them all. Entertaining and fun/funny, historically important, but not really a song that draws me back. (I wonder if the band were able to replicate this song live, in concert.) (34.5/40)

Total Time 39:02

86.875 on the Fishscales = B; four star; a solid piece of progressive rock music from the domain of experimental jazz-rock fusion--where it may be deserving of more acclaim and accolades. 

EDDIE HENDERSON Realization (Recorded February 27 & 28, 1973; released on July 7.)

Recorded in the Winter of 1973 (February 27 & 28) a Pat Gleeson's Different Fur studios, this was recorded with Herbie Hancock's sitting Mwandishi Septet before its disbandment. The album was produced by Skip Drinkwater for Capricorn Records and released on July 7, 1973.

Line-up / Musicians:
- Eddie Henderson / trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn
With:
- Bennie Maupin / flutes, saxes, bass clarinet
- Herbie Hancock / Fender Rhodes & Univox electric pianos
- Patrick Gleeson / ARP & Moog synthesizers, organ, producer
- Buster Williams / bass
- Lenny White / drums
- Billy Hart / drums, percussion

1. "Scorpio-Libra" (11:12) opens immediately with a funky Isaac Hayes "Shaft"/Bitches Brew pretentiousness that is immediately winning due to its cocky arrogance. It's spacey yet still jazzy, free form but mapped out, and full of musicians sounding like they're really having fun. Patrick Gleeson's play on synths and organ sounds so loose and liberating and I LOVE the two drummers! Billy and Lenny both bringing their best, playing with and off of one another. Herbie, of course, is so solid on the Fender Rhodes but he's mixed a little too far into the background (until his solo in the seventh minute). And Bennie Maupin and Eddie just playing their hearts out. Great stuff! (18.5/20)

2. "Mars in Libra" (8:40) sounds very much like the same foundation as the previous song with much wilder performances from the soloists, more dynamic and independent energy from the drummers. Space music in which the pioneers are exploring deep dimensions of the universe. I can tell the boys are having their fun but I personally find that I'm kind of done with Buster Williams' bass line that's holding it all together. Then it all just kind of ends: no ceremony or gravitas just ... done! Weird. (17.5/20)

3. "Anua" (8:30) opens with bass and drums, long-sustained flue and keyboard notes with crazy-wind synth sounds flying around just beneath the surface. Eddie's muted and unmuted horn joins in, takes the lead as the band solidifies its support beneath. It's a beautiful weave of full whole-band chords with incredible leadership from Buster Williams' double bass. The dreaminess of the foundational music reminds me of Freddy Henderson's Love Connection a few years down the road as well as many of the Crusader's Joe Sample's and Huber Laws' solo albums from the time. Beautiful stuff that could easily exist without the soloists on top--thought there are some dreamy solos in the seventh and eighth minutes. (despite the drums getting a bit drowned out by the cymbal play). (19/20)

4. "Spiritual Awakening" (2:33) synth-generated "water"/"bird" noises over which Eddie ejaculates his horn and riffs while the rest of the band just floats and flit in and out of the sonic field. (4.375/5)

5. "Revelation Realization" (8:00) really smooth night groove from the bass with double horn tracks on top and the two drums and keys pushed way down in the mix. I know this gives the listener much greater access to the fine bass and horn play, but then we have to listen that much harder to pick up the nuances of the two amazing drummers. Fender Rhodes and Bennie Maupin's bass clarinet get brought forward somewhere in the third minute. Everybody (except Pat Gleeson's continued synth play with constantly panning water and wind sounds) is contributing some truly beautiful melodies. So nice. The dénouement is long (almost 2:30) and a bit too drawn out for my tastes. A weird but, at the same time, wonderful song. (13.75/15)

Total Time: 38:55

I know that one of the reasons I like this album and its successor, Inside Out--as well as the last two of the Mawndishi albums, Crossings and Sextet--is due to the presence and influence of synthesizer expert Patrick Gleeson. Patrick's contributions to Lenny White's Venusian Summer--making that five out of the the 30 albums in "Classic Era" Jazz-Rock Fusion--make me think that his genius plays no small factor in my coming over to Jazz-Rock Fusion 1972-75.

91.34 on the Fishscales = A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of spacey jazz-rock from the Mwandishi

lineup.

 

JULIAN PRIESTER aka "PEPE MTOTO" Love, Love (Recorded in 1973, June and September; released in January of 1974)

Known more as Herbie Hancock's trombonist during the Mwandishi-era sex- and septets, this was Julian's first release after the formal disbanding of Herbe's Septet--here released and recorded under Manfred Eicher's new ECM label, as was Bennie Maupin's solo release of the same year, The Jewel in The Lotus. While Maupin used four of the Septet to help record his album, Julian almost accomplished this album as a one-man solo project, playing the roles of Bass Trombone, Tenor Trombone, Trombone [Alto], Baritone Horn, Horn [Post], Flute, Cowbell, Percussion [Small], Synthesizer [Arp 2600, Prototype Arp String Synthesizer], Producer, Mixer, and Composer on all songs with only synthesizer expert Patrick Gleeson (the seventh and final addition to Herbie's Septet) and drummer Ndugu Leon Chancler from his former band. 

Working under his alter ego name, "Pepe Mtoto," a name Julian here is exploring the "cosmic music" that he found himself attracted to in the 1960s while working with Sun Ra and his Archestra.

LIneup /  Musicians:
Julian Priester ("Pepo Mtobo") - trombone, horns, whistle, flute, percussion, synthesizers
Patrick Gleeson - synthesizers
Hadley Caliman - flute, saxophone, clarinet
Mguanda David Johnson - flute, saxophone
Bill Connors - electric guitars
Bayete Umbra Zindiko (Todd Cochran) - piano, clavinet
Ron McClure - electric bass (Track 1)
Nyimbo Henry Franklin - electric bass (track 2)
Ndugu Leon Chancler - drums
Kamau Eric Gravatt - drums, congas

1. "Prologue/Love, Love" (19:30) an extremely engaging groove with some very Deodato-like keyboard and bass play providing the spine of the entire side-long song. The overall feel does have more of a long-play Krautrock feel despite the business of the contributing musicians (particularly keyboard artist Todd Cochran and electric guitarist Bill Connors but also bassist Ron McClure). The drums, percussion, and bass are incredibly solid and steady throughout, which offers the soloists very fecund ground on which to perform their psychedelic gymnastics. It feels as if all of the soloists were given plenty of room and encouragement to experiment and "go off"--even during the live recording. As a result, this is a great, eminently enjoyable, and also very soothing and hypnotic song. (37/40)

2. "Images/Eternal Worlds/Epilogue" (18:24) a song that seems founded far more in more-traditional form and structure despite the rogue bass playing of Henry Franklin. In the third minute, drummer Ndugu Leon Chancler and electric pianist Todd Cochran seem to fall back into Deodato-like mode, yet are free enough to expand upon their foundational forms to express themselves with admirable abandon. Pat Gleeson and Priester also seem to be having a creative free-for-all, spewing forth all kinds of animal-like noises (Julian seeming to concentrate on the elephantine). Even the sax player in gets into the act in the sixth and seventh minutes. This is some cosmic ride: entropy rules! Thus it is quite unexpected when the whole band suddenly shifts in the eighth minute into a sudden shift into a low-piano chord and cymbal-guided "Love Supreme"-like motif, congealing over the next two minutes into such tightly -engaged and -focused unit that their gradual, almost imperceptible transition into what feels like a high-speed Latin rumba line by the eleventh minute made me wonder (more that once) if I was still listening to the same album--or even the same band! These are obviously very serious and very skilled jazz musicians. Pianist Todd Cochran is especially impressive but so is everyone else. They are so tight! So skilled! So professional! After the first rather psychedelic song of hypnotic space funk and the chaotic opening seven minutes of this, I would never in a million years have predicted this amazingly sophisticated "big band" jazz! I love this song--immediately wanted to play it again and then left it on repeat for the whole morning! Wow! (39/40)

96.25 on the Fishscales = A/five stars; an amazingly fresh expression of the relatively new Jazz-Rock Fusion idiom containing free-form experimentation over super-solid rhythm play, spanning the spectrum from the spacey-psychedelic to the most professional big band sound. One of the finest J-R Fuse albums of its time (with great sound thanks to Manfred Eicher and his ECM label); definitely in my Top 10 "Classic Era" Jazz-Rock Fusion Albums of All-Time.

EDDIE HENDERSON Inside Out (Recorded in October of 1973; released in January of 1974.)

The end of Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi-era team lineup is officially an Eddie Henderson album due to Eddie's leadership (initiative, funding, and role as principle composer), and it's another great one. (The next of Eddie's album's, 1975's Sunburst, again has a great lineup of young and seasoned jazz musicians--including Bennie Maupin and George Duke--but there is a radical shift in musical styles toward a more radio- and sales-friendly "smooth" or "funky/disco" jazz fusion that became popular in the mid-70s.) Produced by Skip Drinkwater for Capricorn Records, Inside Out was recorded in San Francisco in October of 1973 at Pat Gleeson's Different Fur studio. The album wasn't mastered and released until January of 1974--long after Herbie had called it quits on the head-in-the-clouds, atmosphere-exploring Mwandishi septet. How the recording sessions for Inside Out happened after Herbie had dismantled the Mwandishi septet and after he had already recorded his new pop-oriented album is a mystery to me. If any one out there knows how this happened, please let me know! (Herbie recorded his first album with a new funk/R&B quartet in September, 1973. The album, Head Hunters, was released on October 13 or October 26 [depending on sources] to become the biggest selling jazz album of all-time--until George Benson's Breezin' laid claim to that title in 1976.) 

Line-up / Musicians:
- Eddie Henderson / trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn
With:
- Herbie Hancock / Fender Rhodes, clavinet, organ
- Patrick Gleeson / synthesizer
- Bennie Maupin / clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, alto flute, piccolo, tenor saxophone
- Buster Williams / acoustic & electric basses
- Eric Gravatt / drums
- Billy Hart / drums
- Bill Summers / congas

1. "Moussaka" (8:59) Patrick Gleeson and Bennie Maupin get first crack at opening this album: it sounds like the real-time sounds of a sunrise. At the end of the first minute Buster Williams' bass and Bill Summers congas start us off on a journey across the desert but then we slow way down as if to examine the scenery from some carapace high up above the desert floor. But then at 2:40 the journey recommences--exactly the same way it began at the one minute mark--this time allowing Eddie time to solo with his muted cornet. Then Herbie gets a turn in the fifth minute with his Fender Rhodes. Such a nice Caravanserai groove going beneath it all. Eddie retakes the reins with a muted flugelhorn at 5:30. A second track is given to Eddie for the intermittent dipersal of flourishes from his unmuted trumpet until at 7:30 that instrument takes the lead where he is joined by a legion of other horn and wind instruments (Obviously Eddie, Bennie, and Patrick have become enamored of multi-track overdubbing.) (18/20)

2. "Omnipresence" (2:14) another display of circling instruments that sounds/feels like the presence of something. The two drummers are busy as Eddie and the rest fill the cauldron with more ingredients in order to make the soup. (4.375/5)

3. "Discoveries" (5:08 ) multiple horns are tracking while Buster and the drummers are providing a kind of DEODATO version of "A Love Supreme" but then things veer right and we've got a more train-like cannonball racing downhill so that Bennie's clarinet, Herbie's clavinet and Fender Rhodes, Patrick's burbling saw synths, and Eddie's trumpets (muted and unmuted) can weave their off-set flourishes of melody. Very interesting and progressive. The music on this album is definitely exploring new, expanded ideas of what is linear and how melodies can be delivered by all of the instruments of a large ensemble while being out of sync with one another. I like this one more for its innovation than its engaging qualities. (8.875/10)

4. "Fusion" (3:33) a veritable continuation of the previous song (there is no break between the two) sees a shift in the rhythm track coming from both the bass and drums. Over the top Eddie, Bennie, and Herbie manage the melody delivery with subtle collaboration and admirable discipline. (8.875/10)

5. "Dreams" (7:21) drums and bass going rogue while the lead instruments hold the melody together simultaneously and smoothly. Interesting! The recording and engineering is so perfect: with every subtle sound captured and balanced gently into the mix. I can't recall hearing a jazz album on which each song's soundscape is so egalitarianly distributed. Rather amazing. And beautiful! (14/15)

6. "Inside Out" (9:25) It's Buster again to lead the way out of the gates. Drummers and clavinet follow as Eddie's horns and Bennie's tenor saxophone start their own journeys. Clavinet gets a little "me" time before multiple horns give a loosely banked MILES-like pepper spray--a pattern of delivery that Eddie continues to reinforce with his trumpet's own first foray as sole soloist. This is a really fun song to listen to while paying attention to any and every one of the individual musicians--listening for their subtle expressions of unrepressed individuality. Even the two drummers are playing so subtly off of one another, creating something that is spiraling around Buster's bass lines, feeding the other instrumentalists into explorations and expressions of their own creative heights.
     In the sixth minute Bennie gets the second extended solo with his tenor sax. I like the relaxed length of times given between soloists. Herbie's wah-ed Fender Rhodes gets the next solo, filling the eighth minute. Bennie and Eddie come squawking out of the pond like two geese (or more as each is given multiple tracks) to try to cut Herbie off but Herbie just continues on with both his Fender Rhodes soloing and his clavinet (multi-tracked or played simultaneously?--or, more likely, taken on by Bennie Maupin?) Very cool song to listen to over and over. (19/20)

7. "Exit #1" (2:54) the bookend opposite of the album's opening four minutes: this must be the sunset. Perfect! (5/5)

Total Time: 39:34

The music on this album is so much more experimental, feeling innovative on several fronts, than any of the previous Mwansishi-era albums. While not as melodic, the weaves are incredibly complex for the fact that it feels as if each individual musician has been set loose on his own path and journey with the same map and destination but with the freedom to follow their own independent paths and means to get there. It's really a breath-taking and marvellous to watch (and listen). If this isn't the peak of the experimentalism that was the spirit and intent of the Mwandishi albums, then I don't know what is.

91.91 on the Fishscales = A/five stars; musically this may be a minor masterpiece but to my ears there are developmental things going on here that, for me, proclaim an evolutionary jump in the progress of jazz-rock fusion--a jump that is in direct opposition to the pervasive tendency toward favoring smooth audience accessibility over mathematical and creative exploration and experimentation. A Top 30 Favorite "Classic Era" J-R Fuse Albums. 

BENNIE MAUPIN The Jewel in The Lotus (Recorded in the Summer of 1974; released on Nov. 1.)

Recorded after the formal breakup of Herbie's Mwandishi septet, The Jewel in The Lotus harnesses the talents of over half of that septet in Bennie, Herbie, Buster Williams, and Billy Hart but expresses a musical direction quite different than any of the Mwandishi albums (three under Herbie Hancock's name, two under that of trumpeter Eddie Henderson). First of all, the album was produced and released by Manfred Eicher's new ECM label (which leads to expectations of impeccable sound quality), November 1, 1974, though it was recorded in March in New York City at The Record Plant.

Line-up / Musicians:
Bennie Maupin / Reeds, Voice, Glockenspiel
Buster Williams / Bass
Billy Hart / Drums
Frederick Waits / Drums, Marimba
Bill Summers / Percussion
Herbie Hancock / Piano, Electric Piano
Charles Sullivan / Trumpet (tracks: 2, 3)

1. "Ensenada" (8:05) fast-paced static two-note bass line and wind chime-like percussion instruments open this song until the reset pause at the 95-second mark signals the arrival of flutes and piano. A song that reminds me of some of Mahavishnu John McLaughlin's more sedate spiritual-oriented songs as well as some of Chick Corea and Gary Burton's duets. At 4:35 there is another reset pause which is then followed by a key change when the instrumentalists resume their wind-chime nature imitation. I really love this song! (14.5/15)

2. "Mappo" (8:25) Bennie's flute leads this one as trumpet, bowed double bass, delicate drum play (from both drummers) and additional percussion inputs support. In the third minute the band starts to establish a kind of tense, dour, even cinematically-frightening motif but then backs off. This is so much like the future music of avant gard pioneers UNIVERS ZERO and PRESENT! But then Latin hand drums enter totally wiping away the cinematic tension, redirecting the tension into some free-jazz kind of play. Even Herbie's discordant piano play in the fifth and sixth minutes (or Buster Williams and Bill Summers' wild play) seem only to add to the tense 20th Century classical music feeling of this. This feels like a very wise and mature composition! Wow! (19/20)

3. "Excursion" (4:47) starts out sounding as if we're in some high mountain Tibetan monastery with the horns, reverberating gongs, glockenspiel, tuned percussion, prayer-like vocalisations, piccolo, bassoon, and, later, discordant and free-for-all double bass riffs, piano hits, and snare and drum fills. The cacophonous sound just builds and thickens the further the song runs until the end when recorder and single-voice vocal chant are left to end the song. Wow! What a journey this man is taking us on! (9/10)

4. "Past + Present = Future" (1:45) piano, distant snare and shaken percussives, long, bowed double bass notes, and multiple flute and reed instruments present this lovely little interlude. (4.75/5)

5. "The Jewel In The Lotus" (9:57) spacey electric piano (with fast-panning reverb) with shaker percussives open this while reed instruments, double bass sprays, delicate cymbal play, and marimba gradually set the stage for Bennie's soprano sax and other reed instruments to slowly, subtly set a melody. I am so impressed with the design of this music! And the discipline it takes to perform it. (And I know from second-hand sources that Bennie is a very exacting, very demanding band leader.) Once Bennie is in front, the music pretty well established and solidified, it kind of loses its appeal to me as it becomes less about mystery and melody and more about continuing the floatability. The individual instrumental choices and contributions are interesting yet they're often so soft and subtle that they do more to deflect my attention off into some tangential place of dreamy sensuality. I hate to detract from the ability to perform such a wonderful (and wondrous) feat, but I kind of want to stay engaged with the song. (17.66667/20)

6. "Winds Of Change" (1:25) multiple reed instruments performing together, in attempted unison. (4.5/5)

7. "Song For Tracie Dixon Summers" (5:14) a lot of space--some times quite empty--around which Bennie and company add small whorls and twists of movement--until the third minute when Bennie's soprano sax leads Herbie, Buster, Billy, and the percussionists into something slightly more definitive and organized. There's just so much space! I usually love spacious music like this but this one is almost too reliant on the long decays of instrumental sound as to not represent music but rather act as a reminder of what the world would be like without music. Interesting! (8.75/10)

8. "Past Is Past" (3:52) Bennie's plaintive, languid soprano sax in duet with Herbie's full piano prowess--at least for the first 90-seconds, then triangle, shaker, timpani, and other hand percussion instruments (and background harmonizing flutes) join the flow (which is pretty much a drawn out three-chord flow). The drummers get to join in--as only accenting percussionists--in the final minute. (8.875/10)

Total time: 43:37

A surprisingly transportive, spiritual experience comes out of listening to this album each time I do so. This is, in my opinion, no small feat. In fact, I would argue that it might take some artists a lifetime to achieve such an effect through their art.

91.62 on the Fishscales = A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of quite remarkably-mature song compositions performed by a gathering of remnants of the Mwandishi lineup months after the last Mwansishi session had wrapped up.

The Mwandishi lineup toured quite extensively throughout the US and even into the European continent throughout 1971, 1972, and into the Spring of 1973--which was hard to coordinate--and quite expensive--because the lineup and the staff necessary to support such venture was so large. This is one of the things that wore on Herbie and caused his enthusiasm for the project to eventually wane and fizzle out. Though he loved and appreciated the continuous experimentation and boundary-pushing exercise of on-stage performing--and was happy with many of the songs captured for the studio album releases--he was getting antsy for soemthing new; he was tiring of the private, introspective adventuring; he realized that he wanted to please people, make them happy with happy, danceable music. He loved the funk he was hearing on the pop radio--and the audience's response to it, so he decided he wanted to start fresh--he wanted to make a funk band. The result is that which became known as the Head Hunters.

     In the meantime, there are live recordings worthy of seeking out in order to hear what the live experience was like. I want to make sure to give full credit to xooxanthellae on Reddit.com for the wonderful list of live recordings I've pasted below.

The Mwandishi band made lots of live recordings:

• Deeeeeeep list of Herbie bootlegs with downloads: http://neverenoughrhodes.blogspot.com/2008/05/never-enough-live-herbie-hancock.html

• Molde Norway 1971 -- 8 minute video. Great groove with an exciting Herbie solo, frustratingly edited & cut short.

• Nice 1971 -- hour-long high-quality radio broadcast, with "You'll Know When You Get There," "Toys," and "Ostinato (Suite for Angela)." “Ostinato” is the jam -- nice groove with a wild sax solo.

• Copenhagen 1971 -- 2.5 hour long bootleg, but the sound quality isn’t great. My favorite youtube comment: “This is not music nor art, its noise and very aggravating !! Worst thing that herbie ever did !!”

• Paris March 1972 -- 30 minute video of “Toys,” “Water Torture,” and “Sleeping Giant” for a TV show -- the first 2 songs all acoustic, plugged in for the last song. The longest and best video of the Mwandishi band.

• Switzerland March 1972 -- 1h40m bootleg

• Detroit Oct 1972 -- Highly recommended! Hour-long version of “Sleeping Giant” from the Crossings tour in late ‘72 (or is this ‘71?), featuring Pat Gleeson on synthesizer. Sound quality is pretty good, this is some trippy shit! After a bunch of ethereal spacey shit, a really nice groove starts around 14:15. Damn, this whole thing is tight!

• Detroit Feb 1973 at Strata East -- 2.5 hr long bootleg, good sound quality and maybe the only live version of my jam “Hidden Shadows”.

• Live at the Boston Jazz Workshop March 1973, B, C, D -- Highly recommended! One hour long with nice sound quality, “Hornets” and “You’ll Know When You Get There”. This is full-on spaced-out Sextant funk. Bennie Maupin goes off, playing some really free shit.