Hancock’s sophomore album as a leader, recorded by Rudy Van Gelder in Englewood Cliffs NJ. Hancock joined by Donald Byrd (trumpet), Gracham Moncur III (trombone), Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Grant Green (guitar), Chuck Isreals (bass), and Anthony Williams (drums).
Herbie Hancock is a master, and it is wonderful to find the early Blue Note albums – I now have the first five in good vinyl editions. All the tracks on this one are Hancock originals – love “Blind Man, Blind Man” which recalls & inverts “Watermelon Man” (but with Grant Green on guitar!).
My copy—via Big Fun Records in Beverly MA—is the Blue Note Tone Poet reissue from 2020, on 180g vinyl, with lacquer cut by Kevin Gray and pressing by RTI.
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