Herbie Hancock
The Complete Blue Note 60s Sessions (Blue Note 95569)

When Herbie Hancock's Blue Note albums were first released on CD in the late 80s, they were programmed in the jazz-nerd manner of including newly-added alternate takes immediately following the master takes. So listening to the albums became an archival exercise instead of a flowing experience … especially egregious with Empyrean Isles, which went from amazing to annoying in its digital-age rebirth.

Most of these albums (Takin' Off, Inventions & Dimensions, My Point of View, Empyrean Isles, Maiden Voyage, Speak Like a Child, and The Prisoner) have since been reissued as Rudy Van Gelder editions, with the alternate takes tacked on at the end, as they should be (some didn't have alternates to begin with).

The Complete Blue Note 60s Sessions packs all seven albums onto six CDs with alternate takes in chronological order of recording … meaning, back to square one for casual listeners who don't want to hear two versions of the same song in a row. Jazz discography freaks prefer it this way; not me.

For the most part, I dislike box sets, particularly jazz sets, for this reason, as well as for the fact that you lose all the kick-ass cover art. The box is a sensible way to get all the music without having to buy tons of individual discs, but the end result is simply: You won't end up listening to it.

There are exceptions to this rule … the recent Miles Davis and John Coltrane box sets turn the library approach into real fuckin' art, thrilling to explore and investigate. But the Hancock set, though packed to the gills with amazing, classic music, becomes a shelf-liner simply because it is so mustily presented.

Go for the original albums, I says. Box sets are for boxheads.

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Review by Lula Babcock