Herbie Hancock
Inventions & Dimensions (Blue Note 84147)

Aside from The Prisoner (his last effort for Blue Note), Inventions & Dimensions is Herbie Hancock's least predictable album of the seven he recorded as a leader during the 60s.

It was his third release, recorded five months after My Point of View, and features an atypical quartet instrumentation of piano (Herbie), bass (Paul Chambers), drums & timbales (Willie Bobo), and conga & bongo ("Chihuahua" Martinez).

Rather than sounding particularly Latin-tinged, though, the album illustrates the influence on Hancock of playing with the Miles Davis Quintet (Hancock released three solo albums while a member of that band).

His playing is much more cerebral and explorative than on the previous two Blue Notes, and the sparse support provided by the band gives him room to stretch out and really carry each tune. The songs themselves are not what you think of as Blue Note-era Herbie Hancock compositions, with catchy hooks and grooves, but rather a bit more "free."

This album, of all his solo work, most perfectly captures Herbie's approach to piano – it is his most individualistic performance, deep and intense. He does not demonstrate any noticeable influences at all, so you get pure Herbie, the player.

Maiden Voyage may better show off Herbie as a composer and performer, but there are no recordings that get you closer to his piano playing side than Inventions & Dimensions.

The songs were apparently not "composed," as such, but rather produced by a few rules and parameters before the session. They don't sound "free" like Eric Dolphy, but the band is not hooking into each other like the usual hard bop excursion. Instead, they seem to be hooking into something else, a vibe or a mood … a thought, perhaps.

It doesn't always work (on the opener, "Succotash," you sort of miss the horns), but over the course of the album it's thrilling to hear the band explore Herbie's mind. Which is a bit of a confusing place, I'd say.

"Triangle" is reminiscent of Miles (credit Paul Chambers's walking bass line and Herbie's chords). "Jack Rabbit" is a fast-paced tune that relies on tempo – any attempt at melody is abandoned after ten seconds and Herbie's off like a … well, you get what I mean. "Mimosa" is a ballad that anticipates Keith Jarrett's acoustic style by ten years, augmented by "Havana Moon" type percussion.

About the percussionists, by the way: don't get overly excited about Willie Bobo's appearance on this disc; he plays straight, not like his Verve recordings at all. Which is good, and it shows his range, that he's not all "It's Not Unusual" manic.

A great performance from both percussionists. Chambers, too, throughout is dependable and keeps things from getting too far-out. Sing for the bass player, always the last mentioned!

The closer, "A Jump Ahead," begins like the Cineplex Odeon theme and offers another brilliant Hancock solo.

This is not an album you come away from whistling, but it's a fantastic performance and a unique record in the Blue Note catalog. A good place to really get into what it is about Herbie Hancock that makes him great, although I'd probably suggest this as like, your second or third Herbie CD. (I'll refrain from making a crack about the soundtrack to "Herbie the Love Bug" being the first—oh wait, I just made it. Crap!)

The best way to appreciate Herbie, of course, is to simply get all of his 60s albums and listen to them a lot. I hesitate to imagine how many people try to start with a baragin cut-out cassette of Future Shock and then just decide that "jazz is weird."

Loud Bassoon rating scale

Review by Lula Babcock