Herbie Hancock - Man-Child (1975 Japanese CBS/Sony Vinyl LP)

Vinyl: VG+
Sleeve: VG+
Obi: None

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Herbie Hancock - Man-Child | Vinyl LP - 1975 Japanese CBS/Sony (SOPO 109)

Hancock described his approach to this period as searching for "funk musicians with a feeling for jazz" rather than the other way around. The personnel list reflects that. Three bassists (Paul Jackson from the Headhunters, Louis Johnson of the Brothers Johnson, Henry Davis) and three drummers (Mike Clark from the Headhunters, Harvey Mason, James Gadson) rotate across the six tracks, with different rhythm sections providing different grooves depending on what each piece needs. David T. Walker plays guitar alongside DeWayne "Blackbyrd" McKnight (who later joined Parliament-Funkadelic), and the uncredited but audible presence of Wah Wah Watson on guitar, voice bag and Maestro synthesiser shaped the album's sound in ways the pressing's credits don't fully reflect. Watson co-wrote four of the six tracks. "Hang Up Your Hang Ups" opens the album with one of the heaviest grooves Hancock ever recorded, the clavinet and bass locked into a repeating figure that runs for over seven minutes. "Sun Touch" and "Bubbles" are slower and more textured, with Wayne Shorter's soprano saxophone contributing an understated solo on the latter. "Steppin' In It" is where Stevie Wonder appears, his harmonica solo sitting inside a full-band arrangement that owes more to Earth, Wind & Fire than to anything in the Blue Note catalogue. "Heartbeat" closes with a driving, synthesiser-heavy piece that comes closest to the electronic fusion Hancock had explored on Sextant.

The brass section (Bud Brisbois and Jay DaVersa on trumpets, Garnett Brown on trombone, Dick "Slyde" Hyde on tuba and bass trombone) adds weight on several tracks without ever dominating. Bennie Maupin, the sole remaining member from the Mwandishi band, plays soprano and tenor saxophone, saxello, bass clarinet, bass flute and alto flute, his multi-instrumental credits connecting this album back to the electronic experiments of Sextant even as the music moves in a more commercially accessible direction. The album reached number one on the Billboard jazz chart, number six on R&B and number 21 on the pop chart. D

This is the 1975 Japanese pressing on CBS/Sony SOPO 109, released the same year as the US Columbia original.