Herbie Hancock - Thrust (1974 US Pressing for Japan, CBS/Sony Vinyl LP)

Herbie Hancock - Thrust | Vinyl LP - 1974 CBS/Sony (PC 32965, US pressing for the Japanese market)

Thrust is the follow-up to Head Hunters, the 1973 album that became one of the best-selling jazz records in history. The band is the same except for one change: Mike Clark replaced Harvey Mason on drums. Mason was a session player who executed Hancock's written parts with precision. Clark was an improviser who played off Paul Jackson's bass lines in real time, and the difference is audible from the first bar of "Palm Grease." The rhythm section locks into a groove that shifts and breathes rather than repeating, with Hancock's Fender Rhodes, Hohner D-6 clavinet and four ARP synthesisers (Odyssey, Soloist, 2600 and String Ensemble) layered over the top. Bennie Maupin plays soprano and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet and alto flute, filling the role of a horn section by himself. Bill Summers adds percussion.

All four tracks run between seven and eleven minutes. "Palm Grease" opens with the full band at a sustained boil. "Actual Proof" is the centrepiece, Clark and Jackson playing rhythmic figures so tightly interlocked that generations of drummers have used it as a benchmark. Maupin wrote "Butterfly," the album's most reflective piece, and "Spank-A-Lee" closes with a co-write between Hancock, Clark and Jackson. Fred Catero engineered the sessions at Wally Heider Studios in San Francisco in August 1974. David Rubinson co-produced with Hancock. Rob Springett designed the cover in the same surrealist style he used for Head Hunters. This is a 1974 US pressing (PC 32965) released for the Japanese market by CBS/Sony. The sleeve and disc were manufactured in the United States, not in Japan.