Moving In Harmony - Week 3

Much like last week, I find myself standing on the shoulders of giants. Maybe that’s just the nature of our work. I won’t wax poetic, but suffice it to say that more than enough has been said about Hancock. A long illustrious career precedes him and his name has become household much like Einstein’s. Head Hunters, Thrust, Watermelon Man, Driftin’, the list goes on.

I grew up listening to the Miles Davis discography (as have many), especially the First and Second Great Quintets of course. ‘Round About Midnight I’ve literally etched into my brain, and I still feel the scorching summer sun cooking my bare feet whenever I take a look at the ‘Sketches of Spain’ front cover. In this instalment, I’ve decided to try my hand at decoding the wizardry of Hancock’s accompaniment to the tune ‘Iris’, from ‘E. S. P.’. Fantastic album cover too, rather portentous too if you ask me.

Family squabbles aside, this is a brooding and stimulating Wayne Shorter piece, as many of them indeed are. I’ve tried, to the best of my abilities (some bars of this piece had me listening again and again and again…and again), to jot down what I hear Hancock playing. It’s truly entrancing and I’ve yet to tire listening to it.

I mostly write from a pianistic perspective, however I’ll try not to let that hold me back from being a musician. I encourage anyone listening to notice with particular scrutiny the interplay between the piano, bass and drums. The trio seems to inhabit a magical Goldilocks zone of sorts. The brush playing (Tony Williams) is quite conservative and steady, and maybe that’s what allowed the bassist (Ron Carter) and the pianist to take a few more leaps and risks.

And from a technical side, Hancock supplies quite an array of diverse technical aspects. Some points of note to me are the splash of cluster colours chords in the beginning, that dense Ab augmented, the Bill Evans-esque triads that litter the piece, and the quartal voicings towards the end of the head. I’m also quite a fan of the rhythmic playfulness. One might find it too busy on first listen or two but I think, that’s part of the magic.

PS - Comments and critiques are more than welcome. I still have my doubts about some of the chords…

• DS