Product Description

SEXTANT is a perfect example of how CD reissues of long outof print records can gain more respect when brought to the broader, modern context. The first recording Hancock made for Columbia and the last one done with his Mwandishi octet, agroup deeply under the influence of Miles Davis' experimentation with electronics and global polyrhythms, SEXTANT was dismissed upon its release as a fusion-absorbed bastardisation of jazz forms and melody-free dead ends. But heard throughmodern ears seduced by Miles' global funk and Brian Eno's soundscapes, it's a revelation, forecasting a future that mayor may not have anything to do with Jazz.
It starts witha flurry of backbeats amidst a funk bottom, as bassist Buster Williams and drummer Billy Hart swing wickedly on midtempo grooves and percussionist Buck Clarke adds a light layer of speedier rhythms. Bennie Maupin, Eddie Henderson and Julian Priester's horns keep the music at least slightly groundedin the electric jazz idiom. Still, the true alchemists in this sonic play are Hancock (strapped in a cockpit of keyboards and synthesizers, orchestrating the chaos) and synthesizer technician Patrick Gleason, whose special effects impregnate these three tracks with a futurism beyond its years.

Track Listing

1. Rain Dance
2. Hidden Shadows
3. Hornets

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15693 in Music
• Released on: 1998-07-13
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Recorded with the sly, space-funky band that Herbie Hancock formed as Mwandishi, Sextant is one of those cornerstone jazz collections. It ranks with the best early, electric fusion for its fuzzing of textures, always used as bedrock for killer, roomy solos. A troika of horn greats can take much of the credit for the solos: trombonist Julian Priester, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, and saxophonist Bennie Maupin. Each generates great, dense ideas without betraying Hancock's eerie ambience and funky vibe. Yes, this is an aggregation of many 1970s-era ideas: renewed sense of Africanisms (at least in the band's naming), intensified percussive underpinnings, and a heap of rumbly rhythms that give props to everyone in neofunk jazz from Clyde Stubblefield to Funkadelic, albeit in a slowed, methodically rhythmic vein. Hancock's keyboards make fine clouds, as well as slinking shuffles. --Andrew Bartlett

Customer Reviews

Insanely hardcore, a total mind-job, powerful, intense- I could go on
The period that Herbie Hancock had between his 60s Blue Note work and his funk stuff (Head Hunters ownwards) is often criminally overlooked. His Mwandishi band recorded some of the most awesome, mind-blowingly messed up music that I have ever heard, and Sextant is probably the most challenging album of all. I guess you could call it the paranoid, insomniac brother of Crossings (their previous album). Where Crossings had a real organic, earthy feel to it, Sextant moves even further into uncharted territory. If you like, Bitches Brew was electric, but this is electronic.

This is most noticeable on Rain Dance. It's probably the only electrosiren-swing tune you're likely to hear. Buster Williams inparticular shines on the upright bass. Hidden Shadows is in 19/4 (!) Yet it's not one of these indulgent excuses to write in a wierd time signature- it really flows, and Herbie plays what I'm tempted to call one of the most brilliant piano solos I've ever heard. Hornets is more of an organically instrumental groove- fast-and-furious- but with the kind of organisation and structure you'd never hear on Bitches Brew.

There's not enough Bennie Maupin on this album and he doesn't shine like he does on Crossings, but listen out for Eddie Henderson on the trumpet and flugel, who steals the show. Buster Williams is out of sight, as is Herbie himself. Overall, this album doesn't quite beat Crossings (for me nothing can; buy that before you buy this) but it is the most rewarding long term listen around. If nothing else, pretend you like it just to impress your friends.