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Herbie Hancock best recordings

Hey HH fans, I'm looking for his best recordings and in particular if there is a worthwhile best of that qualifies as excellent. I'm looking for a somewhat wide soundstage in a fairly intimate live setting - not really any studio stuff unless it's incredibly well done which wouldn't surprise me.

Educate me on the topic of Herbie if you feel so inclined. I've been a fan of his for 35 years, but have sworn off throwing $$ at great recordings and audio equipment until now. Would love to fill my apt with his excellent sounds.

No need to contribute mentions of other artists unless HH is involved. I already have great recordings of many others.

Thanks!!
HJ
hazyj
ponnie
233 posts
 
Herbie Hancock CD Possibilities is a must have IMO. Especially the Christina Aguilera cut A Song For You. The entire cd is good but Christina does a wonderful job with this song. When I want to evaluate any system It is one of the first cuts I reach for. I also like it when he plays Standards best.
rockadanny
1,037 posts
 
Herbie's work with Mies Davis is wonderful. Of his catalogue as leader I have only these two, which I enjoy very much: Empyrean Isles; and Maiden Voyage.
czarivey
4,494 posts
 
I like Brazil album.
Push-Push is great as well.
viridian's avatar
viridian
4,184 posts
 
Czarivey, I believe you are referring to Herbie Mann.

Hancock's Blue Note recordings are a very good example of the old adage that, the better the music, the worse the recording.

I'm not so high on late model Herbie, but "The River" covering the songs of Joni Mitchell, who he worked with extensively, is nice music, well recorded. But IMHO, it still pales in comparison to the Blue Notes, but these are matters of taste, and Hancock, like Mitchell, has traversed so many styles and idioms that it's hard to pick a best.
hazyj OP
79 posts
 
Ponnie, Rockadanny, Viridian -

Very appreciative of the suggestions! Viridian, I'll definitely look into "The River", but you lost me at "Blue Note". Are you saying this is a bad recording? If so that would be the opposite of what I'm looking for. For what it's worth I have yet to hear any HH that I'd consider 'bad music', and I think that makes my task pretty easy: sift through the thousands of his recordings to shake out those that are great. I'm not at all concerned about the quality of the music itself.

Keep the suggestions coming - really looking forward to hearing these on my new system.

Thanks!
HJ
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