Herbie Hancock Quartet Branford Marsalis, Buster Williams, Tony Williams Herbie Hancock/Sweden 1986

From various projects derived from V.S.O.P., which loudly declared the revival of acoustic jazz, the live performance of the one-phone quartet with Herbie, Tony, and Buster, fronted by the up-and-coming Branford Marsalis, who was highly praised in Japan, is now available for the first time on a superb high-quality sound board that has just been aired! Herbie’s ally from Miles’ golden quintet days, Tony Williams, Herbie’s most trusted bassist for many years, and the brother of the genius Wynton Marsalis, who was deeply involved in Herbie’s major debut, played an active role as the brains behind the Wynton Quintet, and then began contemporary activities in a different sense from Wynton. In 1985, he joined Sting’s band and attracted attention, and in 1986, he formed his own band, and the tenor and soprano saxophonist Branford Marsalis, who was a rising star at the time, joined the quartet. The performance at the Stockholm Concert House in Sweden on October 25, 1986 was recorded directly from the recently broadcasted real master, where even the breath of each person is transmitted realistically. This is a must-listen board of the most astonishing and ultimate high-quality stereo sound board that can be heard no more! ! That year, Herbie won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for the movie “Round Midnight,” and like Miles Davis in his golden quintet days, he has grown significantly as a musical director/sound creator more than as a player. At the beginning of the album, he makes a joke about the “Round Midnight” band, which is a reference to the award. Of course, such a band doesn’t exist, and the quartet that includes Herbie and Miles Davis’ golden quintet members Shorter, Ron, and Tony is basically called “The Quartet,” and the quintet is basically called “The Quintet” (excluding trios). When they start playing, Tony’s drums, which are in a class of their own, explode (not run wild) from the very first song! Inspired by this, Buster plays a thick and powerful bass sound, and Herbie, a genius pianist who can do anything but has grown more as a musical director/sound creator than as a player, plays a tight and imposing performance that tightens the whole sound. Branford’s tenor takes the lead and launches into a solo. Perhaps he is nervous about the heavy responsibility of playing one horn with these three people, he starts off with a rather quiet solo that emphasizes stability, but as usual, Tony immediately starts drumming furiously, encouraging the audience to go wild as he wants, and then he unleashes a bold and free blow as if he has woken up. This documentary full of tension that can only be experienced at a live performance gives the listener a thrill like riding a roller coaster, and the irresistible development is vivid. However, as the stage progressed, Branford also showed off his amazing talents, unleashing wonderful improvisations not only on tenor but also on soprano. Like his father Ellis, Branford is the most talented of the Marsalis brothers, all of whom are jazz musicians, and is now recognized as one of the great musical reformers, so it may be said that this is to be expected given his abilities, but playing (serious battles) with Miles’ golden quintet, V.S.O.P., and others, who always play incredibly magical and advanced, Herbie, Tony, and the battle-hardened Buster, stimulated Branford greatly, and as a result, we could hear a performance that was different from the usual Shorter, and it became one of Branford’s most passionate performances! As for Herbie, Buster, and the super-smart Tony, they always play creatively and innovatively, full of creativity that never plays the same thing twice, so you never get tired of listening to them no matter how many times you listen to them… Herbie is perfect in every way, Buster is always stable and solid, Tony is outrageous but sensitive, and Branford is just starting to jump into the center of a new generation and breathe fresh air into this quartet. This is a dream-like item that allows you to listen to a rare live performance by a rare one-horn quartet on an astonishing, ultimate, high-quality stereo soundboard!!!