etnobofin

I hope we never forget how great music can be… here’s Herbie Hancock and The Headhunters playing Chameleon in a live TV performance from 1974/75…

The video starts at the end of the head/main theme, and goes through the solo section to the end.

In addition to perfect mid-70s hair, Herbie Hancock has the perfect mid-70s keyboard rig… Fender Rhodes Suitcase electric piano (with those gorgeous twin speakers), with a Hohner Clavinet on top. On Herbie’s left is his ARP Odyssey Mk 1 synth and on his right he’s got an ARP 2600 – the same instrument used to create the voice of R2D2 in Star Wars.

This how you rolled in the days before digital and in 1975, Herbie was right at the cutting edge of musical electronics. Drop in at 4’50 for Herbie’s Odyssey solo. It’s totally for the win, especially his dance at 6’38.

Paul Jackson‘s rubber fingers are on bass. Mike Clark (the funkiest white drummer ever?) drops snare hits where you least expect them. Bill Summers is nailing it on pandeiro during Herbie’s Rhodes solo, and Bennie Maupin is on tenor saxophone and percussion.

Approximately 575 million high school jazz bands have murdered this song over the past 30-odd years, (and I’m as guilty as the next guy), so it’s nice to be reminded how it’s supposed to be done. I could watch this repeatedly, all night.

A pretty good mid-1980s version of Chameleon by Herbie and the Rockit Band is also on YouTube (ignore the annoying visuals and listen to the music):

Donald Byrd – Perpetual Love
From Kofi : Blue Note [Buy]

Normally, emotional attachment to physical possessions is best avoided. Except affection for teddy bears and music collections. But there was a twinge of regret today as I wrapped up my Fender Rhodes Mk 1 Stage 73 to be shipped to its new owner. A Rhodes is a heavy awkward object to transport, and with the amount of travelling coming up in the next 12 months, keeping it really wasn’t a practical option. So I sold it.

Indeed, in a 21st century of brilliant Korgs with stunning digital sound patches, there is virtually nothing practical about owning a Rhodes. It’s like owning a pet. Rhodes are temperamental beasts, requiring re-tuning and a little tender loving care now and again. They’re a bitch to take to gigs, and there’s always one note that sounds just a little bit broken. (With mine, it was the middle C#)

But a Rhodes will always look great in the lounge, and SOUND even greater- like licking meltwater from a velvet glacier while fanned by the wings of angels.

So much of the music I love was performed on a Rhodes. While I was packing it up today, in between berating myself for my stupidity, I tried to think of my personal favourite Rhodes jazz performances – which are less about improvisational brilliance than simply how the keyboard sounds. Here’s a list of three:

- Keith Jarrett’s 1971 “broken key” solo on Funky Tonk (Miles Davis Live-Evil)
- Herbie Hancock’s live version of Butterfly in Japan, 1975 (Flood: Live in Tokyo)
- Duke Pearson’s playing on Perpetual Love in 1970 (Donald Byrd Kofi)

I’ve shared Perpetual Love because it’s probably less well-known, although the players on the session are top notch: Donald Byrd (tp), Frank Foster (ts), Duke Pearson (Rhodes), Wally Richardson (g), Ron Carter (b), Mickey Roker (d), Airto and Dom Um Ramao (perc).