_DIS IS DA DRUM marks Herbie Hancock's return to the heady mix of pan-ethnic dance rhythms and techno stylings that culminated on his commercial breakthrough, FUTURE SHOCK. But Hancock's slick, soulful Mercury debut also serves to reclaim his turf from all the acid jazz funkateers who've devised a popular commercial style based on aspects (sampled or otherwise) of the Blue Note and CTI recordings which Hancock and his contemporaries originated a generation ago. DIS IS DA DRUM has a fresh, contemporary appeal, but much of the groundwork for Hancock's current style is derived from his 1982 hit "Rockit," his '70s Headhunters hits ("Chameleon" and THRUST), the Afro-psychedelic free jazz experiments of Mwalandishi, and early-'60s hard bop/soul jazz hits such as "Watermelon Man." True, he came to renown as a post-modernist piano innovator with Miles Davis; but make no mistake, Herbie Hancock has always been funky. "Call It '94" invokes Clyde Stubblefield's much sampled "Funky Drummer" beat, and by adding orchestral adornments, sampled percussion and a taste of jazz piano, zeroes in on a personal hip-hop/jazz style. Tunes such as "Dis Is Da Drum," "Mojuba" and "Ju Ju" employ extensive samples of African singers and percussion instruments, non-tempered keyboards, plus dub and funk bass coupled to dance-style backbeats, to fuse traditional folk colors and contemporary R&B. "The Melody" combines rap and acid jazz, while "Butterfly" revisits his classic ballad of yore with attractive flute work and atmospheric chording. And while tunes such as "Rubber Soul" and "Bo Ba Be Da" redraw the parameters between sampled grooves and jazz feeling, "Hump" and "Come And See Me" italicize Hancock's mastery of the modern funk idiom.
---Performers Francis Awe : Vocals Marina Bambino : Vocals (Background) Skip Bunny : Djembe Chill Factor : Rap Guy Eckstine : Drums Lazaro Galarraga : Vocals Will "Roc" Griffin : Loops, Sampling Herbie Hancock : Clavinet, Moog Synthesizer, Piano, Piano (Electric), Synthesizer, Synthesizer Bass Nengue Hernandez : Bata Huey Jackson : Vocals (Background) Will Kennedy : Drums Mars Lasar : Keyboards, Synthesizer Bennie Maupin : Sax (Tenor) Airto Moreira : Percussion Hollis Payseur : Vocals (Background) Angel Rogers : Vocals (Background) Wallace Roney : Trumpet Darrell Smith : Keyboards, Piano (Electric) Ken Strong : Drums Bill Summers : Bells, Cabasa, Conga, Djembe, Djun-Djun, Percussion, Shekere, Tambourine Yvette Summers : Vocals (Background) Frank Thibeaux : Guitar (Bass) Louis Verdeaux : Vocals (Background) Wah Wah Watson : Guitar Production Credits Will "Roc" Griffin : Rhythm Arrangements, Sequencing Herbie Hancock : Main Performer, Rhythm Arrangements Mars Lasar : Sound Design Jay Shanklin : Rhythm Arrangements Darrell Smith : Rhythm Arrangements Bill Summers : Rhythm Arrangements, Vocal Arrangement |
