Description
Herbie Hancock / V.S.O.P. – The Quintet – Double Vinyl Records
The Quintet documents one of jazz’s great reunions at full concert length. Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Ron Carter, and Tony Williams had reconvened under the V.S.O.P. banner after the 1976 Newport Jazz Festival, reviving the flexible acoustic language associated with the Miles Davis Quintet of the mid-1960s while placing Hubbard’s trumpet in the front line. These recordings come from California performances in July 1977, and the double-album format gives the group room to do what it did best: state a compact theme, open the harmony, and let five intensely individual musicians reshape the piece in real time.
Hancock is the organizing intelligence at the piano, but he never dominates the conversation. On “One of a Kind” he lays out rhythmic and harmonic possibilities that the horns immediately test from different angles. Hubbard’s trumpet is bright, forceful, and extroverted; Shorter’s tenor and soprano lines often enter from a more oblique direction, changing the emotional temperature with only a few notes. Carter’s bass provides both foundation and counterpoint, while Williams treats the beat as living material, pushing, interrupting, and redirecting without allowing the ensemble to lose its center.
The repertoire draws from every member’s writing. Carter’s “Third Plane” and “Little Waltz” show his gift for structures that are elegant but spacious enough for improvisation. Hancock’s “Jessica” and “Darts” move between lyricism and rhythmic challenge, and Hubbard’s “Byrdlike” closes the set with a line that connects modern post-bop to the hard-bop tradition. Williams contributes “Lawra,” while Shorter’s “Dolores” provides the album’s most elusive theme. Because the compositions differ so clearly, the performances never blur into a generalized acoustic-jazz mood.
Much of the excitement comes from the group’s refusal to treat this project as nostalgia. The musicians revisit the alert, conversational principles of their earlier work, but they play with the power and experience of 1977. Hubbard is not asked to imitate Miles Davis, and Hancock does not abandon the rhythmic discoveries of his electric period. The result is acoustic jazz with considerable physical force. Solos rise from ensemble interaction rather than being placed over a passive rhythm section, and the live audience becomes part of the momentum without overwhelming the musical detail.
The Quintet is an ideal record for listeners who value the unfolding logic of a live performance. Across four sides, the group demonstrates how a theme can be examined from several directions and still return with its identity intact. It also preserves a lineup whose combined discographies touch nearly every major development in postwar jazz. The names may attract collectors, but the lasting value lies in the chemistry: five leaders listening closely enough to challenge one another, recover instantly, and turn difficult music into a direct, exhilarating exchange.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
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