Publisher Description

As the 1960s ended, Herbie Hancock embarked on a grand creative experiment. Having just been dismissed from the celebrated Miles Davis Quintet, he set out on the road, playing with his first touring group as a leader until he eventually formed what would become a revolutionary band. Taking the Swahili name Mwandishi, the group would go on to play some of the most innovative music of the 1970s, fusing an assortment of musical genres, American and African cultures, and acoustic and electronic sounds into groundbreaking experiments that helped shape the American popular music that followed. In You'll Know When You Get There, Bob Gluck offers the first comprehensive study of this influential group, mapping the musical, technological, political, and cultural changes that they not only lived in but also effected. Beginning with Hancock's formative years as a sideman in bebop and hard bop ensembles, his work with Miles Davis, and the early recordings under his own name, Gluck uncovers the many ingredients that would come to form the Mwandishi sound. He offers an extensive series of interviews with Hancock and other band members, the producer and engineer who worked with them, and a catalog of well-known musicians who were profoundly influenced by the group. Paying close attention to the Mwandishi band's repertoire, he analyzes a wide array of recordings-many little known-and examines the group's instrumentation, their pioneering use of electronics, and their transformation of the studio into a compositional tool. From protofunk rhythms to synthesizers to the reclamation of African identities, Gluck tells the story of a highly peculiar and thrillingly unpredictable band that became a hallmark of American genius.

Author Biography

Bob Gluck is associate professor of music, a jazz historian, and director of the Electronic Music Studio at the State University of New York, Albany.

Table of Contents

Preface Introduction Chapter 1. A Defining Moment: November 1970 Chapter 2. Becoming Herbie Hancock Chapter 3. The First Sextet Chapter 4. New Musical Directions Chapter 5. Moving toward Mwandishi Chapter 6. Mwandishi : The Recording Chapter 7. Crossings Chapter 8. Quadraphonic Sound System: Patrick Gleeson on Tour and Sextant Chapter 9. Musical Collectivity and Open Forms Chapter 10. Life on the Road, 1971-73, and the Critical Response Chapter 11. Endings and Unexpected Recordings Epilogue. Reminiscences and Legacy Appendix Notes References Discography Index

Review

"Gluck takes a fascinating look at the development of a musical identity. The book is ostensibly about pianist Herbie Hancock and his sextet's Mwandishi period-a free-jazz, electronics-heavy evolution of the hard-bop group he formed in 1968-but it really uses Hancock's story to show how musicians adapt to changing technology, new musical ideas, and greater cultural identities." (DownBeat)"

Review Quote

" You'll Know When You Get There fills an important omission in jazz scholarship. In fact, the thin body of literature on a jazz figure as imposing as Herbie Hancock makes this book a matter of some urgency. Filled with meaty stuff, good quotes, and insightful conclusions, Bob Gluck's book is a substantial and needed look at an important era of American music."

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