Herbie Hancock - Jammin' with Herbie [2LP Purple]

Jammin' with Herbie gathers Herbie Hancock's least famous 1960s sideman sessions onto purple vinyl, the years before his name alone sold a record.

By the time Miles Davis came calling in 1963, Hancock had already made Takin' Off for Blue Note and caught everyone's ear with Watermelon Man, but the label kept him busy well beyond his own dates, playing dozens of sessions as a sideman while simultaneously anchoring one of the greatest rhythm sections jazz has produced alongside Ron Carter and Tony Williams. This compilation pulls from exactly that stretch, the singles and album cuts where Hancock shows up as a hired gun rather than the headline, working with players like Donald Byrd, Pepper Adams, and Jimmy Cobb.

Maulana opens with the kind of loose, exploratory feel that defined the era, Hancock's comping doing more shaping than soloing. Jammin' with Herbie gives the set its title and its loosest groove, Herbie's Blues is exactly what it says, unhurried and rooted, and Far Out earns its name with the harmonic reach that was already setting him apart from every other pianist working sideman dates.

Not the famous records, but the ones that built the reputation before Davis ever noticed. Purple vinyl for the sound of a young genius still figuring out how far he could push it.