Herbie Hancock - Crossings / Speakers Corner

In the 1970s, Herbie Hancock’s "Crossings" was to be found on every IKEA record shelf in the student pads of jazz-fusion fans. The cover, with its psychedelic touch, also contributed significantly to

its popularity – although it was unclear where the crossing was going to take us …Nevertheless, the excellent trumpeter Eddie Henderson – often underestimated as an improviser and composer,

and Benny Maupin – who like Hancock had grown up under Miles Davis’s wing, present a wide range of sound-generating instruments – as was all the rage in those days. Synthesizer and Mellotron

(a polyphonic tape replay keyboard and as such practically the prototype of the sampler) were permanent members of the group – and even produce here melodic arches of sound! Whether Bennie

Maupin’s "Quasar" launches the group and us into extraterrestrial territory (as stated in one review) is a moot point.

This LP is a contemporary historical document, though it certainly doesn’t sound antiquated. That’s why younger listeners too will find pleasure in this experiment from the previous millennium.

Herbie Hancock (el-p, p, mellotron, perc); Bennie Maupin (ss, fl, b-cl, fl, perc); Eddie Henderson (tp, fhg, perc); Julian Priester (tb, perc); Patrick Gleeson (synth); Buster Williams b, perc); Billy Hart (dr, perc); a.o.

Recording: February 1972 at Pacific Recording Studios, San Mateo, CA., by Patrick Gleason  Production: David Rubinson

Title

Side One

1. Sleeping Giant

Side Two

1. Quasar

2. Water Torture