SUNLIGHT

Herbie's personal infatuation with the vocoder and other voice-manipulation tactics and technical devices has given him the courage to sing--which he does! on almost every song! The lead vocals!!

A1. "I Thought It Was You" (8:54) using melodies familiar to us from various theme songs to popular television shows plus a full brass section, Herbie & Co. explore the novelty side of Disco Pop music--here using a vocoder-like effect to modulate his singing voice. I hear a little of that which will become The Crusaders' "Street Life" in multiple aspects of this song. It's good--with the high-skill performances from all on board as one has come to expect from a Herbie production--just not great. As I said: it feels a little more like a novelty song. (17.75/20)

A2. "Come Running To Me" (8:23) using a whole different effect tool kit to modulate his voice on this one, Herbie adds his rather-pleasant and surprisingly-skilled voice to what feels like more of a Jazz-Pop song. A very pleasant, even relaxing and enjoyable, listening experience, the song comes across as less Smooth Jazz > Jazz-Rock Fusion > Jazz. (17.75/20)

B1. "Sunlight" (7:09) actually a pretty cool, very enjoyable song--structured over something that one might call funk- lite, Herbie's smooth vocal conveys some poetic lyrics, accented by the horn section, before moving into some scatting as the funk thickens a little. Ray Parker, Jr., Paul Jackson, and Bill Summers are essential to the success of the groove. LONG-time collaborator Bennie Maupin makes his only, albeit, brief appearance on the album in the middle. Herbie's own synth work in the second half is unusual and highly complementary to both his vocals and the funk motif. (14/15)

B2. "No Means Yes" (6:18) Harvey Mason, Bill Summers, Raul Reckow, and Paul Jackson make quite a team in the rhythm section--such virtuosic nuance represented--while the woodwinds, Fender Rhodes and lack of guitar all make quite the impact. Very cool song (despite its similarity to the slightly gentler work of Bob James)! (9.25/10)

B3. "Good Question" (8:31) a cool Latin jam that includes Tony Williams and Jaco Pastorius to give it the more serious jazz foundation that pianist Herbie was surely going for. The percussionist (Bill and Raul) and guest synthesizer guru, Dr. Patrick Gleeson (back from the old Mwandishi days) round out a rousing piece of jazz on which Mr. Hancock sounds like he's exploring the territory more commonly tread by contemporaries Chick Corea and Don Pullen. High speed and dynamic piano playing, to be sure! (18.125/20)

Total Time: 39:26

The transition over to easy listening, Adult Contemporary, Smooth Jazz seems pretty complete with this album despite the addition of a horn section and all of the compositions being Herbie's save one. The performances of the jazz musicians are all stellar--so polished and professional--and the compositions all quite mature and sophisticated, they're just falling more into conformation with the prevailing flow toward easy listening Smooth Jazz.

P.S. I can see how some people credit this album with helping to birth the Daft Punk-type of music of the 1990s and 2000s: Herbie seems quite intent on singing--and using massive distortion effects on his (actually-lovely) voice.

A-/five stars; a very nice contribution to Smooth Jazz which definitely helps legitimize the new direction that Jazz-Rock Fusion has evolved into.

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