Herbie Hancock & The Rockit Band - The Tokyo Broadcast 1984 (2022)

EXCELLENT 1984 SHOW IN JAPAN, IN THE WAKE OF THE PIVOTAL ‘ROCKIT’ SINGLE • Born April 1940, American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, composer, and occasional actor, Herbie Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd’s group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, Hancock experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles, utilizing a wide array of synthesizers and electronics. It was during this period that he released perhaps his best-known and most influential album, Head Hunters.

Hancock's best-known compositions include "Cantaloupe Island", "Watermelon Man", "Maiden Voyage" and "Chameleon", all of which remain jazz standards. From 1978 to 1982, Hancock recorded many albums of jazz-inflected disco and pop music, beginning with Sunlight (1978). Singing through a vocoder, he earned a British hit with, "I Thought It Was You”. This led to more vocoder on his next album, Feets, Don't Fail Me Now (1979), which gave him another UK hit in "You Bet Your Love". In 1983, Hancock had a pop hit with the Grammy Award-winning single "Rockit" from the album Future Shock. It was the first jazz hip-hop song and became a worldwide anthem for breakdancers and for hip-hop in the 1980s. It was the first mainstream single to feature scratching, and also benefitted from an innovative animated music video, directed by Godley and Creme, which showed several robot-like artworks by Jim Whiting. The video was a hit on MTV and reached No. 8 in the UK. During this period, he appeared onstage at the Grammy Awards with Stevie Wonder, Howard Jones, and Thomas Dolby, in a synthesizer jam. • In late July and early August of 1984, Herbie and his band performed 2 live dates in Japan. The first of these took place at the Yomiuriland Open East Theatre, in Tokyo, on 24th July, and was recorded live for radio transmission across the country. Previously unreleased this superb concert is now available in its entirety on the new CD.

Tracklist
Earth Beat
1 Herbie Hancock
2 Future Shock
3 Autodrive
4 Rough
5 Stars In Your Eyes
6 Rockit
7 Crazy Cuts