Ancient Futurism: Herbie Hancock’s Jazz/funk/rock/world music masterpiece; ‘Sextant”
The strange sonic excursions here are in a similar vein to Hancock’s excellent work on his previous few early 70’s albums. “Hidden Shadows” employs all manners of electronic keyboards over an oddly complex funky beat, and it swoops and soars. “Hornets” in particular sounds like Miles Davis’ late 60’s/early 70’s edgy work, and goes on and on while managing to keep the dynamics fresh. Although obviously influenced by Davis, it’s hardly a rip-off - Hancock and some of his band were among the participants in those projects, and they continued to provide true depth and innovation in the world of avant/progressive jazz rock.
But the opening track “Rain Dance” pushes this album over the edge for me. It’s a vivid portrayal of the ancient/futuristic hybrid depicted on the album cover. An astounding whirlwind of synthesizers and tribal sounds propels the piece through some excellent improvisation. The end of the song lets that whirlwind take over for several minutes of sonic bliss. The adventurousness of using the original analog synthesizer technology in this jazz context to this degree might be one of Hancock and jazz-rock’s most boundary-pushing moments, to the point of sounding like an early precursor to electronica.
At this time, jazz/rock/funk was being pushed to its outer limits. Soon Hancock and many other of these artists returned to more accessible and intuitive music, having already reached breaking point with the artistic and abstract. But hear it here in all its ambitious mind-blowing glory.