Sunlight

by Herbie Hancock

Overview

After Man-Child, alas, Herbie Hancock's American jazz-funk records in the 1970s grew gradually more commercial, less stimulating, and crucially, less truly funky with each release, even as his equipment rack grew larger. Just take a look at the staggering collection of keyboards on the back cover of the Sunlight LP -- all sought-after collectors' items now -- yet Hancock makes so little use of their possibilities here. For much of the album, he seems most interested in establishing a new career as an electronic vocalist. "I Thought It Was You," "Come Running to Me," and the title track introduce the ghostly, gauzy sound of Herbie's singing voice as heard through a vocoder; there's even an electronic Herbie scat choir. Stevie Wonder, he's not. There are still occasional splashes of Hancock harmonic color on the keyboards, but he also relies upon superfluous, self-arranged brass riffs and string backgrounds. The backup bands shift from track to track, from combinations of Headhunters alumni that offer soft-focused facsimiles of the old funk drive to a surprisingly strait-jacketed pairing of Tony Williams and Jaco Pastorius on the eccentric "Good Question." ~ Richard S. Ginell

Product Details

Release Date:	06/16/2017
Label:	Imports
UPC:	8718627225561
Rank:	59012

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Herbie Hancock   Primary Artist,Vocals,Vocoder,Keyboards,Synthesizer,Vocals (Background)
James Levi   Drums
Bobby Bryant   Trumpet
Jack Nimitz   Woodwind
Jaco Pastorius   Bass
Patrick Gleeson   Synthesizer
Maurice Spears   Trombone
Ernie Watts   Woodwind
Byron Miller   Bass
Linda Wood   Strings
Emily VanValkenburgh   Strings
Lawrence Granger   Strings
Fred Jackson, Jr.   Woodwind
Terry Adams   Strings
Baba Duru   Tabla
Wah Wah Watson   Guitar
Leon "Ndugu" Chancler   Drums
David Riddles   Woodwind
Raul Rekow   Congas
Ray Parker, Jr.   Guitar
Nathan Rubin   Strings
Harvey Mason, Sr.   Drums
Roy Malan   Strings
Bobby Shew   Trumpet
Bill Summers   Percussion
Bennie Maupin   Sax (Soprano)
Tony Williams   Drums
Paul Jackson   Bass
Garnett Brown   Trombone

Technical Credits

Terry Becker   Assistant Engineer
Fred Catero   Engineer
David Rubinson   Engineer,Producer
Herbie Hancock   Composer,Producer,Brass Arrangement,String Arrangements,Woodwind Arrangement
Steve Mantoani   Engineer
Cheryl Ward   Assistant Engineer
Jeffrey Cohen   Composer
Melvin Ragin   Composer
Phil Brown   Mastering
Henri Renaud   Producer
Chris Minto   Assistant Engineer
Allee Willis   Composer