Herbie Hancock: Speak Like a Child

Label: Blue Note
Title: Speak Like a Child
Original Release 1968, this edition 2005

First thing to say about Herbie Hancock’s second album for Blue Note as a band leader is buy! Same goes for his first (Maiden Voyage).

Otherwise, we've only really commented on five tracks on this album because all there is to say about the first track, Riot, is, if someone can record three takes of the same track and all of them are good what can we say? Speak Like a Child is a brilliant album recorded with some of Jazz’s great ambassadors (Ron Carter on bass, Thad Jones on flugelhorn) and it’s impossible not to fall in love with it. From the aforementioned Riot, through to the bass – piano conversation between Ron Carter and Herbie on Sorcerer (both tracks became jazz standards) you will find your head bopping. The soft bossa nova flavour of Speak Like a Child features a steady tender tapping from the snares alongside a spare bass rhythm which lays a foundation for gentle sheets of horn and a sprinkling of Herbie’s keys to give eloquence to the track. You can tell First Trip is a Ron Carter composition simply by the way he revels in the tone and stutter of his bass while Herbie lays melodies over it; Toys is an ebullient yet controlled track, where in some phrases you can hear the beginnings of Watermelon Man which Herbie recorded later in 1973 on the Headhunters album; Goodbye to Childhood begins with a deep-voiced horn intro reminiscent of horror films but don’t be fooled, it’s a melodic serenade of the highest quality from Herbie’s first note; and we’re back to The Sorcerer. What is particularly striking about this album is Herbie Hancock’s mastery of tempo and how effectively he uses it. We say buy it.