Artist: Herbie Hancock
Album: Empyrean Isles
Genre: Jazz
Release Date: 1964/2013
Audio Format:: FLAC (tracks) 24 bit, 192 kHz
Duration: 35:17
Total Tracks: 4
Total Size: 1,36 GB

Tracklist:

1. Herbie Hancock – One Finger Snap (07:17)
2. Herbie Hancock – Oliloqui Valley (08:27)
3. Herbie Hancock – Cantaloupe Island (05:33)
4. Herbie Hancock – The Egg (13:58)

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Recorded June 17, 1964 in Rudy Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ

Produced by Alfred Lion

Originally released as Blue Note BLP 4175 (mono) and BST 84175 (stereo)

“In preparing these hi def remasters, we were very conscientious about maintaining the feel of the original releases while adding a previously unattainable transparency and depth. It now sounds like you’ve set up your chaise lounge right in the middle of Rudy Van Gelder’s studio!” – Blue Note President, Don Was.Empyrean Isles is Herbie Hancock’s fourth album and was recorded on June 17, 1964. It debuted two of his most popular compositions, “One Finger Snap” and “Cantaloupe Island.” Hancock pushes the boundaries of hard bop on this album, playing with elements of soul, post-modal jazz, traditional bop, and experimental jazz.

The album presented interesting orchestrational challenges for Hancock. In the original liner notes for the album, Duke Pearson wrote: “This is a quartet album for trumpet and rhythm section. In this circumstance, a problem was created for the composer-arranger, in that the lack of another instrument supporting the lower, richer register, such as a tenor saxophone, might result in a shallow sound. With this problem in mind, Herbie Hancock, who composed and arranged all the tunes, wrote them to sound more like improvisations than ensemble melodies, so that the warmth and fullness of a supporting melody would not be missed. Free sketches were written in such a way that each instrument is allowed great flexibility of interpretation. In many cases, no melodic line was laid out over the chords nor atonal clusters written, so that the trumpeter could supply any melody he wished.”