The Maze

Dexter Gordon (tenor sax), Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Herbie Hancock (piano), Butch Warren (bass) and Billy Higgins (drums). From the album Takin’ Off (1962).

In 1978, Hancock recorded a duet album with Chick Corea and in 1979 a solo album. In 1981 he recorded an album with Wynton Marsalis called Quartet and toured with the group V.S.O.P. II, in which he was accompanied by Wynton, his brother Branford, Ron Carter and Tony Williams. In 1983 he won a Grammy Award for the song “Rockit”, which he presented with a striking video. During the 1980s he continued experimenting with electronic music and composing film soundtracks. In 1986 he appeared as a musician and actor in the movie ‘Round Midnight. In 1990 he recorded with Pat Metheny, Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette Parallel Realities and toured with them.

In 1994 he recorded with Wayne Shorter, Wallace Roney, Ron Carter and Tony Williams A Tribute to Miles in homage to Miles Davis, who had died in 1991. In 1998 he recorded an album with songs by George Gershwin to celebrate the centenary of his birth. During the 2000s he continued playing and recording with numerous musicians, including Michael Brecker, Roy Hargrove, Marcus Miller, Carlos Santana and Sting, among others. In 2005 he refounded The Headhunters for a few months and recorded his last album The Imagine Project in 2010.

Hancock starts playing and everyone else follows him. It’s a theme with an eccentric melody and a very strange metric that ends with Hancock without the wind instruments. To make the solos, the harmony is more simple, but Hubbard plays creatively complex phrases that sometimes increases speed. He is followed by Hancock with a difficult and intricate solo while Higgins accompany him with an extravagant rhythm. Then Gordon enters with an extensive discourse more easy to listen, but no less interesting and elaborated. He is so comfortable that he could continue playing for eternity. After that, Hancock reappears with a second solo more moderate than the previous one until the group re-exposes the theme leaving it in suspense.