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what more can be said about this album than what already hasn't been said.It flows with purity ,but can also be aggresive and gripping. ilive this music. it has shaped a new era in jazz and even more than being a true classic. it will always hold up to any music period.
A little place called Twins Lounge where I got to hang out with some of the better jazz musicians in and out of the main concourses of DC and elsewhere; I used to torture the players to play the only jazz song I really enjoyed and felt confortable with: "Maiden Voyage". I knew that piece was the entrainment in my brain to know something of what jazz was. The musicians got to know I would ask them to play this song and patiently gave me my reward. The thing still blesses me with good feeling.
I think this is probably one of Hancock's most approachable recordings, and while not all five tracks are sparkling lyrical wonders, there's nothing here that might be considered a "throw away track". This was the first Herbie Hancock recording I purchased after The Essential Herbie Hancock. I love everything Blue Note and Rudy Van Gelder, and since I was working on learning the title track, I decided to see what other sorts of tunes Herbie was composing at the time. The title track and Dolphin Dance will stay with you all day after just one listening. This is classic jazz and a great starting point for jazz and Hancock fans.
If you feel that these other albums are essiential jazz listening, then you will certainly enjoy 'Maiden Voyage' by Herbie Hancock, and you will see why people still rave about this album today. Great jazz album from the '60s. This one belongs high up in the pantheon of jazz albums that include Miles Davis's Kind of Blue, John Coltrane's Blue Train, and Speak No Evil by Wayne Shorter. If you are an experienced jazz fan then you will most definately already have an opinion on this album, but if you are just getting into jazz then this album should certainly be on your 'to buy' list. Firm five stars from me.
So does Survival of the Fittest. Watermelon Man and Canteloupe Island) with a simple theme that's hard to get out of your head nonetheless. - this one just plods along for a seeming eternity. What we have here is an album that fails to live up to the standards that the first two and last tracks set. So I like this album, and like many others this was my first exposure to Herbie Hancock. The title track is the token easygoing blues groover (i.e.
The three well-known pieces on this album make it worth the buy.
Both okay songs - neither of them are bad, that's for sure - but they could've seen to be shorter.
Third and final is the quiet ballad Dolphin Dance, a gorgeous thing that rules as much as the other two I mentioned.
I'd rather hear Miles Davis' version of Little One found on E.S.P.
Next up is the frenetic Eye of the Hurricane, which provides a perfect contrast.
That's why I don't see Maiden Voyage as being on the same level of Empyrean Isles.
It's just not.Now for the good news.
And that Hancock covers such a wide range of emotions on this record is another point towards it.
But he's put out at least one better record, arguably two (Headhunters also makes the list).
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