Tonight's Blue Note: Herbie Hancock - My Point of View

Donald Byrd (trumpet); Grachan Moncur III (trombone); Hank Mobley (tenor sax); Herbie Hancock (piano); Grant Green (guitar); Chuck Israels (bass); Anthony Williams (drums).

(By Lance)

Once upon a time, there was a small shop in South Shields called The Handy Shop. It was situated in Walpole St.,  just off Frederick St, in the Laygate area of the town which, at the time, was quite a cosmopolitan area. Indian and Chinese restaurants, delicatessens and a mosque etched in legend after a visit by the then Heavyweight Champion of the World Muhammad Ali.

I don't suppose Ali had time to visit The Handy Shop but if he had he would have thought he'd stepped into Aladdin's Cave. Well that's what it seemed like to me - particularly when it came to records.

I spent many a Saturday morning, and many a few coins of the realm, browsing their racks of second hand discs. 78s, EPs, and LPs. I don't know if the shop survived into the CD era as, by then, I was working in a record shop myself and I was a late convert to CDs anyway.

The reason for this preamble is because tonight's Blue Note was the very first Blue Note I ever bought and it still bears the faded shop stamp - "Goods Bought, Sold and Exchanged. Records, Record Players, Radios Etc." There were a lot of etceteras in the shop...

It was also the first time I'd heard Herbie Hancock and Anthony Williams. The latter, now better known as Tony, was 17 at the time and about to join Miles Davis who, I guess, headhunted him (Boom! Boom!). 

Hancock, I later discovered, had already hit pay-dirt with Watermelon Man from his previous album Takin' Off and My Point of View followed up very much in the same vein. Soulful grooves mixed with straight ahead hard bop made for a compelling listening experience at least for me. As they say, you never forget the first time and this was my first Blue Note.

Lance

Blind Man, Blind Man; A Tribute to Someone; King Cobra; The Pleasure is Mine; And What If I Don't.