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Herbie Hancock – Gershwin’s World

I confess to having to wait until I reached my late 40’s to truly appreciate Herbie Hancock…

This 180g ‘lacquer cut Pallas GmbH pressed Verve release will set you back £45-50 (if you can get hold of a copy). At this price you would expect the pressing to be ‘almost’ flawless? And thankfully it is. Great dynamics and depth overall with minimal surface noise compared with ‘other’ Verve / Universal releases. The question does need to be asked as to why we have to pay a king’s ransom for Verve / Universal to get it right, when other smaller less well known record companies can produce worthy quality pressings without the need for extra technical additions to the pressing process?

I suspect Verve / universal pushed the ‘technical boat out’ after Hancock’s superb 2007 multi GRAMMY award winning “River: The Joni Letters” pressing suffered notorious audio anomalies. I have returned at least five copies of this album on vinyl, all with the same distortion on at least two tracks. Why this album has not had a ‘revised quality re-issue’ is beyond me!

Thankfully, Hancock’s seminal “Inventions & Dimensions” and “Maiden Voyage” have been reissued via MusicMatters and Analogue Productions respectively. Well worth the money!

Robin Francis
© Michael Valentine Studio Ltd
6 June 2018 – Updated 27 August 2018