Succotash

AMG Review of Succotash

Richard S. Ginell
All Music Guide

Upon the tenth anniversary of the recording of Herbie Hancock's first venture into Latin jazz, Inventions & Dimensions, Blue Note -- by now a United Artists-controlled shell of its former self -- chose to re-release the record under the joint leadership of Hancock and drummer/timbales player Willie Bobo. The stark, silly-looking cover depicts only a single lima bean and a kernel of corn, the ingredients for the concoction that also just happens to be the title track of the retitled album. It is doubtful that this camouflage hit its intended black audience, but, for a little while at least, it did restore to circulation a great, completely improvised session where Bobo's drums, Osvaldo "Chihuahua" Martinez's congas, and Paul Chambers' bass propel some highly literate, harmonically daring playing by the 23-year-old pianist. Whether pursuing Latin-accented grooves or straight-ahead post-bop, Hancock steers clear of the established clichés for both.