The nature of a collaborative music effort – be it an album, concert or even something as simple as a duet – can be a dicey proposition which renders all bets off if just one variable doesn't line up. Certainly the hearts of contributors are always in the right place in the beginning; the artists likely believe in the reasoning that initially spurred the collaboration but, in some instances, their desire to turn in a performance that stands out from the rest can turn into a measuring contest somewhere along the line and ultimately detracts from the point in the first place. To avoid that possibility, it's helpful to have one player holding court over the rest; one musician that everyone else involved respects and won't try to trump. That's exactly how Herbie Hancock's Imagine Project works – all the stars involved with the project recognize and respect that this album is the pianist's show and so has the floor first.
Even while it's certain that Hancock knows The Imagine Project is his show, he doesn't throw his weight around at any point during this album's ten-track run-time; he lets the compositions and arrangements take the forefront, stand on their own and speak for themselves.
For a bit of background, The Imagine Project is the result of a series of recording sessions done around the globe with a staggering cast of players from both the pop and trad disciplines. Because of that, the album truly does have a 'world' flavor as staple songs from a host of respected catalogues (including John Lennon's, Peter Gabriel's, Bob Dylan's and more) are picked out and played with in such a way that respect to the auteurs is paid duly, but the joy of self-expression is also observed. On the title track as well as the covers of of “Don't Give Up” and “The Times, They Are A-Changin',” Hancock keeps to the basic progressions of the songs but, like the soul player he is, follows the muse of the music to add his own understated stamp, asks the singers to do the same and it works; even those performers who are regularly given to hamming it up (Pink's a good example) hang back a bit and let the beauty of both the songs they're singing and the arrangements supporting them ring through rather than the sounds of their own voices. The arrangements are interesting ear-candy too; under Hancock's watch, elements of R&B, calypso and island jazz sit carefully balanced in each song as fixtures both for color and fascination.
All that said, and it seems redundant to proclaim The Imagine Project a success. In this case, the project was clearly to serve the music and it works wonderfully; here, no matter how big the contributor's name is, they all serve Herbie Hancock's muse and differ to him – that's a sign of respect that is seldom afforded on releases like this.
Artist:
www.herbiehancock.com/
www.myspace.com/herbiehancock
Album:
The Imagine Project is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
