Pianist Hancock's Maiden Voyage is one the greatest albums ever recorded in jazz, and certainly one of the classics from Blue Note label in the 1960's.
At this time, Hancock was on a roll, he was the pianist in the second great quintet of Miles Davis, and was quite simply carving out a niche for himself as one of the great jazz artists of the 20th century.
The title track was originally made for a Faberge' commercial, but was re-purposed for the album. Freddie Hubbard on trumpet, and the Underrated George Coleman on tenor saxophone dig into these modal compositions quite well, they offer some very interesting interplay, and seem to understand what Hancock is after here. Perhaps a oceanic mood, sailing ships etc... what you might encounter on a voyage, high waves, hurricanes, and dolphin's dancing?
Drummer Tony Williams and bassist Ron Carter offer the typical fine support you would expect. When you take the Davis quintet albums Hancock participated in, along with the music Herbie was making during the mid 60's while he was in his mid 20's, it is astounding!
Drummer Williams was only 19 at the time of this recording by the way, incredible the classic albums he was the drummer on, Out to Lunch from Eric Dolphy, and Point of Departure from Andrew Hill to name a few, all before the age of 20.
If you ever wondered if trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was over hyped, Maiden Voyage is an album that should dispel that myth. His solo on the title track is pretty darned good, his notes ring true, I still don't understand how he doesn't lose his balance at the 3:50 mark (see above)?
The title track, "Dolphin Dance", and "The Eye of the Hurricane" by every sense of the word are jazz standards. Personally I think the album strikes the perfect balance between the hard-bop jazz that Blue Note was famous for, but also that slightly outside music with just a slight avant-garde influence. Certainly not as far out as Jackie McLean went, but a nice contemporary inside-outside style of music.
I have also felt that Maiden Voyage had a Kind of Blue sort of vibe, being modal in a lot of spots that's not surprising, but the feel of the music, a challenging, yet contemporary at-the-same-time-sound, marks this classic as one of the most accessible jazz albums of all-time, just like Kind of Blue was before it.
Note: The above pictured copy was a mid 70's liberty issue. I paid less than 20 dollars for it, a very reasonable price. These 70's issues are rising in price. People who can not afford the hundreds of dollars for a 60's NY USA first press, like these black b Liberty issues. They sound pretty good and do have Van Gelder in the dead wax.
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