In many conversations with the late jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland, perhaps Herbie’s most dedicated disciple, Kenny spoke of the countless hours he spent listening to, transcribing, and ultimately trying to emulate Herbie’s playing. Kenny had a unique voice of his own, and yet was able to capture much of the spirit of Hancock’s music. However, even given the closest scrutiny of Herbie’s devices — the sinewy lines, the seemingly indefinable voicings — it’s the more elusive qualities of his touch, tone, phrasing, articulation, and creativity that sets him apart from all others.
Herbie’s voice is strong and clear in his playing on “The Jungle Line.” His use of the various devices we’ve discussed in the previous sections, along with the more sophisticated sounds covered here, lend themselves to an intelligent design of musical architecture which is complementary to Leonard Cohen’s reading, and could even stand alone as an intriguing piano piece. An analysis of these elements, as described below, can help in your quest to find your voice on the keyboard.
Ex. 1. Play through the Db Lydian mode in 1a, which is the fourth mode of the Ab major scale; notice the raised fourth degree. Herbie uses notes from this scale to create a great voicing for Dbmaj7#11. 1b shows the E Dorian mode, which is the second mode of the D major scale; Herbie’s voicing for Em11 comes from this set of notes and uses a left-hand open fifth and a right-hand D major triad in second inversion, with the third added under the 11th. 1c shows a good way to practice the colors Herbie uses in “The Jungle Line”: play the Dbmaj7#11 open fifths voicing in your left hand and go up and down the Eb major pentatonic scale in your right hand. Use the metronome and transpose up in half steps.
Ex. 2. Check out the F#7 altered scale (seventh mode of the G melodic minor scale) in 2a, then wrap your fingers around two voicings for F#7alt. The left hand plays open fifths and the right hand plays scale-tone triads. 2b shows the Eb Phrygian mode, then Herbie’s voicing for the Ebsus4b9 (Emaj/Eb).
Ex. 3. The Gb Lydian augmented scale is the third mode of the Eb melodic minor scale; play through 3a and transpose up in half-steps In 3b, use notes from this scale to voice Gbmaj7#5 — the left hand plays open fifths and right hand plays scale tone triads (Bb and Ab). 3c shows a very hip Hancock Gbmaj7#5 voicing; notice the fifth (Db) in the left hand, and the augmented fifth (D) in the right hand. At the end of the transcription of “The Jungle Line,” Herbie plays the left hand structures in 3d moving in minor thirds. The scale they come from is the D dominant diminished; again, burn through this with the metronome and transpose up in half steps.
These audio and MIDI files correspond to the lessons beginning on page 50 of the June 2008 issue of Keyboard. All files performed by Scott Healy.