8.
Herbie Hancock – Sextant
My favorite Herbie record and by far his most cybernetic Mwandishi era effort, featuring Dr. Patrick Gleeson on the ARP 2600 and Pro-Soloist in full CV gate berzerker mode. Unlike Return To Forever, there is nothing laughable about Herbie’s sample+hold jazz. Upright bass, rhodes, and bubble synth (the kind that Emerald’s John Elliot would later master as Outer Space) sound awesome together. And my favorite jazz trio interplay ever happens at 2:30 during ‘Rain Dance’ and doesn’t end until the spiritual bass solo a minute later. Hard.
Selected in other Baker’s Dozens: Lord Spikeheart, Tom Ravenscroft
