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Direct Step
''Directstep'' is the twenty-fourth studio album by jazz pianist Herbie Hancock. The record was released only in Japan on January 21, 1979, via CBS/Sony label. Participating musicians include saxophonist Bennie Maupin, keyboardist Webster Lewis, bass guitarist Paul Jackson, guitarist Ray Obiedo and drummer Alphonse Mouzon. About the album ''Directstep'', released only in Japan, was one of the earliest albums ever released on CD. Webster Lewis became second keyboardist on this album in order for Hancock to handle the multiple layers of electronic texture that he hoped to achieve. Hancock re-recorded "I Thought It Was You" (originally on ''Sunlight''), making it even more electronic with his vocoding. "Butterfly" was also re-recorded (originally on ''Thrust'') making ''Directstep'' the second album after the original version (the first being ''Flood''), to have a rendition of "Butterfly". (The fourth would be '' Dis Is da Drum'' and the tune is also featured on Kimiko Kasai's LP, ' ...
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Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, and composer. Hancock started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. He shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. In the 1970s, Hancock experimented with jazz fusion, funk, and electro styles, utilizing a wide array of synthesizers and electronics. It was during this period that he released perhaps his best-known and most influential album, ''Head Hunters''. Hancock's best-known compositions include " Cantaloupe Island", " Watermelon Man", " Maiden Voyage", and " Chameleon", all of which are jazz standards. During the 1980s, he enjoyed a hit single with the electronic instrumental " Rockit", a collaboration with bassist/producer Bill Laswell. Hancock has won an Academy Award and 14 Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year for his 200 ...
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Thrust (album)
''Thrust'' is the fourteenth studio album by American jazz-funk musician Herbie Hancock, released in September 1974 on Columbia Records. The album reached No. 2 on the Billboard Top Soul Albums chart and No. 13 on the Billboard 200 chart. It is the second album featuring The Headhunters: saxophonist Bennie Maupin, bass guitarist Paul Jackson, drummer Mike Clark (replacing Harvey Mason in this role) and percussionist Bill Summers. Background Thrust was produced by David Rubinson and Herbie Hancock. Covers "Actual Proof" was covered by the Peter Zak Trio (2006) and Roberta Piket (2015). The composition "Butterfly" was subsequently performed by Hancock himself in his live album ''Flood'' (1975), in two studio albums of '' Direct Step'' (1979) and '' Dis Is da Drum'' (1994), and in Kimiko Kasai's album ''Butterfly'' (1979). "Butterfly" was also covered by Norman Connors (1978), Eddie Henderson (1978), Toto (2002), Austin Peralta (2006), Azymuth (2008) and the Robert Glasper ...
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Minimoog
The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popular with progressive rock and jazz musicians and found wide use in disco, pop, rock and electronic music. Production of the Minimoog stopped in the early 1980s after the sale of Moog Music. In 2002, founder Robert Moog regained the rights to the Moog brand, bought the company, and released an updated version of the Minimoog, the Minimoog Voyager. In 2016 and in 2022, Moog Music released another new version of the original Minimoog. Development In the 1960s, RA Moog Co manufactured Moog synthesizers, which helped bring electronic sounds to music but remained inaccessible to ordinary people. These modular synthesizers were difficult to use and required users to connect components manually with patch cables to create sounds. They were a ...
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Yamaha CS-80
The Yamaha CS-80 is an analog synthesizer released in 1977. It supports true 8-voice polyphony, with two independent synthesizer layers per voice each with its own set of front panel controls, in addition to a number of hardwired preset voice settings and four parameter settings stores based on banks of subminiature potentiometers (rather than the digital programmable presets the Prophet-5 would sport soon after). It has exceptionally complete performer expression features, such as a layered keyboard that was both velocity-sensitive (like a piano's) and pressure-sensitive (" after-touch") but unlike most modern keyboards the aftertouch could be applied to individual voices rather than in common, and a ribbon controller allowing for polyphonic pitch-bends and glissandos. Production of the instrument ceased in 1980. Vying with the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and Oberheim OB-X polysynths for the title, the CS-80 is often described as the pre-eminent polyphonic analog synthes ...
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Sequential Circuits Prophet-5
The Prophet-5 is an analog synthesizer manufactured by the American company Sequential. It was designed by Dave Smith and John Bowen in 1977, who used microprocessors, then a new technology, to create the first polyphonic synthesizer with fully programmable memory. This allowed users to store sounds and recall them instantly rather than having to reprogram them manually; whereas synthesizers had once created unpredictable sounds, the Prophet-5 moved synthesizers to producing "a standard package of familiar sounds". Between 1978 and 1984, about 6,000 units were produced across three revisions. In 1981, Sequential released a 10-voice, double-keyboard version, the Prophet-10. Sequential introduced new versions in 2020, and it has been emulated in software synthesizers and hardware. The Prophet-5 has been widely used in popular music and film soundtracks. Development The Prophet-5 was created in 1977 by Dave Smith and John Bowen at Sequential Circuits. At the time, Smith had ...
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Oberheim Polyphonic
The Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer is a range of analog music synthesizers that was produced from 1975 to 1979 by Oberheim Electronics. It was developed by Tom Oberheim, and was the first production synthesizer capable of playing chords. Specification Oberheim took the idea and electronics of a Minimoog synthesizer and put them in a small box, making a few changes, and in 1974 introduced the SEM (Synthesizer Expander Module), which became the building block of his polyphonic synths. By strapping two, four, or eight of these SEMs together under keyboard control, he was able to create practical, albeit large, synthesizers that could play two, four, or eight notes simultaneously. The Oberheim Polyphonic Synthesizer was born. Each SEM in an Oberheim Polyphonic generates one voice (or note). There was an optional Polyphonic Synthesizer Programmer module (PSP-1) for the four- and eight-voice models with 16 memories, which allowed the user to store and recall some sound settings of ...
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Clavinet
The Clavinet is an electrically amplified clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds by a rubber pad striking a point on a tensioned string, and was designed to resemble the Renaissance-era clavichord. Although originally intended for home use, the Clavinet became popular on stage, and could be used to create electric guitar sounds on a keyboard. It is strongly associated with Stevie Wonder, who used the instrument extensively, particularly on his 1972 hit "Superstition", and was regularly featured in rock, funk and reggae music throughout the 1960s and 1970s. Modern digital keyboards can emulate the Clavinet sound, but there is also a grass-roots industry of repairers who continue to maintain the instrument. Description The Clavinet is an electromechanical instrument that is usually used in conjunction with a keyboard amplifier. Most models have 60 keys ranging ...
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Rhodes Electric Piano
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, the hammers strike thin metal tines, which vibrate next to an electromagnetic pickup. The signal is then sent through a cable to an external keyboard amplifier and speaker. The instrument evolved from Rhodes's attempt to manufacture pianos while teaching recovering soldiers during World War II. Development continued after the war and into the following decade. In 1959, Fender began marketing the Piano Bass, a cut-down version; the full-size instrument did not appear until after Fender's sale to CBS in 1965. CBS oversaw mass production of the Rhodes piano in the 1970s, and it was used extensively through the decade, particularly in jazz, pop, and soul music. It was less used in the 1980s because of competition with polyphonic and digita ...
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Melvin Ragin
Melvin M. Ragin (December 8, 1950 – October 24, 2018), known professionally as "Wah Wah Watson", was an American guitarist who was a member of The Funk Brothers, the studio band for Motown Records. Career A native of Richmond, Virginia, Melvin Ragin moved to Detroit and became a member of the Motown Records studio band The Funk Brothers, where he recorded with artists like The Temptations (his guitar work on "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone" is particularly notable), The Jackson 5, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and The Supremes. He played on numerous sessions in the 1970s and 1980s for many top soul, funk and disco acts, including Herbie Hancock; he both recorded and composed songs with the Pointer Sisters. In 1977, Watson released his first solo album, ''Elementary'', on Columbia Records. The album was co-produced by Watson and David Rubinson. In 1994, Watson appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation album, '' Stolen Moments: Red Hot + Cool''. The album, meant ...
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Jeffrey E
Jeffrey may refer to: * Jeffrey (name), including a list of people with the name * ''Jeffrey'' (1995 film), a 1995 film by Paul Rudnick, based on Rudnick's play of the same name * ''Jeffrey'' (2016 film), a 2016 Dominican Republic documentary film *Jeffrey's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada *Jeffrey City, Wyoming, United States *Jeffrey Street, Sydney, Australia * Jeffrey's sketch, a sketch on American TV show ''Saturday Night Live'' *'' Nurse Jeffrey'', a spin-off miniseries from the American medical drama series ''House, MD'' *Jeffreys Bay, Western Cape, South Africa People with the surname * Alexander Jeffrey (1806–1874), Scottish solicitor and historian * Charles Jeffrey (footballer) (died 1915), Scottish footballer * E. C. Jeffrey (1866–1952), Canadian-American botanist *Grant Jeffrey (1948–2012), Canadian writer *Hester C. Jeffrey (1842–1934), American activist, suffragist and community organizer *Richard Jeffrey (1926–2002), American philosopher, logician, and pro ...
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Bill Summers (musician)
Bill Summers (born June 27, 1948) is a New Orleans based Afro-Cuban jazz/Latin jazz percussionist, a multi-instrumentalist who plays primarily on conga drums. Career During the 1990s, Summers played with Los Hombres Calientes along with co-leader of the group, trumpeter Irvin Mayfield and Jason Marsalis. However, Summers has a much longer musical career, often working behind the scenes on film scores for various movies such as ''The Color Purple'' and the television miniseries ''Roots'' with Quincy Jones. He also played with Herbie Hancock during The Headhunters years, and is mentioned in passing by the liner notes of The Headhunters' 2003 release ''Evolution Revolution'' as contributing to that recording. His former wife is Yvette Bostic-Summers, who often sings on Los Hombres' albums. Discography As leader * ''Feel the Heat'' (Prestige, 1977) * ''Cayenne'' (Prestige, 1977) * ''Straight to the Bank'' (Prestige, 1978) * ''On Sunshine'' (Prestige, 1979) * ''Call it What You Wa ...
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Harvey Mason
Harvey William Mason (born February 22, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, record producer, and member of the band Fourplay. Mason, who attended Berklee in the 1960s, received an Honorary Doctorate at Berklee's 2015 Commencement Ceremony for his achievement and influence in music and for his enduring contributions to American and international culture. Life and career Mason was born and grew up in Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States, and attended Atlantic City High School. He began playing drums at the age of four with the support of his father, a drummer in the army band. Equipment Mason endorses Canopus drums, Murat Diril cymbals, Remo drumheads, DW pedals, and Vic Firth drumsticks. Mason has his own Vic Firth Harvey Mason signature drumstick and Vic Firth Harvey Mason Chameleon signature drumstick. Discography As leader With Fourplay As sideman With Arthur Adams * ''I Love Love Love My Lady'' (A&M, 1979) With Christina Aguilera * ''My Kind of Chris ...
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