''The Piano'' is the twenty-sixth album by

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 help ...

About the Album

As with ''

Directstep ''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 ...

'' (recorded one week previously), this album was recorded, and originally only released, in Japan. It was one of Hancock's most successful albums in Japan, perhaps because it was entirely solo piano. Hancock tackles jazz standards such as "

My Funny Valentine "My Funny Valentine" is a show tune from the 1937 Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart coming of age musical ''Babes in Arms'' in which it was introduced by teenaged star Mitzi Green. The song became a popular jazz standard, appearing on over 130 ...

", " On Green Dolphin Street" and "

Some Day My Prince Will Come "Someday My Prince Will Come" is a song from Walt Disney's 1937 animated movie ''Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs''. It was written by Larry Morey (lyrics) & Frank Churchill (music), and performed by Adriana Caselotti (Snow White's voice in the mo ...

" while also performing four original compositions. This album was initially released exclusively in Japan and first issued there on CD in 1983. In 2004, over 25 years after its recording, the album was released with four additional alternate takes of the same session. It was the first and only (until 2014) of Hancock's Japanese releases available internationally.

Track listing

CBS/Sony , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

– 30AP 1033

Personnel

* Herbie Hancock – acoustic piano ;Production credits *

David Rubinson David Rubinson (born August 7, 1942 in Brooklyn, New York)Internet Movie DatabaseMini-Biography of David Rubinson Retrieved 2012-06-05.as of 2017 it's 1962? is an American recording engineer and music producer, who was particularly involved in music ...

– producer *

Fred Catero Fred Catero (February 4, 1933 – October 6, 2022) was an American record producer and engineer. Catero was originally from New York City, where he worked for CBS Records/Columbia, recording artists such as Chicago and Blood, Sweat & Tears. Invit ...

– engineer, mixing * Mikio Takamatsu – mastering * Yasohachi "88" Itoh and Keiichi Nakamura – production coordination * Yusaku Nakanishi – art direction * Kazumi Kurigami – cover photo * Akira Aimi – photography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piano (jazz album), The 1979 albums Herbie Hancock albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Dave Rubinson Solo piano jazz albums