''Feets, Don't Fail Me Now'' is the twenty-seventh album by jazz pianist

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 ...

. The record was released in February 1979, on the

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

label.

Overview

This was the first of Hancock's albums to discard

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

completely in favor of a more commercial (at the time)

disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

sound, with

vocoder A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was ...

effects and repetitive lyrics. Honey from the Jar, however, is definitely a funk, not disco, song. Background vocals were provided by 'The Waters', a family vocal group from Los Angeles. All LP and CD editions after the first pressing use an alternate 'Disco Mix' version of "Tell Everybody". The original version was included as a bonus track on the disc in the ''Complete Columbia Albums Collection'' box set.

Track listing

# "You Bet Your Love" – 7:41 # "Trust Me" – 5:44 # "Ready or Not" – 6:48 # "Tell Everybody" – 7:49 # "Honey From the Jar" – 6:53 # "Knee Deep" – 5:43

Personnel

* Herbie Hancock – lead and backing vocals, all keyboards *

James Gadson James Gadson ( James Edward Gadson; born June 17, 1939) is an American drummer and session musician. Beginning his career in the late 1960s, Gadson has since become one of the most-recorded drummers in the history of R&B. He is also a singer and ...

– drums * Eddie Watkins – bass *

Ray Obiedo Ray Obiedo (born January 27, 1952 in Richmond, California) is an American contemporary jazz guitarist. Obiedo grew up in Richmond, California, a graduate of John F. Kennedy High School, and began playing guitar at age 17. Initially he played bot ...

– guitar *

Bill Summers Bill Summers may refer to: * Bill Summers (car builder) (1935–2011), American car builder and longtime speed record holder * Bill Summers (musician) (born 1948), American jazz percussionist *Bill Summers (umpire) William Reed Summers (November ...

– percussion * Julia Tillman Waters, Maxine Willard Waters,

Oren Waters Oren Waters is an American vocalist best known for his work with the backup singing group The Waters, his siblings: Luther, Maxine and Julia. As an ensemble, Waters has been a part of 260 gold and over 100 platinum albums with artists ranging from ...

and Luther Waters – backing vocals *

Ray Parker Jr. Ray Erskine Parker Jr. (born May 1, 1954) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. As a solo performer, he wrote and performed the theme song to the 1984 film '' Ghostbusters''. Previously, Parker achieved a US top-10 h ...

– guitar and drums on "Ready or Not" *

Coke Escovedo Joseph Thomas "Coke" Escovedo (April 30, 1941 – July 13, 1986) was an American percussionist, who came from a prominent musical family including five musician brothers and his niece, Sheila E. He played in various genres, including R&B, ja ...

– timbales on "Ready or Not" *

Sheila Escovedo Sheila Cecilia Escovedo (born December 12, 1957) better known under the stage name Sheila E., is an American percussionist and singer. She began her career in the mid-1970s as a percussionist and singer for The George Duke Band. After leaving ...

– congas on "Ready or Not" * James Levi – drums on "Knee Deep" and "Trust Me" * Freddie Washington – bass on "Knee Deep" *

Wah Wah Watson 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, Melvi ...

– guitar on "Knee Deep" *

Bennie Maupin Bennie Maupin (born August 29, 1940) is an American jazz multireedist who performs on various saxophones, flute, and bass clarinet. Maupin was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He is known for his participation in Herbie Hancock's Mwandi ...

– soprano saxophone on "Knee Deep"

Additional personnel

* Produced by – David Rubinson & Friends Inc. and Herbie Hancock * Associate producer – Jeffrey Cohen * Engineers –

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 ...

and David Rubinson * Assistant engineers – Chris Minto,

Leslie Ann Jones Leslie Ann Jones is a multiple Grammy Award-winning recording engineer working as Director of Music Recording and Scoring at Skywalker Sound, a Lucasfilm, Ltd. company. She is a past Chair of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Science ...

, Ken Kassie and Cheryl Ward * Mastering engineer – Phil Brown * Keyboard and Vocoder engineer – Bryan Bell

References

External links

* http://www.discogs.com/release/385157 {{Authority control 1979 albums Herbie Hancock albums Columbia Records albums Albums produced by Dave Rubinson