''Feets, Don't Fail Me Now'' is the twenty-second album by jazz pianist
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...
. The record was released in February 1979 by
.
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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
completely in favor of a more commercial
disco
Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
sound, with
vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') 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 wa ...
effects and repeating lyrics. 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 – drums
* Eddie Watkins – bass
*
Ray Obiedo – guitar
*
Bill Summers – percussion
* Julia Tillman Waters, Maxine Willard Waters,
Oren Waters and Luther Waters – backing vocals
*
Ray Parker Jr. – guitar and drums on "Ready or Not"
*
Coke Escovedo – timbales on "Ready or Not"
*
Sheila Escovedo – congas on "Ready or Not"
* James Levi – drums on "Knee Deep" and "Trust Me"
*
Freddie Washington – bass on "Knee Deep"
*
Wah Wah Watson – 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.
Biography
Maupin was born in Detroit, Michigan. He is known for his participation in Herbie Hancock's Mwandish ...
– soprano saxophone on "Knee Deep"
* Brian L Davis – additional percussion
Additional personnel
* Produced by – David Rubinson & Friends Inc. and Herbie Hancock
* Associate producer – Jeffrey Cohen
* Engineers –
Fred Catero and David Rubinson
* Assistant engineers – Chris Minto,
Leslie Ann Jones, Ken Kassie and Cheryl Ward
* Mastering engineer – Phil Brown
* Keyboard and Vocoder engineer – Bryan Bell
* Synthesizer Programming – Gordon Bahary
References
External links
* http://www.discogs.com/release/385157
{{Authority control
1979 albums
Herbie Hancock albums
Columbia Records albums
Albums produced by Dave Rubinson