Herbie Hancock - The Best Of Herbie Hancock - The Hits! (1999)

When he burst on the jazz scene in 1963 as a member of Miles Davis's famous ensemble, Herbie Hancock had a hit single with "Watermelon Man." Even when he branched off on his own later in the decade, he still kept one foot in the pop world. Hits comprises Hancock's most successful singles, flaunting the jazz-pop conintuity, from 1973 to 1986. Hancock was a master of the synthesizer and also had a distinctive voice on electric piano, which influenced Patrice Rushen, Billy Childs, and many others. He employed his technical wizardry to produce an Afrocentric, James Brown-Sly Stone groove on his smash album Headhunters, which yielded the immortal 15-minute jam "Chameleon" and a slinky new version of "Watermelon Man" delivered by percussionist Bill Summers, bassist Paul Jackson, and reedman Bennie Maupin. When the disco era spelled doom for most jazz artists, Hancock was able to keep afloat and create a few gems. The catchy, cascading Fender Rhodes hook on "I Thought It Was You" contrasted beautifully with Hancock's spectral, electronic vocals filtered through a then-new device called a vocoder. Santana's Greg Walker lends his pleasing pipes to the lilting, midtempo black-radio classic "Stars in Your Eyes," and "Ready or Not" is a hip-shaking shout-out to the ageless funketeer George Clinton. Hancock's turntable-scratching megahit "Rockit"--which caused a buzz on MTV with its futuristic robot choreography--was arguably the most memorable instrumental of the then-new hip-hop age, proving that Hancock was again a vital agent who changed the way we hear and see modern music. -- Eugene Holley Jr.