HANCOCK, Herbie.

Description

July 1974 Japanese concert tour program

Original concert program produced for American pianist, bandleader and composer Herbie Hancock’s July 1974 Japanese tour, presented by Kambara Music Office. The 15-date tour commenced at the Welfare Pension Hall in Tokyo on 16th July, and ended at the Chunichi Theater in Nagoya on 31st July, 1974. The tour was booked to support the upcoming Thrust album, his fourteenth studio album, produced by David Rubinson, and released on 6th September, 1974, on Columbia Records. The album served as a follow-up to Head Hunters, and achieved similar commercial success, as it reached as high as #13 on the Billboard 200. Hancock’s touring band was identical to the line-up on Thrust, and featured drummer Mike Clark, bassist Paul Jackson, saxophonist and flutist Bennie Maupin, and percussionist Bill Summers. While the tour itself featured a full electric funk band, the most famous artifact of the trip happened on 29th July, 1974. Just before a scheduled group concert at the Tokyo Welfare Pension Hall in Shinjuku, Hancock went into the venue early to record an unaccompanied solo session. Commissioned exclusively for the Japanese market by CBS/Sony Inc., this session became the album, Dedication. The album was a massive success in Japan but remained highly elusive and unreleased in Western markets for decades until archive labels finally gave it a wide and digital release in 2013-2014.

In original illustrated coated wrappers, staple bound, 21.0 x 29.7 cm, 36 pp. All text in Japanese. In excellent complete condition, tightly bound and clean.