Herbie Hancock - The New Standard (Verve By Request Series) [2LP]

Herbie Hancock's The New Standard asks a playful question: what if the pop and rock songs of recent decades were the jazz standards of tomorrow? The 1996 album returns as a 2LP set in the Verve By Request Series.

Rather than revisiting Gershwin or Porter, Hancock assembled an all-star band and turned to songwriters ranging from the Beatles to Nirvana. Michael Brecker on saxophone, John Scofield on guitar, Dave Holland on bass, Jack DeJohnette on drums and Don Alias on percussion gave him a group capable of taking any melody somewhere unexpected.

Norwegian Wood and Peter Gabriel's Mercy Street are reshaped with fresh harmonies and shifting rhythms, while Prince's Thieves In The Temple gets a funky, elastic workout. Nirvana's All Apologies is reimagined as something wistful and searching, its familiar melody hovering over rich, restless chords.

The playing is relaxed but deeply intelligent, the kind of session where every soloist is clearly listening to everyone else. Hancock's piano moves from crystalline restraint to dense, adventurous voicings, and Brecker's tenor supplies plenty of fire.

A clever concept carried out by masters, it stands among the most rewarding records of Hancock's later career, and two LPs give these long, searching performances plenty of room to breathe.