![]() There are two outright clunkers on the CD. Gerald makes an appearance on “Black Gravity” (though I’m not sure how: programming?) and over the usual assortment of mellow jazz-chord harmonies the rhythms skip and skitter and end up going nowhere, a common problem throughout the unfocused Future 2 Future Other than LTJ Bukem, Hancock biggest influence from the electronica world seems to be A Guy Called Gerald, who, like Bukem, is a key figure from the early ’90s ambient drum ‘n’ bass scene. Hancock’s solos sound phoned-in, however, and were almost surely added after the tracks were recorded. The jazz part of Future 2 Future comes when Hancock busts out brief and leisurely solos over the programmed tracks, as on “The Essence,” which features Chaka Khan belting over a drum ‘n’ bass beat, and on the trip-hoppy “This Is Rob Swift,” which features the ultratalented turntablist cutting it up on the wheels of steel. There are exceptions-Graham Haynes’ Transition and The Griots Footsteps Nils Petter Molvaer’s Khmer and Solid Ether Tim Hagan and Bob Belden’s Animation-Imagination and Re-Animation-where the mixture of programmed beats and sounds blend perfectly with improvisation, but most of Future 2 Future does not find this balance. Usually jazz loses when it crosses over into electronica. Future 2 Future is not all bad, but neither is it good it’s mostly just there, like the ambient textures that pad the CD. Hancock reteams with Bill Laswell, his production partner from the epochal Future Shock (“Rockit”), but magic does not strike twice. Recent Past 2 Recent Past, or Electronic Music Innovator Plays Catch-Up With Disciples would be a better title for Herbie Hancock’s latest, Future 2 Future, a circa-1996 drum ‘n’ bass CD by any other name. ![]()
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