Thrust followed on the heels of Herbie Hancock’s
genre-altering best-seller Head Hunters album,
one in which the gifted keyboardist and composer played with new
conceptions of fusion jazz and synthesizer
technology. Thrust, in many ways, could be considered
a second half to Head Hunters; recorded within
months of its predecessors with almost all the same players. Once
again, Hancock and his team plumbed the possibilities of mixing
funk rhythms with jazz improvisation, resulting in four tracks of
fusion fire that, to our guest Jason Concepcion, marked a high
point before a onslaught of “smooth jazz” would dial everything
down.
Concepcion is perhaps best known to people as a basketball
savant as a staff writer for The Ringer and Emmy-winning producer
behind their NBA Desktop segment. I first discovered him via
Twitter, thanks to his expert, witty writing as @netw3rk. However,
for all his sports acumen, Concepcion is also Berkelee
School-trained, having once attended there with the ambition of
going into film composition. Thrust was a
revelatory way in which he engaged with the possibilities of jazz,
soul and funk experimentations. During our conversation, we
discussed Hancock’s penchant for innovation in that era, the highs
and lows of 1970s fusion jazz plus we took a side trip into the
current state of the 365 day NBA “season.”
Show Tracklisting (all songs from Thrust
unless indicated otherwise):
Palm Grease
Spank-A-Lee
Butterfly
Actual Proof
Van Halen: Cathedral
Spank-A-Lee
Palm Grease
Herbie Hancock: Watermelon Man
Herbie Hancock: Rockit
Palm Grease
Weather Report: Young and Fine
Rusty Bryant: Fire Eater
Grover Washington Jr.: Hydra
Actual Proof
Rhodes Piano Demo
Actual Proof
Butterfly
toe: two moons
Palm Grease
Gil Scott Heron & Brian Jackson: Peace Go With You Brother
Herbie Hancock: Chameleon
Here is the Spotify
playlist of as many songs as we can find there.
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About the Podcast
Scorching guests and sizzling records: join music writer Oliver Wang and music supervisor Morgan Rhodes each week as they invite their favorite artists, critics and scholars for in-depth conversations about the albums that shape our lives. Each week our special guests will take you deep into their heat rocks from the world of hip-hop, soul, dance, jazz, funk and more. Get with us!