Hollywood, CA (November 20, 2020)—Bernie Grundman has remastered all 11 LPs in the new eight-album VMP Anthology: The Story of Herbie Hancock, which was curated by Vinyl Me, Please and Herbie Hancock.
The anthology celebrates Hancock’s 80th birthday and his more than 60 years of altering the landscape of jazz. Grundman cut the lacquers from the original masters. Takin’ Off, Maiden Voyage, Head Hunters, The Piano and Future Shock were cut AAA from analog tapes. The River: The Joni Letters and1+1, which were recorded digitally, and Live Under the Sky, which has been re-sequenced at Hancock’s request, come from master digital audio.
Remastering Classic Grateful Dead for New 14-LP Set
Grundman originally mastered a number of the original releases, including 1973’s breakthrough Head Hunters and the 2008 Grammy Album of the Year, River: The Joni Letters. Recalling the original Head Hunters mastering sessions, he says, “When they brought that in, I was working at A&M at the time, running their mastering department. Well, that record was shockingly different from what I expected a Herbie Hancock album to be. His approach was different from just about anything I had heard before. Herbie modernized jazz pop music and because of the mentality that he has and that he put into that, it makes it even more interesting. It had a lot more depth than most records I had heard up to that time. It stood out as being really unique. It wasn’t derivative, or copying what was out at the time. He did something that could communicate with a much broader listening public.”
The new box set includes albums from every major era of Hancock’s career, from his early albums as a bandleader to his later fusions of jazz with funk and hip-hop, and his Grammy-winning work from the ’00s. As with past VMP anthologies, the set comes packaged with access to an exclusive podcast series featuring interviews with Hancock, his collaborators and those he inspired, and Grundman.
The LPs are pressed on high-quality 180g black vinyl and housed in heavyweight tip-on jackets. A first edition heavyweight two-piece slip and slash box with original design by Clay Conder is hand-numbered and limited to 1500.
Bernie Grundman Mastering • www.berniegrundmanmastering.com
