With the release of their first two albums and live shows supporting Snarky Puppy, Roy Ayers, Marcus Miller, Larry Mizell & the Blackbyrds, Butcher Brown, Yellowjackets and more, Resolution 88 have already established themselves as one of the UK’s leading exponents of funk jazz. Their music is synonymous with the silky, buttery sound of the Fender Rhodes.
‘Revolutions’ represents a lot of firsts - the first time Resolution 88 have recorded to multi-track tape, the first time that they’ve included a real string and brass section, the first time they’ve included special guests on record and the first time they’ve pressed an album on vinyl. Imagine a combination of an undiscovered Herbie Hancock album from the mid’ 70’s, rare-groove samples from the golden era of hip hop (ATCQ, Pharcyde etc) and the new London sound of bands like Yussef Kamaal.
You guys made a tremendous grow as I feel it. So awesome what the percussion man brings us with that sample-pad, it's super useful. Top inspirational performance. Thanks giving this 💯🙏🏼✌🏼
…they freakin killed that! Amazing! They did an excellent, great, and fantastic job of attempting to do the impossible of duplicating that greatness which can’t be duplicated! Even the great Herbie Hancock himself couldn’t duplicate the improvisational greatness and genius he so profusely poured into “Sly”…! Talk about impossible! For how can some of the most complex inner and even deeply internal emotions be captured then poured into a musical instrument then be even recaptured then duplicated again by a live expression of them ..except and but by a recording…! Much applause to the sheer boldness of these gentlemen!
It was always a goal/fantasy of mine to do Chameleon ‘properly’ with Capricorn, after enduring all those jam session versions, with just the main groove and head (Actual Proof was, and still is, the real Holy Grail, for me, tbh*), and the bass player usually taking Herbie’s part, and altogether leaving out the actual guitar-like bass lick. We never did what you guys have done so well tho’, alas. Hats off to y’all for putting in the work and paying proper tribute to this absolute monster of a track. Bravo! Ric, love your work on those Harvey Mason phrases/licks, leading in and out of the various segments, etc. You nail them all. Great work, bro’. I’ve been working on those for years, literally (likewise Absolute Proof) and I’ve never felt I’d ever *really* nailed them. You must show me how you do them some time. And the lithe funky groove that ensues, with Tiago, and Tom doing those rhythmic Herbie licks, the string pads, and those little flute-like phrases. What bliss! In some respects that’s my favourite segment of the piece. I wonder if, when you guys return to the main groove, at the end, you’re timing is as fast as Herbie and co, on the original, or if you keep your cool tempo-wise? Rod Norman hipped me to that, starting at the top, and then dropping the needle at about 14 minutes in… they’re way faster on the original recording! I must admit I was really surprised by that. As they’re telepathically tight and solid . But, what with the musically orgasmic or tantric energy of the original performance, it’s hardly surprising, to be fair. You do sound a wee bit quicker, possibly? But not as hyper as the Headhunters themselves… I wonder!? Easily the best cover/homage/tribute I’ve ever heard (or seen). Brilliant! Just wish I could’ve been there. If I/we ask nicely, perhaps you’ll perform this again, next time we see you live? * Love to hear your take on AP! What do you reckon, Tom? I totally dig Chris ‘Daddy’ Dave’s version, naturally (it is truly awesome, to use a much abused term). But he’s less faithful to the original.
Having a bit of Rez 88 binge (after a night of complete insomnia!), and it’s proving delightful. Musically medicinal and just gorgeous and inspiring. Love the combination of quite simple ideas with shifting rhythmic styles, from kind of wonky hip hop to quasi drum and bass, and then ‘actual proof’ style dense rhythmic jazziness, but with a half-time feel, so it’s both energised and yet laid back. Fab!
Went ahead and gave a thumbs up, and quite good and exact transcription of the original recording for sure, esp. the pianist. However, just transcription and exactness does NOT a jazz musician make. Time to rearrange the piece or just do your own solos rather than Herbie's exact one esp. the pianist, esp. since Herbie did vastly different and unique arrangements of all his charts, which makes watching his differing eras interesting to us into jazz. Also, smacks too much of rich white boy UK yuppie with very $$$$$$ vintage instruments hard to find or very inaccessible to us poverty stricken folks now in the USA, and something has to be relatable a bit to the common man for us to actually enjoy your performance, and unique/original vs. an exact copy. Or else, why not just go to the original recording which IS accessible easily and out there.
Only just listened to this. And it’s been out there three years! Very beautiful. Nice to hear orchestrated stuff with strings and horns. More of this, please? PS - Got any new stuff coming? The latest stuff I can find is three years old. Anyway. Great work guys (n gals?), as ever.
The newer live versions played by Hancock never captivated me because of the bright, artificial sound that I attributed to the modern digital equipment. This however sounds very close to the original. Perhaps you could explain how you achieved this?
We just tried very hard to be faithful to an album we all love! The drummer tuned his drums close to Harvey's, I voiced my suitcase Rhodes as close to Herbie's as I could, I even matched the pick up settings of Herbie's Clavinet - it was a labour of love. This album changed the course of my life and my bandmates and we know that there are countless people around the world that feel the same way!
Wow! What kind of time signature is that? Or rather, can you explain this rhythm to me? Is this polyrhytmics? (I'm talking about the beginning of the track) And if so, how does it work exactly? I've listened to the track over and over and I don't get the rhythm. I'm a musician myself and I can't sleep at night because of it. Please, do me the favour….
Hi Andre, I wrote the track in 4 even though it doesn't sound like that sometimes! The opening hits are difficult to count along to because they're isolated but later on in the song, if you listen to the hi-hat or the ride cymbal you should probably be able to count along in 4. Each sequence of chord hits starts on the downbeat, the second one is on the '2 e' (i.e. 5 semiquavers in) and then they're spaced out by a beat and a half until they land squarely on the count of '3'. It's intended to have the effect of a slower tempo running over the top of a faster underlying pulse. The title 'Tracking Force' refers to the concept - this comes from our record 'Revolutions' all about music on vinyl and this track is all about the stylus skipping / sliding over the record (i.e. what happens when you don't have the stylus arm set up properly and the tracking force doesn't keep the stylus in the groove). I hope that helps - most things that we play that are complicated rhythmically are just written in 4 even if there's beat displacement or something else tricky going on.
I never hear people cover the "hard herbie" songs!! And I definitely never hear them cover the "hard parts of herbie songs" when they do cover them!! But yall...... KILLED THIS!! smh..... NASTY!!!
This never ceases to surprise me. Keys and drums are ludicrously precise. Congrats! I wonder if Herbie himself wouldn't dare to peek at his fans' labour in youtube!
