Rerun: Speaking of Herbie Hancock

DaSLOB BROTHERS: Now that the shock of Herbie Hancock's Grammy win for album of the year has worn off -- has anyone checked on Kanye West this morning? -- you might want to dig back into his towering legacy of work.

Here's a look at some of Hancock's best stuff from before the newly celebrated "River: The Joni Letters" -- click through the album titles for the rest of our reviews:

Hancock first came to wide fame, of course, as a sideman with Miles Davis in the 1960s and early 1970s -- and makes appearances in DaSlob reviews for "In A Silent Way," "On the Corner," and "A Tribute to Jack Johnson."

Elsewhere ...

One Track Mind: "Elegy," (1994): A trill from Herbie Hancock, moving up and down on an acoustic piano might have been surprise enough. But next comes a persistent, oh-so distinctive tapping that could only be drummer Tony Williams, and then a nimble, casually funky bass line from Ron Carter. Like a dream made real, Miles Davis' second great group -- with Wallace Roney stepping in for the fallen trumpeter -- steps out of the shadows to pay tribute to Davis in the tune "Elegy," from 1994's "A Tribute to Miles" on Qwest.

"Mr. Hands" (1980): The seventies began very creatively for HH, first with the space funk Mwandishi albums followed by the better-known Head Hunters period that firmly eastablished Herbie's pre-eminance in synthesized instrumental funk. But as the decade wore on, the music got less and less creative until it devolved into generic disco. Right at the end of this era, though, Hancock re-asserts control to generate an electric jazz album with every song distinguishable and original.

"The Herbie Hancock Trio" (1977): A hidden gem from three decades ago. And why, pray tell, is it hidden? Because Columbia Records didn't see a market for acoustic Herbie back then when his electric funk-jazz Headhunters albums were selling more records than many rock stars. That's still no excuse to make this available only as an import even today, though.

"Fat Albert Rotunda: (1969): The period in Herbie Hancock's work between the landmark Maiden Voyage of 1965 and the funk-jazz classic Head Hunters eight years later contains some of Hancock's least understood and most overlooked recordings of his career. It took quite a voyage to get from "Dolphin Dance" to "Chameleon" and as is often said, the journey itself is often more interesting than the destination. Smack dab in the middle of Hancock's evolution from a premier post-bop stylist to a funk wunderkind, comes a soundtrack of sorts that he composed for Bill Cosby's then-fledgling cartoon series "Fat Albert," punningly called The Fat Albert Rotunda.

"Takin' Off" (1962): The debut record by one of jazz's most important keyboardists since 1960. While later Blue Note releases such as Maiden Voyage and Empyrean Isles get all the accolades, the first time out finds Hancock always fully formed as both a classically-influenced jazz pianist and a serious composer. This is where the much-covered "Watermelon Man" first appeared. The bonus is having a horn section of Dexter Gordon and Freddie Hubbard, during a period when they were both recording excellent albums themselves.

Finally, Hancock also had notable turns alongside Wayne Shorter on 1967's "Tom Thumb," Joe Henderson on "Power to the People" in 1969, Hubbard on 1970's "Red Clay," and Michael Brecker on "Pilgrimage" from 2007, among many others.