Herbie Hancock – Death Wish

Herbie Hancock's Death Wish arrived in 1974, just after the success of Head Hunters, and finds Hancock turning his jazz-funk language toward film scoring for the Charles Bronson thriller of the same name. The score's restrained orchestration is central to its effect, reflecting the film's urban paranoia and the brooding inner life of Bronson's near-silent vigilante.

That tension gives the record its particular character. Hancock, already established as a pianist who could move fluently between acoustic jazz and early electric keyboards, blends funk, suspense music and subtle orchestral writing without losing his own voice. Pieces such as "Death Wish (Main Title)" and "Joanna's Theme" show how carefully he balances mood and melody, while the longer "Suite Revenge" expands the score's darker atmosphere into something more cinematic and open-ended.

For anyone who knows Hancock mainly through his major studio albums, Death Wish is a useful side path through the same fertile period: less expansive than Head Hunters, but closely connected to that era's electric sound and just as revealing of his range as a composer. This Music On Vinyl edition brings back a soundtrack that sits neatly between Hancock's jazz, funk and screen work.

Features

• 180g, Music On Vinyl