Maiden Voyage (composition)
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"Maiden Voyage" is a
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
composition by
Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...
from his 1965 album '' Maiden Voyage''. It features Hancock's quartet – trumpeter
Freddie Hubbard Frederick Dewayne Hubbard (April 7, 1938 – December 29, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter. He played bebop, hard bop, and post-bop styles from the early 1960s onwards. His unmistakable and influential tone contributed to new perspectives fo ...
, bassist
Ron Carter Ronald Levin Carter (born May 4, 1937) is an American jazz double bassist. His appearances on 2,221 recording sessions make him the most-recorded jazz bassist in history. He has won three Grammy Awards, and is also a Cello, cellist who has reco ...
and drummer Tony Williams – together with saxophonist
George Coleman George Edward Coleman (born March 8, 1935) is an American jazz saxophonist known for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s. In 2015, he was named an NEA Jazz Master. Early life Coleman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. He was ...
. It is one of Hancock's best-known compositions and has become a
jazz standard Jazz standards are musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive List ...
. The piece was used in a
Yardley Yardley may refer to: People Surname *Bruce Yardley (1947–2019), Australian cricketer *David Yardley (1929–2014), British legal scholar and public servant *Doyle Yardley (1913–1946), American military officer * Eric Yardley (born 1990), Ame ...
commercial and was originally listed on the album's master tape as "TV Jingle" until a friend of Hancock's sister came up with the new name. In the liner notes for the ''Maiden Voyage'' album, Hancock states that the composition was an attempt to capture "the splendor of a sea-going vessel on its maiden voyage". Interviewed for KCET TV in 2011, Hancock said he considered Maiden Voyage to be his favorite of all of the compositions he had written.


Harmonic Structure

A
modal jazz Modal jazz is jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece. Though exerting influence to the present, modal jazz was most popular in th ...
piece, the composition follows a 32-bar
AABA form The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. Th ...
with only two chords in each section: A7/D , , , , C7/F , , , , A7/D , , , , C7/F , , , , Bb7/Eb , , , , Dbm9 , , , , A7/D , , , , C7/F , , , , There are several different perspectives on exactly how to label or interpret these harmonies. The chord voicings used by Hancock make extensive use of
perfect fourth A fourth is a interval (music), musical interval encompassing four staff positions in the music notation of Western culture, and a perfect fourth () is the fourth spanning five semitones (half steps, or half tones). For example, the ascending int ...
s, and could be interpreted as quartal harmonies: for example, the opening chord Am7/D has the notes A, C, E, G, D, and the same notes in a different order spell out a series of perfect fourths creating a quartal chord, E, A, D, G, C. Another common analysis in print is to label each chord a suspended chord. In this perspective, the first chord Am7/D (D, A, C, E, G) can be thought of as a Dm9 chord (D, F, A, C, E) with a suspended 4th (G instead of F). Along these lines, Jazz.com's Ted Gioia describes the harmonic progression used as "four
suspended chord A suspended chord (or sus chord) is a musical chord (music), chord in which the (major third, major or minor third, minor) third is omitted and replaced with a perfect fourth or a major second. The lack of a minor or a major third in the chord cre ...
s,"
Jerry Coker Jerry Coker (November 28, 1932 – January 14, 2024) was an American jazz saxophonist and pedagogue. Coker was born in South Bend, Indiana. He attended Indiana University in the early 1950s, but interrupted his studies in 1953 when Woody Herman ...
describes the progression as "only sus. 4 chords," From this perspective, the first chord is really an extended Dm chord with a suspension. On the other hand, '' The Real Book'' lists the chords as four
minor seventh chord In music, a minor seventh chord is a seventh chord composed of a root note, a minor third, a perfect fifth, and a minor seventh (1, 3, 5, 7). In other words, one could think of it as a minor triad with a minor seventh attached to ...
s with the
bass note In music theory, the bass note of a chord or sonority is the lowest note played or notated. If there are multiple voices it is the note played or notated in the lowest voice (the note furthest in the bass.) Three situations are possible: # ...
a fifth below the
root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...
which matches Hancock's description of the opening chord (right). This label implies that the opening chord is not really any kind of Dm chord, but an Am7 chord with a non-chord-tone D in the bass. The Real Book erroneously spells the fourth chord (measures 22-24) as A♭-7/D♭, while Owens correctly identifies it as C♯m13. The inclusion of the E natural in the original recording of the song supports Owens' interpretation of the chord. While the pitches of C♯m13 and A♭-7/D♭ may appear to be enharmonic equivalents, the presence of the E natural in the fourth chord distinguishes the two chords.


Recorded Versions

*
Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...
, on his album '' Maiden Voyage'' *
Bobby Hutcherson Robert Hutcherson (January 27, 1941 – August 15, 2016) was an American jazz vibraphone and marimba player. "Little B's Poem", from the 1966 Blue Note Records, Blue Note album ''Components (album), Components'', is one of his best-known composi ...
, on his album ''
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'' *
Ramsey Lewis Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis Jr. (May 27, 1935 – September 12, 2022) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and radio personality. Lewis recorded over 80 albums and received five RIAA certification, gold records and three Grammy Awards ...
, on his album '' Maiden Voyage'' *
Grant Green Grant Green (June 6, 1935 – January 31, 1979) was an American jazz guitarist and composer. Green has been called one of the "most sampled guitarists." Biography Grant Green was born on June 6, 1935, in St. Louis, Missouri, to John and ...
, on the album '' Alive!'' *
Brian Auger and the Trinity Brian Auger and the Trinity was a British band led by keyboardist Brian Auger. His duet with Julie Driscoll, the Bob Dylan/ Rick Danko– penned " This Wheel's on Fire", was a number 5 hit on the 1968 UK Singles Chart. The song also reache ...
, on the 1970 album ''Befour'' *
Jazz rock Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music Music genre, genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, a ...
band
Blood, Sweat, and Tears Blood, Sweat & Tears (also known as "BS&T") is an American jazz rock music group founded in New York City in 1967, noted for a combination of brass with rock instrumentation. BS&T has gone through numerous iterations with varying personnel and ...
, on their 1972 album '' New Blood'' *
Jon Lucien Lucien Leopold Harrigan (January 8, 1942 – August 18, 2007), known professionally as Jon Lucien, was a singer from Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Life and career Born in Tortola in 1942, Lucien was raised in St. Thomas. His parents we ...
, on the 1975 album '' Song for My Lady'' featuring lyrics by Herbie Hancock's sibling Jean Hancock. *
Norman Connors Norman Connors (born March 1, 1947) is an American jazz drummer, composer, arranger, and producer who has led a number of influential jazz and R&B groups. He also achieved several big R&B hits of the day, especially with love ballads. He is poss ...
, on the 1975 album ''
Saturday Night Special Saturday night special is a colloquial term in the United States and Canada for inexpensive, compact, small-caliber handguns made of poor quality metal. Sometimes known as junk guns, some states define these guns by means of composition or mate ...
''. *The rock band
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performed the song in their early concerts. A live version was released on their album ''
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''. * Toto, on their 2002 album ''
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''. This recording included elements of Hancock's 1974 song "
Butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...
". *
Robert Glasper Robert Andre Glasper (born April 5, 1978) is an American pianist, record producer, songwriter, and Arrangement, musical arranger. His music embodies numerous musical genres, primarily centered around jazz. Glasper has won five Grammy Awards from ...
, on his 2004 album '' Mood''.Allmusic review of Mood
/ref> He recorded it again on his 2007 album ''
In My Element ''In My Element'' is the third studio album by American musician Robert Glasper. It was released on March 20, 2007 via Blue Note Records. Recording sessions took place at Systems Two Studios in Brooklyn from September 21, 2006 to November 1, 2006 ...
'', this time as a medley with
Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...
's "
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". * Mr Jukes, on the 2019
Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...
Re:Imagined compilation.


Notes

{{Authority control 1965 compositions Jazz compositions 1960s jazz standards Modal jazz standards Jazz compositions in A minor Real Book Song Songs written by Herbie Hancock