‘The Prisoner’ was Herbie Hancock’s seventh and last album for Blue Note. Released in 1969 and recorded over three days in April of that year – 18th, 21st and 23rd to be exact. ‘The Prisoner’ is an interesting and at times unnerving set. Like ‘Speak Like A Child’, Herbie’s previous album, it is a commentary on the contemporary black experience in the US. The supporting cast is impressive. The rhythm section alongside Herbie features bassist Buster Williams and drummer Albert ‘Tootie’ Heath. The horns comprise Joe Henderson tenor sax and flute, Johnny Coles trumpet and Garnett Brown on trombone. Flautist Hubert Laws guests on three tracks and there is supplementary support from bass trombones and bass clarinets. ‘I Have A Dream’ is a fitting opener, being inspired by Martin Luther King. The melody is haunting, but it has a mildly discordant feel that is unsettling. ‘The Prisoner’ is a slightly abstract track but the performances of Johnny Coles, Joe Henderson and Hancock himself drive a brilliant piece of late 60’s Jazz. Bassist Buster Williams contributes ‘Firewater’, only the second tune on any of Hancock’s Blue Note albums, not written by himself. It is a sizzling performance with Henderson and Coles yet again outstanding. ‘He Who Lives In Fear’ and ‘Promises Of The Sun’ are fine tracks that continue the album’s theme. The latter is particularly evocative. All Hancock’s Blue Note albums are different from one another, they show his artistic progression and document his musical restlessness that would propel him to his seventies Fusion heyday. There is also a detectable Miles influence (classic sixties quintet period), a band which the pianist had just recently left.
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