Willie Hutch took complete creative control over the Soul Portrait project- and you can hear it! His meticulous, tactful process brought a unique and powerful new sound to the public.
The Prisoner is Herbie Hancock's final jazz album. The title tracks and liner notes comment on the struggles of black America emerging from early '60s, an extended metaphor of The Prisoner, rising from MLK's “I have Dream” to the “Promise of the Sun“.
This LP represents a stage in Monk's development in which his works were known to a limited audience. His alternative approach to the keyboard wasn't yet established and his reputation as the "grey-eminence genius of the bop era" was yet to emerge.