When I played trumpet with my college jazz band, we once tried doing Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage.” I don’t think we ever played the song before an audience, which is weird since it’s not that difficult of a song to learn, at least not compared to some of the other stuff we tried (“Red Clay,” “Blue in Green,” “A Night in Tunisia,” “So What”).
About a year ago I picked up a used copy of The Best of Herbie Hancock. (This was the Blue Note edition, from 1973.) Sure, enough, there’s “Maiden Voyage,” opening up side three. Anyway, this is my first blog post for this site, which was how I got to thinking about maiden voyages and whatnot.
By the way, I played strictly a supportive role on trumpet for my college jazz band. I was good for an opening riff, and then I’d sit back and listen to the other guys improvise, and then I’d come back in to play the riff again to either introduce the next soloist or finish the song. I would only solo once, maybe twice per performance, and it was always a white-knuckle experience. The hardest part was knowing when to stop playing and sit back down.