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For his second album, Hancock remained rooted in the hard bop and soul jazz movements. As with his first album, he put together a classic hard bop small group, adding a trombone on three tracks to the trumpet and tenor sax parts he had previously written. Donald Byrd's 1961 album Royal Flush was Hancock's Blue Note debut. Hank Mobley, like Byrd, was in the midst of recording a long run of Blue Note albums as a leader. Additionally, Hancock added guitarist Grant Green for two songs that had a more pronounced soul jazz feel. With the composition "King Cobra", Hancock worked in the modal jazz idiom, which he used in 1965 when writing the jazz standard “Maiden Voyage”.
The album was one of the first releases featuring drummer Tony Williams, who was 17 years old at the time of this recording. Williams and Hancock joined Miles Davis's band two months after My Point of View was recorded, as part of a new group that would evolve into the "Second Great Quintet". With the exception of bassist Chuck Israels, every player on the album went on to release numerous jazz albums as a bandleader during the 1960s and 1970s, and each had at least two albums as a leader on Blue Note Records during the 1960s.
Composition
"Blind Man, Blind Man" was written by Hancock trying to evoke "something that reflected my Negro background". The blind man standing in the corner playing his guitar was in fact one of the things Hancock experienced in his neighbourhood in Chicago. The piece is reminiscent of "Watermelon Man", one of his greatest hits. According to Hancock, "King Cobra" was an attempt to "expand the flow so that it would go in directions beyond the usual".
Track listing
All compositions by Herbie Hancock
Side one
"Blind Man, Blind Man" – 8:19
"A Tribute to Someone" – 8:45
Side two
"King Cobra" – 6:55
"The Pleasure Is Mine" – 4:03
"And What If I Don't" – 6:35
CD re-release bonus track
"Blind Man, Blind Man" (alternate take) – 8:21
Note: On the CD reissue of the album, the length of "The Pleasure Is Mine" is incorrectly noted as being 8:00.
