"Maiden Voyage" is a jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 composition by Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock is an American pianist, bandleader and composer. As part of Miles Davis's "second great quintet," Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the "post-bop" sound...

 from his 1965 album Maiden Voyage. It features Hancock's quartet – trumpeter Freddie Hubbard

Freddie Hubbard

Frederick Dewayne "Freddie" Hubbard was an American jazz trumpeter. He was known primarily for playing in the bebop, hard bop and post bop styles from the early 1960s and on...

, bassist Ron Carter

Ron Carter

Ron Carter is an American jazz double-bassist. His appearances on over 2,500 albums make him one of the most-recorded bassists in jazz history, along with Milt Hinton, Ray Brown and Leroy Vinnegar. Carter is also an acclaimed cellist who has recorded numerous times on that...

 and drummer Tony Williams – with additional saxophonist George Coleman

George Coleman

George Edward Coleman is an American hard bop saxophonist, bandleader, and composer, known chiefly for his work with Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock in the 1960s.-Biography:...

. It is one of Hancock's best-known compositions and has become a jazz standard

Jazz standard

Jazz standards are musical compositions which 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 of jazz standards, and the list of songs deemed to be...

.

The piece was used in a Fabergé

Fabergé (cosmetics)

-History:The American oil billionaire Armand Hammer collected many Fabergé pieces during his business ventures in communist Russia in the 1920s. In 1937, Armand Hammer’s friend Samuel Rubin, owner of the Spanish Trading Corporation which imported soap and olive oil, closed down his company because...

 commercial and was originally listed on the album's master tape as "TV Jingle" until 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".

Structure

A modal jazz

Modal jazz

Modal jazz is jazz that uses musical modes rather than chord progressions as a harmonic framework. Originating in the late 1950s and 1960s, modal jazz is characterized by Miles Davis's "Milestones" Kind of Blue and John Coltrane's classic quartet from 1960–64. Other important performers include...

 piece, the composition follows a 32-bar AABA form

Thirty-two-bar form

The thirty-two-bar form, often called AABA from the musical form or order in which its melodies occur, is common in Tin Pan Alley songs and later popular music including rock, pop and jazz...

 with only two chords in each section:
AMI7/D | | | | CMI7/F | | |
AMI7/D | | | | CMI7/F | | |
BbMI7/Eb | | | | C#MI7/F# | | |
AMI7/D | | | | CMI7/F | | |

The chord voicings used by Hancock make extensive use of perfect fourth

Perfect fourth

In classical music from Western culture, a fourth is a musical interval encompassing four staff positions , and the perfect fourth is a fourth spanning five semitones. For example, the ascending interval from C to the next F is a perfect fourth, as the note F lies five semitones above C, and there...

s. Jazz.com's Ted Gioia describes the harmonic progression used as, "four suspended chord

Suspended chord

A suspended chord is a chord in which the third is omitted, replaced usually with either a perfect fourth or a major second , although the fourth is far more common...

s," Jerry Coker describes the progression as, "only sus. 4 chords," while The Real Book lists the chords as four minor seventh chords with the bass note a fifth below the root which matches Hancocks' description of the opening chord (right).

Covers

• American
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
   rock band Toto
  Toto (band)
  Toto is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1977. The group currently consists of Joseph Williams , David Paich , Steve Porcaro , Steve Lukather , Mike Porcaro , and Simon Phillips . Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard...
  
   covered the piece on their 2002 Through the Looking Glass
  Through the Looking Glass (Toto album)
  Through the Looking Glass is the 11th studio album by the American band Toto. It was released in 2002, three years after their last studio release, "Mindfields." The album consists of covers of songs that have inspired the band.-Reception:...
  
  album
• American
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
   jam band Phish
  Phish
  Phish is an American rock band noted for its musical improvisation, extended jams, and exploration of music across genres. Formed at the University of Vermont in 1983 , the band's four members – Trey Anastasio , Mike Gordon , Jon Fishman , and Page McConnell Phish is an American rock band...
  
   has been known to cover the piece in their live shows, and a recording of it appears on their live album, Colorado '88
  Colorado '88
  Colorado '88 is a 3-CD live album from the rock band Phish, recorded over several nights in summer 1988. Despite having only traveled outside Vermont occasionally, in the New England college and club circuit, Phish embarked on a tour in the west. The band played seven shows in ten days to tiny...