Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancockis an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, composer and actor. Starting his career with Donald Byrd, he shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet where Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers and funk music. Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPianist
Date of Birth12 April 1940
CityChicago, IL
CountryUnited States of America
I wanted to work with artists who were strong enough personalities that they'd all have something of their own to bring. My foundation is jazz, which is all about interaction. Jazz gives you a lot of tools to play with.
The fact that young hip-hop artists are searching for the jazz roots of their music acknowledges the greatness of roots, helps a person get a sense of being grounded, of being attached, of coming from somewhere.
It's not just a collection of overdubs, ... Every artist on the record gave me their heart - and each track is a surprise. This album was about interaction, freedom and looseness. It may not have the notes of jazz, but it was created in the spirit of jazz.
I was on tour with Miles Davis, and we had a gig to play at a theater in Los Angeles in 1965. And the opening act was the Aretha Franklin Jazz Trio. She was this young artist and she played sort of funky jazz piano with an upright bassist and a drummer. Then she sang, and she blew the roof off the place. The rest is history. I'd rate her up there with Zeus.
I don't mind being classified as a jazz artist, but I do mind being restricted to being a jazz artist. My foundation has been in jazz, though I didn't really start out that way. I started in classical music, but my formative years were in jazz, and it makes a great foundation.
I mean, nobody has a statement on their record.
I knew of jazz, but I didn't like it. I always thought only older people liked jazz - you know, you had to be 19 or 20.
I'm looking less to musical sources for inspiration and broadening my scope beyond the entertainment field and looking more into life itself. Life today.
I'm looking at other sources for inspiration; feelings and developments that are happening in human life itself.
Still, when I finally left Miles in '68 and got my own band, it was a logical step; because anybody that left Miles always had their own band.
There was a radio station in Chicago, there was a guy named Al Benson, and he pretty much dominated black radio in the '50s.
The thing is, much of the way I look at music now, and its role as an aspect of culture, and creative expression for human beings in the 21st century, much of the way I look at it for a record like Future 2 Future is very similar to how I might look at it for a record like Directions in Music.
Not too many people my age really zeroed in on the blues. Most of the people that listened to it were older than teenagers.
I just wish more attention could be placed on the human being.