brownie Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 Interesting interview of Herbie Hancock in today's Detroit Fress Press: AN HOUR WITH HERBIE HANCOCK: The legendary jazz pianist talks about classical composers, Buddhism, jazz improvisation and why he hasn't practiced in 30 years March 2, 2005 BY MARK STRYKER FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER Herbie Hancock, casually dressed in black jeans and a turtleneck, settles into a comfy chair at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. On this busy day in late 2004, he has only an hour to chat between duties as the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Jazz Creative Director Chair for 2004-05. Hancock has already been in town to perform a "Gershwin's World" program with the DSO and work with students. On Thursday, the pianist -- six weeks shy of his 65th birthday -- returns with Directions in Music -- featuring saxophonist Michael Brecker, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Terri Lyne Carrington. Hancock remains one of the most influential American musicians of the last 40 years and the greatest living jazz pianist. No one addresses the breadth of the tradition with more melodic and rhythmic imagination, swing, harmonic wizardry, interactive ESP and spontaneous abstract improvisation that leaves musicians shaking their heads in disbelief. He's been a force in jazz as a pianist and composer since the early '60s, when he joined the pace-setting Miles Davis Quintet and began recording masterpieces for Blue Note -- including "Empyrean Isles" and "Maiden Voyage" -- that codified an advanced harmonic and improvisational language that hasn't aged a day. Since becoming a crossover star in the '70s, Hancock has alternated earthy R&B, funk and electronica projects with straight-ahead jazz groups. FREE PRESS: What projects are you working on now? HERBIE HANCOCK: I'm trying to open a classical orchestra connection, and playing with the Detroit Symphony is one example. When I was a kid, I won a contest and played a Mozart concerto with the Chicago Symphony, and I've written some movie scores, and I've been listening to orchestral music for years. Ravel is one of my favorite orchestrators, and I love Stravinsky's work, and Beethoven. Recently I've been listening to Mahler; it's beautiful stuff. I just saw a performance of Mahler's Eighth Symphony on television, and it was awesome. The music was so gorgeous I wasn't just crying tears, I was sobbing. I've also got this new record that I'm doing. Several artists have agreed to be on it. Sting, John Mayer, Trey Anastasio, Dave Matthews, Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Yo-Yo Ma. FREE PRESS: Do you still practice? HANCOCK: I have some of Ravel's piano pieces at home, but I don't practice them. I'm open to practicing again, but I have to get my body to do it. The last time I practiced for an hour was probably 30-odd years ago. I try to practice with my life. FREE PRESS: Meaning what? HANCOCK: I don't look at music from the standpoint of being a musician; I look at it from the standpoint of being a human being. Granted, you have to learn the basics and get a firm foundation and that takes years. But in order to not be stuck inside the music box, there's a larger vision that uses music as a tool to serve humanity. We are eternally linked not just to each other but our environment. FREE PRESS: That sounds like Buddhism. HANCOCK: Yeah. One thing that attracted me to Buddhism was the support for this larger vision of values. FREE PRESS: Who introduced you to Buddhism? HANCOCK: (Bassist) Buster Williams in 1972. I've been a religious, spiritual person for a long time. When I was a kid, I used to sit up in bed, put my elbows on the windowsill and look out at the stars and wonder. About space, eternity, the concept of God and creation. When I was in my early teens, I remember coming to the conclusion that your life never ends. When I discovered Buddhism, I realized that Buddhism agrees with that. Buddhism adds something, too, which is that your life also never begins. It's eternal. FREE PRESS: How much has Buddhism affected your music? HANCOCK: A great deal. Buddhism opened me up to seeing things from the standpoint of being a human being -- looking at the purpose of action and the effects on life. You can't connect this to G minor 7th and C 7th. Those are just tools you grab to make structure. FREE PRESS: How has that manifested itself specifically in your music? HANCOCK: I did a tour with Wayne Shorter, Dave Holland and Brian Blade. When we started to rehearse, we spent more time talking than playing. We wanted to share creativity and didn't want to be bound by traditional jazz conventions. Like the drummer playing from the first beat all the way to the end. Why can't they stop in some places? Another convention is that the drummer and bass player are timekeepers, but there's no reason they have to be bound to that. Pieces don't have to have the same tempo from beginning to end. We had to decide if we were just going to have solos back-to-back or do something different. We decided it would be interesting to approach the music as a group solo. FREE PRESS: In a way those ideas stretch back to your days with Miles Davis -- the idea of controlled freedom. HANCOCK: One word Wayne and I use that sums it up is: possibilities. Limitless possibilities. FREE PRESS: How do you do that if you don't practice? HANCOCK: There's so much spontaneity involved, what do you practice? How do you practice teamwork? How do you practice sharing? How do you practice daring? How do you practice being nonjudgmental? Life itself is the practice. FREE PRESS: You have to have extraordinary command of the fundamentals to play this way. HANCOCK: Yes. But these ideas are very different than if your goal was to be a virtuoso. I decided years ago that I wasn't interested in being a virtuoso of the piano. The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique. The value of music is to be able to play one note at the right time in the right way. FREE PRESS: But you are a virtuoso. HANCOCK: Nah, I'm not. Keith Jarrett's a virtuoso. Chick Corea is a virtuoso. Actually, I do want to start practicing. Wayne Shorter told me something recently that I never thought about before: Sometimes you can practice something but what you wind up playing when you're out doing a gig is not what you practiced. What you learn is not necessarily what you practice. When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn't I couldn't do my best. But when I was with Miles, he would never practice. His practice would be as we're walking onstage he would play a chromatic scale -- brrrrrrrrrip! I would be all over the piano, but Miles would play a few notes that would just wipe out all that fancy stuff I was playing. He would play just a few notes that would have so much honesty and humanity and passion in them that it would go right to your heart. I said, "That's what I want to do." Miles would say, "When you've been playing 16 or 17 years, you get to a point where it's mind over matter. If you want to play something because you hear it, your fingers and your lips automatically do it." So I decided to try it and it worked. You can practice to learn a technique, but I'm more interested in conceiving of something in the moment. Jazz is about being in the moment. Miles used to say, "I pay you to practice on the bandstand." When you struggle to reach for something you don't know, that's where the most interesting stuff is. I'm not telling students not to practice or advising people to limit themselves. This is advanced stuff. You can practice to attain knowledge, but you can't practice to attain wisdom. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Fitzgerald Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 Herbie is a great talker. I wish all his music sounded as good as this interview. For me he's very inconsistent, even within the projects that allow for more creative stretching. When he is on, he's very very good; but when he is off, he is boring.... BTW, that Miles warmup thing makes me think of - is it Autumn Leaves on Miles In Europe? Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kari S Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 The only bit I'm quite worried is this: "I've also got this new record that I'm doing. Several artists have agreed to be on it. Sting, John Mayer, Trey Anastasio, Dave Matthews, Carlos Santana, Alicia Keys, Annie Lennox, Yo-Yo Ma..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JSngry Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 What's up w/the Detroit Symphony? Didn't they do a thing w/Wayne a few years back? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soul Stream Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 I love the thought about not practicing. It really fits into my philosophy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bertrand Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 I can confirm that the record with all those guests is in the works. I had the same apprehensive feeling about some of those guests... Bertrand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aggie87 Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 Before Aric killed everyone in the thread, I posted a couple of pics of Herbie jamming in the studio with Trey right here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Alfredson Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 Oh yeah, I remember that thread.... Herbie on the B3. Cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 I am going to try to go to this concert tomorrow night. If there's good seats still available. Detroit isn't worth going to if you can't at least get decent seats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottb Posted March 2, 2005 Report Share Posted March 2, 2005 Let us know how the show is. I'm seeing them next week! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enterprise Server Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 Herbie is a great talker. I wish all his music sounded as good as this interview. For me he's very inconsistent, even within the projects that allow for more creative stretching. When he is on, he's very very good; but when he is off, he is boring.... I agree. I love Herbies recordings with Miles and Blue Note. But soon after that, his music headed south and very rapidly. I think he is a very talented artist but I can't get with his techno-hip-bop-funk antics. It's very depressing seeing such talent being wasted on a genre of musical entertainment that requires little to no serious creativity or talent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJ Shearn Posted April 1, 2005 Report Share Posted April 1, 2005 well, Herbie's always kept his ear to the ground in terms of current styles. You gotta respect that at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christiern Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 "Hancock remains one of the most influential American musicians of the last 40 years and the greatest living jazz pianist." ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 Didn't you get the memo? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregK Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 "Hancock remains one of the most influential American musicians of the last 40 years and the greatest living jazz pianist."??? I'm not saying I agree or disagree, but who would you say is if not Hancock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe G Posted April 2, 2005 Report Share Posted April 2, 2005 I would say there's no such animal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jazz Kat Posted April 3, 2005 Report Share Posted April 3, 2005 key word living, which automatically drops out Art Tatum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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