The connection between the sport and the music is not obvious to me, but Hancock explains. That's why it speaks of the ability of the human spirit to take the worst of circumstances and turn them into something of value." This ties into the documentary he is working on with the former basketball star Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. "It was born, basically, as a creative expression from slavery, that's where its beginnings lie. It grew up from poison, but now it's a medicine." We constantly try to find a way to turn what happens into something positive, like changing poison into medicine. "We don't look at situations as a cause for stress but as opportunities for growth. The pianist puts a lot of this down to Buddhism, which he began practising in 1972. Married (despite that ill fated honeymoon in Brazil) since 1968 to Gigi, who pops in and out of the house during our interview, Hancock also has his daughter Jessica on hand, as she helps manage his business it all seems a very harmonious set-up. Hancock seems blessed with a naturally sunny disposition. This skill he can transfer to whichever setting he's working in, for Hancock's interests have always been diverse. When the Rhodes piano made a big comeback during the Acid Jazz wave of the early 1990s, for instance, few keyboardists had not listened closely to Chameleon, Hancock's multi-million-selling jazz funk album from 1973.Īlthough capable of producing streams of notes (Davis said he used to sign as though he was about to chop Hancock's hands off after particularly long solos), as a pianist he has long been characterised by urbanity and intelligence, often suggesting more by playing less, his perfect voicings and artful riffs supplying the listener with all they need to hear. His piano-playing has had tremendous influence in jazz (Davis once said of him: "Herbie was the step after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, and I haven't heard anybody yet who has come after him") but also in other fields. Many of Hancock's compositions have become well-known standards, from his early "Watermelon Man", which Mongo Santamaria took to the charts in 1963, to "Cantaloupe Island", which as "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" was a worldwide hit for the British group Us3 in 1994. But actually," he says, "it turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because then I put my own band together and for the first time I could play the songs I'd written, night after night." Thinking about getting out the door is one thing, you see, but doing it is another. "I thought oh shit! Not only do I not have a gig, I'm not playing with Miles any more. But when I called Miles, he just said 'call Jack Whittemore,' who was the agent.Then the reality struck home. "When I got back, I didn't know that I was actually being replaced by Chick," says Hancock. Unbeknown to Hancock, however, Davis had offered Corea the job. In Hancock's absence, another pianist soon to make a name for himself, Chick Corea, had filled in. "I don't think that Miles believed that I had food poisoning," he continues, "because he knew that all the members of the band were thinking about leaving." Then I got food poisoning on my wedding night." Hancock had to miss a couple of gigs with the Davis band that were scheduled for his return. "What happened with that? Yeah, well I got married in 1968, and my wife and I went to Brazil for our honeymoon. This made me think, I say, of a story I'd heard: that Miles sacked him from his band for being late back from his honeymoon. Underneath several lines of page references for "Hancock, Herbie" there's one that reads: "lateness of, page 269". I tell him that I looked him up in the index of Miles's autobiography. Or "taap naaatch", as it comes across in his Chicagoan high-vowelled drawl. the sound is." Momentarily he's lost for words. "You know, I've been in the business longer than synthesisers have," says Hancock, at 66 still bubbling with enthusiasm about the latest electronic keyboard he's got his hands on. He's been around, Herbie Hancock, even though physically he looks much the same as he did when his pioneering electro hit "Rockit" swept the boards at the inaugural MTV Video Music Awards in 1983 - and that was two decades after he first made his name, launching his debut album and joining Miles Davis's group in the same year. And isn't that Bill Clinton he's with in that photograph? Outside, above the decking you must traverse before reaching a shaded swimming pool, hangs a large bell, a gift from the Montreux Jazz Festival. Multiple Grammy awards in both jazz and R&B categories rub shoulders with statuettes from Playboy magazine the Oscar he won for the soundtrack to Bertrand Tavernier's film Round Midnight peeps from the back of a cabinet. The drawing room of Herbie Hancock's Hollywood hills residence is dotted with trophies from a long and much-garlanded career.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |