Herbie Hancock, the touch of genius

By: Joe Farmer Follow

In August 2020, "L'épopée des Musiques Noires" rolls out the red carpet for the great jazz figures of yesterday and today. Our series, "Les Étoiles du Jazz", richly illustrated with unpublished testimonies, will draw the portrait of some icons whose artistic commitment has accompanied social changes in the 20th century.

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Since his first discographic appearance at the turn of the 1960s, pianist Herbie Hancock has never ceased to thwart the codes of musical decorum. More precisely, he perfectly mastered the academic rules to have fun and experiment. At 80, he is a respected multidisciplinary artist who can be proud of having crossed style barriers with ease and intelligence. His bond with saxophonist Wayne Shorter, his camaraderie with Miles Davis, his open-mindedness and his irrepressible desire to innovate, have fueled his notoriety and his aura across the planet.

When he began his career in 1962 with an album logically entitled "Takin 'Off" (Takeoff), he was only 22 years old and already full of ideas, desires and dreams to realize. He wants to go fast and jostle his contemporaries. His creative drive sets him apart from his counterparts. Miles Davis spots him and invites him to share the daring musical adventure of a quintet that will make a milestone in the history of jazz in the heart of the 60s. It was saxophonist Wayne Shorter who had the good idea to present Herbie Hancock to the brilliant trumpeter. This mark of trust and camaraderie will long resist the erosion of time. Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock will become best friends in the world and share many experiences together, both musical and spiritual.

Thus, like his elder Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock will adapt his sonorous mood to the era of time with inventiveness and daring. In the mid-1970s, he played with advanced technologies to electrify his music and his audience. It will also accompany, without ostentation, the upheavals of the black American community in search of identity. He will know how to seek his distant African roots by summoning the accents of the Central African Pygmies in a rereading of Watermelon Man  in 1973. Each decade will give him the opportunity to demonstrate his immense capacity to renew himself. Rock it  in 1983 was, without a doubt, his most astonishing project. This electro-funk track elicited many comments. How could a jazzman compromise himself like this? What was this work defying all standards? What artistic direction was Herbie Hancock taking then? While questions, criticisms and congratulations agitated the small world of musicologists, the interested party observed with mischief this bubbling that his musical UFO had produced and was already preparing for other blows of brilliance.

Each album, each concert, each appearance of Herbie Hancock calls for reactions, often dithyrambic, sometimes dubious. Revitalizing a work by Prince, The Beatles, Nirvana, Sade Adu or Stevie Wonder doesn't scare him. Recording a demanding duet album with his friend Wayne Shorter captivates him. Invite Oumou Sangaré or Tina Turner to magnify her dazzling jazz enthusiasm. Herbie Hancock allows herself freedoms which her virtuosity gracefully espouses. At 80, he is the one we revere and whose teachings irrigate the imagination of young intrepid instrumentalists. His speech as goodwill ambassador to Unesco is heard today. The creation of the "International Jazz Day" in 2012 is the manifestation of its sincere commitment to a universal sharing of cultures and human values. Has the troublemaker become a sage? Don't count on it! Herbie Hancock remains that touch of genius that will continue to surprise us as long as the flame of her overflowing inspiration shines.

The site of Herbie Hancock.

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