Herbie Hancock: From Jazz Legend to Global Ambassador

Frank Fitzpatrick 09/05/2011

I first met Herbie Hancockwhile producing jazz events in the early eighties in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Being the consummate innovator that he was, he performed a rare duo acoustic piano concert with the iconic Chick Corea. Facing each other on stage in the acoustically perfect Hill Auditorium, Herbie on a 9’ Steinway and Chick on a Bosendorfer, they embarked on a spontaneous and seamless musical journey that had the audience mesmerized from the first number. Like the two musical geniuses at the keys, the entire show was one-of-a-kind and amazing.

Since his early days with Miles Davis, Herbie has gone on to break musical ground in countless settings, mixing classical and jazz training with a musical style that could only be defined, and redefined as Herbie Hancock. Herbie is at once at home sharing the stage or the room with anyone, from Miles, to Sting, to the Ling Lang, to the LA Philharmonic…a list way too long to cover here, constantly stretching with borders of Jazz and the piano itself and earning him countless awards including 14 Grammys.

It is hard to imagine that I could find anything more inspiring that the musicianship of Herbie Hancock, but I have – Herbie the man. Not only is he a humanitarian and international figure of the highest level, inspiring Time Magazine to name him Man of the Year last year and the UN to bestow on him the honor last week of Goodwill Ambassador, but he is one of the kindest, coolest and most collected artists I have ever known.

I don’t know that there is a lot that I could share with you here that has not already been told or written about the artist Herbie Hancock, except for one personal story I learned recently from another friend and musical legend, Milton Nacimiento. Herbie and his wife Gigi honeymooned in 1968 in Rio, where he asked a producer friend to bring some Brazilian musicians by his hotel to meet and play for him.

During the performance, a shy young singer sat off to the side. Herbie asked him to come forward. When he started playing his guitar and singing for the american jazz icon, Herbie almost immediately interrupted him and left the room. The very confused singer waited until Herbie returned with a cassette recorder, sat down and pressed the record button and requested he continue on with the song. Herbie was floored. He had never heard a voice quite like that. That young Brazilian singer was Milton himself, one of the most acclaimed Brazilian singers of our lifetime.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PRRzXBwXTY[/youtube]