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Practicing Buddhism has brought several revelations to me. One of them is the realization that I am not a musician. That's not what I am. It's what I do... As a result, the way I approach music now is not from the standpoint of being a musician but as a human being. -Herbie Hancock |
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Well, I was specifically referring to some of your early solo studio work like Takin' Off or Maiden Voyage, but I suppose your work on albums like Miles In the Sky would certainly fit within the spectrum of the question.
 Herbie Hancock |
Well then, how do I describe my evolution? I've always had the advantage to work with people who've encouraged me to explore. Donald Byrd was the first person to hire me when I was a local musician in Chicago, and he took me to New York to work with his band. He was the one that opened a lot of doors for me, and helped me make my first album, Takin' Off. He gave me some secrets for methods that helped train me to play some quick tempos. He always encouraged me to write music, and that was kind of a first step for me.
Working with Miles was important. He told us to work outside of the comfort zone. He paid us to explore new territory and to go outside of the areas that we knew and to go into the areas we didn't know. Those kinds of lessons are what I'm trying to carry the spirit of because it's been engrained in me. I like the challenge of trying to find another vision or pathway for self-expression. Consequently, when the idea of "jazz-rock" came around, before they had the word "fusion," the first thing I heard was not Bitches Brew, but Tony Williams ' band, The Tony Williams Lifetime. That was before Miles did Bitches Brew. That was my first encounter with jazz-rock. A few years later, I did my own exploration and ironically it came out of me having a very avant-garde jazz group, which was heavily influenced by the avant-garde direction of the 1960's. My experiences with Miles Davis started off as a fresh way of approaching jazz, but it continued to expand and gravitate towards a more avant-garde direction.
 Herbie Hancock by Weintrob |
Right after that time I started to feel tired of not feeling a connection to the Earth. I needed a complete about-face, so I did the album Head Hunters with synthesizers. I actually had a synthesizer player in my avant-garde group, Mwandishi, towards the end of that period, and he was pretty influential in my interest in synthesizers. So I made The Headhunters group and we made the Head Hunters record, which was a record where I played a Fender Rhodes piano and synthesizers with an electric bass player instead of an acoustic bass player, but, we were still playing jazz. We may have had a funkier kind of beat but as far as the improvisation was concerned it was just as far out as the stuff I did in general. It was a no-holds-bared approach to improvisation, similar to the general approach I took to playing with Miles. Anyways, that continued but I also went back to what we called the V.S.O.P. Band, and did a concert called V.S.O.P. – The Quintet. It was a group made up of members from the Miles Davis Band, and Freddie Hubbard, who I'd worked with on several records in the '60s. And I did some more Headhunters work, and this all evolved into a whole new direction that came from the beginning of the hip-hop generation.
You're talking about your album Future Shock?
Yeah, Future Shock
One thing that struck me was that you were talking about your connection to the Earth. Music is such a spiritual thing; I'm curious how your spiritual connection to Nichiren Buddhism has effected your music.
 Herbie Hancock |
The wonderful thing about Buddhism is that it opens my life up. Music is really about life. It's not about this chord or that chord. If it doesn't have a connection to life then it really can't have any real value or meaning. Practicing Buddhism has brought several revelations to me. One of them - which has been extremely important to my own personal development and consequently my musical development - is the realization that I am not a musician. That's not what I am. It's what I do. What I am is a human being. Being a human being includes me being a musician. It also includes me in being a father, a husband, a neighbor, a citizen and an African-American. All of these relationships have to do with my existence on the planet. Being a musician is just a part of it. As a result, the way I approach music now is not from the standpoint of being a musician but as a human being. It's a much more fundamental foundation from which I create music. I'm so happy that I was able to come to this kind of realization because it's opened up so many doors of creativity in my life that I never dreamed would be possible. People wonder, how is it that I make every record different from every other record? This has been happening ever since 1996 when I did a record called The New Standard. Every other record since then has been completely different from everything else, and it's really due to this realization that came as a result of my practice of Buddhism.
The last thing I'd like to know is for fans of your music who may be reading this article, what would you like for them to know about the future of Herbie Hancock as a musician?
 Herbie Hancock |
First of all, I should tell you that I've just completed a new record that will be released in September. It's called River: The Joni Letters, and it's primarily the music of Joni Mitchell. Basically, half the record is instrumental and half has vocals, but what's new about this record is for the first time, with all of the records I've done in the past, this is the first record where the lyrics are the primary focus. It's the foundation for the record. I've never paid so much attention to lyrics before. I've hardly ever paid attention to the lyrics in my recording in the past. Most of the time they were instrumental records, and even though some of the tunes were written as songs, which had lyrics, I never really paid attention to the lyrics. I just paid attention to the harmonies. This is the first time that I really made the lyrics the core from which the music spreads, and it was a particular challenge for me as an instrumental musician. But, I really felt it was necessary for my own personal growth as an artist and for my cultural growth. As a result, again, it gave me a new viewpoint and a new approach to music, and it's really reflected on the sound of this record. I'm really happy with it.
Herbie Hancock will be on tour starting August in Oyster Bay, NY. Full Herbie Hancock tour dates available HERE.
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