{"id":4516,"date":"2014-10-29T16:10:12","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T16:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.artinfo.com\/blunotes\/?p=4516"},"modified":"2014-10-29T16:10:12","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T16:10:12","slug":"herbie-hancock-talking-possibilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/larryblumenfeld.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/29\/herbie-hancock-talking-possibilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Herbie Hancock Talking Possibilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Here I am, reading a bit from the beginning of Herbie Hancock<\/strong>\u2019s new book, \u201cPossibilities<\/strong><\/a>,\u201d (Viking) written with Lisa Dickey<\/strong>, at the start of our public conversation last night at Barnes & Noble on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side.
\nThe upstairs room, less than a dozen blocks from the apartment Hancock live in decades ago, was overflowing. When the time came to field questions from the audience and Hancock waded into the seats, microphone in hand, the staffers looked concerned: But Herbie was just doing what he does\u2014engaging people, and improvising.
\nI began our talk by reading a bit from his book set in the mid-1960s, when Hancock was a young musician in Miles Davis<\/strong> second great quintet, playing alongside Ron Carter, Wayne Shorter<\/strong> and Tony Williams<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMiles starts playing, building up a solo, and just as he\u2019s about to really let loose, he takes a breath. And right then I play a chord that is just so wrong. I don\u2019t even know where it came from\u2014it\u2019s the wrong chord, in the wrong place, and now it\u2019s hanging out there like a piece of rotten fruit\u2026.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Herbie picked up the anecdote, explaining how Miles considered that note, digested it, and turned is wrong chord into the right catalyst for something better, more musical, distinctly right.\u00a0There\u2019s much in the book about Miles, including the image of the trumpeter as he \u201csaut\u00e9ed dinner for us in a tuxedo\u2014no apron, no nothing.\u201d\u00a0But mostly, Hancock expresses how Miles introduced him to the ideas of taking chances, never looking back and embracing possibilities however they arise.
\nHerbie\u2019s new book traces a musical life that includes his landmark work in Davis\u2019s band and as leader of his own bands, his Grammy and Oscar awards as well as unexpected moments, like \u201cending up in a boat in the Gambia with Miss Piggy and Kermit, playing a portable keyboard as we floated on a river, looking for sounds to sample.\u201d
\nWe discussed his early hit \u201cWatermelon Man,\u201d for which, he said, he reclaimed from caricature the image and sound of beloved character from the Chicago neighborhood of his youth; he also recalled how, acting on trumpeter Donald Byrd\u2019s advice, he claimed up front the publishing rights (which paid off neatly).
\nWe addressed his ongoing battles with himself to \u201covercome my own musical snobbery\u201d: when he moved from classical music to jazz as a child; when Miles first presented him with a Fender Rhodes electric piano to play instead of an acoustic instrument; and when he followed his heart and instincts into funk and hip-hop styles, despite the protests of record-company executives and music critics.
\nThat battle, which rages still within jazz\u2019s ranks, is well known. In his book, Hancock also discusses a private and previously hidden battle decades ago with addiction to crack cocaine.
\nWe ended by examining the Nichiren Buddhist practice, grounded in chanting nam myoho renge kyo<\/em>, that bassist Buster Williams introduced Hancock to some 40 years ago, and that has anchored his life ever since.
\nHancock ended with this admonition: \u201cThe strongest you can be is to be a person who follows your heart.”
\nAnd here<\/a>‘s a 2010 Wall Street Journal piece I did on Hancock that touches on some of the above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here I am, reading a bit from the beginning of Herbie Hancock\u2019s new book, \u201cPossibilities,\u201d (Viking) written with Lisa Dickey, at the start of our public conversation last night at Barnes & Noble on Manhattan\u2019s Upper West Side. The upstairs room, less than a dozen blocks from the apartment Hancock live in decades ago, was … <\/p>\n

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