A Victory Lap for Herbie Hancock

The incomparable Herbie Hancock is on a full court press tour celebrating the release of his memoir, Possibilities. The best part this is that Hancock is showing up everywhere from The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon to the Apollo Theater in Harlem. What is more, a new generation is learning about the astounding career of the multi-Grammy winner, Kennedy Award Center Honoree.

Hancock’s career spans bebop, free jazz, soul jazz, to hip hop. He even shows up on fellow electronic artist, Flying Lotus’s new album, You’re Dead! Recently, Hancock sat down with NPR’s Steve Inskeep for an insightful interview about his life and his art.

NPR:

I want to ask about one other thing. You describe a moment on stage of playing with a group and everything’s falling together. And you describe yourself even looking down at your own fingers and they seem to be on their own, doing their own thing, and playing brilliantly. What’s it feel like when you’re in a moment like that?

Herbie Hancock:

It’s kind of hard to describe in words. But it felt like I was watching myself play. I was sort of on automatic, in a sense. Everything that I touched seemed to work. But it wasn’t just me.

It was the Mwandishi band, and we were performing in Chicago at a club called the London House. And it was just a moment where we were all so unified that the energy of the bass player and the drummer and the saxophonist — I felt like they were all, like, in me. “Many in body, one in mind”: That’s a phrase we use in Buddhism. And it was incredible.

NPR:

So if you were to step up on stage tomorrow night, would you be looking to re-create that moment of transcendence from years and years ago?

Herbie Hancock:

No. Because I’m not looking to create anything that I did before. I’m looking to create the moment that I’m actually living in at that moment. And frankly, that’s what jazz really is about.

Enjoy the rest of the interview at NPR.

Herbie Hancock shares the secrets of studio production on Sesame Street

Herbie Hancock speaks on the role of Buddhism in his creative process: