Herbie Hancock Douglas Kirkland Douglas
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CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS Wednesday, September 21, 2011, 8pm Zellerbach Hall Herbie Hancock Douglas Kirkland Douglas Herbie Hancock piano Vinnie Colaiuta drums James Genus bass Lionel Loueke guitar This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Nadine Tang and Bruce Smith, Joseph and Sherry Felson, and Dayna and John Ziegler, and Corporate Sponsor U.S. Bank. Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. CAL PERFORMANCES 31 ABOUT THE ARTISTS ABOUT THE ARTISTS ERBIE HANCOCK is an icon of modern mu- output inspired and provided samples for gen- Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall, a tribute Hsic. Through his musical explorations, he erations of hip-hop and dance-music artists. to John Coltrane and Miles Davis. has transcended limitations and genres while Mr. Hancock also stayed close to his love of Possibilities, released in August 2005, teamed maintaining his unmistakable voice. With an acoustic jazz in the 1970s, recording and per- Mr. Hancock with many popular artists, such illustrious career spanning five decades and 12 forming with VSOP (reuniting him with his as Sting, Annie Lennox, John Mayer, Christina Grammy Awards, including the 2007 Album of Miles Davis Quintet colleagues) and in duet Aguilera, Paul Simon, Carlos Santana, Joss Stone the Year for River: The Joni Letters, he continues settings with Chick Corea and Oscar Peterson. and Damien Rice. That year, he played a number to amaze audiences. In 1980, Mr. Hancock introduced the trum- of concert dates with a re-staffed Headhunters, There are few musicians who have had peter Wynton Marsalis to the world as a solo art- and became the first Artist in Residence at the a greater influence on jazz and R&B than ist, producing his debut album and touring with Tennessee-based festival, Bonnaroo. Mr. Hancock. As Miles Davis said in his autobi- him as well. In 1983, a new pull to the alternative In 2007, Mr. Hancock recorded and released ography, “Herbie was the step after Bud Powell side led Mr. Hancock to a series of collaborations River: The Joni Letters, a tribute to longtime and Thelonious Monk, and I haven’t heard any- with Bill Laswell. The first, Future Shock, again friend and collaborator Joni Mitchell, featuring body yet who has come after him.” struck platinum, and the single “Rockit” rocked Wayne Shorter, guitarist Lionel Loueke, bassist Born in Chicago in 1940, Mr. Hancock was the dance and R&B charts, winning a Grammy Dave Holland and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta a child piano prodigy who performed a Mozart Award for Best R&B Instrumental. The video of and co-produced by Larry Klein. He enlisted piano concerto with the Chicago Symphony at the track won five MTV awards. Sound System, vocalists Norah Jones, Tina Turner, Corinne age 11. He began playing jazz in high school, the follow-up, also received a Grammy Award in Bailey Rae, Luciana Souza, Leonard Cohen and initially influenced by Oscar Peterson and Bill the R&B instrumental category. Ms. Mitchell herself to perform songs she wrote Evans. He also developed a passion for electron- Mr. Hancock won an Oscar in 1986 for his or was inspired by. The album received glow- ics and science, and double-majored in music score of the film ’Round Midnight, in which he ing reviews and was a year-end top-ten choice and electrical engineering at Grinnell College. also appeared as an actor. Numerous television for many critics. It also garnered three Grammy In 1963, Mr. Davis invited Mr. Hancock to appearances over the years led to two hosting as- Award nominations and two wins for Best join the Miles Davis Quintet. During his five signments in the 1980s: Rock School on PBS and Contemporary Jazz Album and Album of The years with Mr. Davis, Mr. Hancock and his col- Showtime’s Coast to Coast. Year. This marked only the second time in his- leagues Wayne Shorter (tenor saxophone), Ron After an adventurous 1994 project for tory a jazz album has won music’s highest honor Carter (bass) and Tony Williams (drums) re- Mercury Records, Dis Is Da Drum, he moved with the last taking place almost 50 years prior. corded many classic recordings, including ESP, to the Verve label, forming an all-star band to To cap off his illustrious career to date, Verve Nefertiti and Sorcerer. Later on, Mr. Hancock record 1996’s Grammy Award-winning The records released Then and Now: The Definitive made appearances on Mr. Davis’s groundbreak- New Standard. In 1997, an album of duets with Mr. Hancock in 2008. This essential collection ing In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, which her- Wayne Shorter, 1+1, was released. is the first career retrospective of the jazz vision- alded the birth of jazz fusion. The legendary Headhunters reunited in ary’s unparalleled work. Mr. Hancock’s own solo career blossomed 1998, recording an album for Mr. Hancock’s Mr. Hancock also maintains a thriving ca- on Blue Note, on such classic albums as Maiden own Verve-distributed imprint and touring with reer outside the performing stage and record- Voyage, Empyrean Isles and Speak Like a Child. He the Dave Matthews Band. That year also marked ing studio. He is the Creative Chair for Jazz for composed the score to Michelangelo Antonioni’s the recording and release of Gershwin’s World, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association and 1966 filmBlow-Up , which led to a successful ca- which included collaborators Joni Mitchell, serves as Institute Chairman of the Thelonious reer in feature film and television scoring. Stevie Wonder, Kathleen Battle, the Orpheus Monk Institute of Jazz, the foremost interna- After leaving Davis, Mr. Hancock put to- Chamber Orchestra, Wayne Shorter and Chick tional organization devoted to the develop- gether a new band called the Headhunters and, Corea. Gershwin’s World won three Grammy ment of jazz performance and education world- in 1973, recorded Head Hunters. With its cross- Awards in 1999, including Best Traditional Jazz wide. He is also a founder of the International over hit single “Chameleon,” it became the first Album and Best R&B Vocal Performance for Committee of Artists for Peace. jazz album to go platinum. Stevie Wonder’s “St. Louis Blues.” Now in the fifth decade of his professional By mid-decade, Mr. Hancock was playing Mr. Hancock reunited with Mr. Laswell life, Mr. Hancock remains where he has always for stadium-size crowds all over the world and to collaborate with some young hip-hop and been: in the forefront of world culture, technol- had no fewer than four albums in the pop charts techno artists on 2001’s Future2Future. He ogy, business and music. Though one cannot at once. In total, Mr. Hancock had 11 albums also joined with Roy Hargrove and Michael track exactly where he will go next, he is sure to in the pop charts during the 1970s. His 1970s Brecker in 2002 to record a live concert album, leave his inimitable imprint wherever he lands. 32 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 33.