An Evening with Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock
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UMS PRESENTS AN EVENING WITH CHICK COREA AND HERBIE HANCOCK Chick Corea, Piano and Keyboards Herbie Hancock, Piano and Keyboards Thursday Evening, April 16, 2015 at 7:30 Hill Auditorium • Ann Arbor 65th Performances of the 136th Annual Season 21st Annual Jazz Series Photo: Photo: (L-R) Herbie Hancock; photographer: Douglas Kirkland; Chick Corea. 11 UMS PROGRAM Tonight’s program will be announced by the artists from the stage and will be performed without intermission. WINTER 2015 Tonight’s performance is hosted by ArborBike and by Stout Systems. Endowed support from Jazznet Endowment Fund. Media partnership provided by WEMU 89.1 FM and Ann Arbor’s 107one. Mr. Corea appears by arrangement with The Kurland Agency. AN EVENING WITH CHICK COREA AND HERBIE HANCOCK AN EVENING WITH CHICK COREA Mr. Hancock appears by arrangement with Paradigm Talent Agency, New York, NY. 12 BE PRESENT ARTISTS HICK COREA is a DownBeat Hall superstar Bobby McFerrin. Mr. Corea’s of Famer and NEA Jazz Master, as duo partnerships with Gary Burton and C well as the fourth-most nominated Herbie Hancock have endured decades. artist in Grammy Awards history with The latest release from Mr. 63 nods — and 22 wins, in addition to Corea, Trilogy, a live triple-disc set with a number of Latin Grammys. From bassist Christian McBride and drummer straight-ahead to avant-garde, bebop Brian Blade (Concord, 2014) won two to jazz-rock fusion, children’s songs to Grammy Awards this past February. These chamber and symphonic works, Mr. Corea mark his 21st and 22nd Grammy wins. The has touched an astonishing number of album documents this trio interpreting musical bases in his career since playing Mr. Corea’s classic compositions (such with the bands of Miles Davis in the late as “Spain”), plus previously unreleased 1960s and early 1970s. Yet Mr. Corea has pieces by the pianist (“Piano Sonata: The never been more productive than in the Moon”), an array of jazz standards, and 21st century, whether playing acoustic even a prelude by Alexander Scriabin. piano or electric keyboards, leading In 2012, Mr. Corea’s most multiple bands, performing solo, or recent album with vibraphonist Gary collaborating with a who’s who of music. Burton, Hot House (Concord), marked Underscoring this, he has been named the fifth decade of their duo. It earned “Artist of the Year” twice this decade in the pianist two Grammy Awards. Rare WINTER 2015 the DownBeat Readers Poll. Born in 1941 for a jazz musician, Mr. Corea received in Massachusetts, Mr. Corea remains the Richard J. Bogomolny Award from a tireless creative spirit, continually Chamber Music America in 2010, and reinventing himself through his art. As the he broke new ground as a composer New York Times states, he is “a luminary, with The Continents: Concerto for Jazz ebullient and eternally youthful.” Quintet and Chamber Orchestra, released Mr. Corea’s classic albums as a in 2013 by Deutsche Grammophon. leader or co-leader include Now He Sings, For a sold-out international tour, Now He Sobs (with Miroslav Vitous and Mr. Corea reconvened his pioneering Roy Haynes; Blue Note, 1968), Paris jazz-rock fusion band Return to Forever, Concert (with Circle: Anthony Braxton, which he founded in 1972. The core of the Dave Holland, and Barry Altschul; ECM, band — Mr. Corea with original member 1971) and Return to Forever (with Stanley Clarke and veteran Lenny White Return to Forever: Joe Farrell, Stanley — produced a Grammy-winning acoustic Clarke, Airto Moreria, and Flora Purim; album in 2011 with Forever (Concord). ECM, 1972), and Crystal Silence (with In another celebration of kindred spirits, Gary Burton; ECM, 1973). A venturesome Mr. Corea co-led the Five Peace Band with collaborator, Mr. Corea has teamed with guitarist and fellow Miles Davis alum John artists from jazz legend Lionel Hampton McLaughlin. The group won a Grammy to new-generation pianist Stefano Bollani, for Five Peace Band Live (Concord, 2009). from banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck to vocal 13 UMS ERBIE HANCOCK is a to a successful career in feature film and true icon of modern music. television music. H Throughout his explorations, he After leaving Davis, Mr. Hancock has transcended limitations and genres put together a new band called The while maintaining his unmistakable Headhunters and, in 1973, recorded voice. With an illustrious career Head Hunters. With its crossover hit spanning five decades and 14 Grammy single “Chameleon,” it became the first Awards, including “Album of the Year” jazz album to go platinum. By mid- for River: The Joni Letters, he continues decade, he was playing for stadium-sized to amaze audiences across the globe. crowds all over the world and had four There are few artists in the music albums in the pop charts at once. In total, industry who have had more influence he had 11 albums in the pop charts during on acoustic and electronic jazz and R&B the 1970s. His 1970’s output inspired than Mr. Hancock. As Miles Davis said in and provided samples for generations his autobiography, “Herbie was the step of hip-hop and dance music artists. Mr. after Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, Hancock also stayed close to his love and I haven’t heard anybody yet who has of acoustic jazz in the 1970s, recording come after him.” and performing with VSOP (reuniting Born in Chicago in 1940, Mr. him with his Miles Davis colleagues) and Hancock was a child piano prodigy in duet settings with Chick Corea and who performed a Mozart piano Oscar Peterson. concerto with the Chicago Symphony In 1983, a new pull to the alternative Orchestra at age 11. He developed a side led Mr. Hancock to a series of passion for electronics and science, and collaborations with Bill Laswell. The first, double-majored in music and electrical Future Shock, again struck platinum, WINTER 2015 engineering at Grinnell College. and the single, “Rockit,” rocked the dance In 1960, Mr. Hancock was discovered and R&B charts, winning a Grammy for by Detroit trumpeter Donald Byrd. After “Best R&B Instrumental.” The video of two years of session work, he signed with the track won five MTV awards. Blue Note as a solo artist. His 1963 debut Mr. Hancock won an Oscar in 1986 album, Takin’ Off, was an immediate for scoring the film Round Midnight, in success, producing the hit “Watermelon which he also appeared as an actor. Man.” In 1963, Miles Davis invited Mr. In 2007, Mr. Hancock recorded and Hancock to join the Miles Davis Quintet. released River: The Joni Letters, a tribute During his five years with Davis, Mr. to longtime friend and collaborator Joni Hancock and his colleagues Wayne Mitchell. The album received glowing Shorter (tenor sax), Ron Carter (bass), and reviews and was a year-end Top 10 choice Tony Williams (drums) recorded many for many critics. It also garnered three classic albums, including ESP, Nefertiti, Grammy Awards, including “Album of and Sorcerer. Later on, he appeared on the Year.” Mr. Hancock is one of only a Davis’ groundbreaking In a Silent Way. handful of jazz musicians ever to receive Mr. Hancock’s own solo career that honor. blossomed on Blue Note, with classic In 2010 Mr. Hancock released albums including Maiden Voyage, Herbie Hancock’s The Imagine Project, Empyrean Isles, and Speak Like a Child. winner of two 2011 Grammy Awards AN EVENING WITH CHICK COREA AND HERBIE HANCOCK AN EVENING WITH CHICK COREA He composed the score to Michelangelo for “Best Pop Collaboration” and “Best Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow Up, which led Improvised Jazz Solo.” 14 BE PRESENT Mr. Hancock also maintains a Prime Minister. thriving career outside the performing Mr. Hancock was designated a stage and recording studio. Recently UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in named Creative Chair for Jazz by the 2011. In 2013, he was the recipient of Los Angeles Philharmonic, he currently a prestigious Kennedy Center Honor, also serves as Institute Chairman of the and in 2014 he was named the 2014 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, the Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard foremost international organization University, recently completing his devoted to the development of jazz lectures series, The Ethics of Jazz, as performance and education worldwide. part of the Charles Eliot Norton Lecture Mr. Hancock is also a founder of The Series for a period of six weeks. His International Committee of Artists for memoirs, Herbie Hancock: Possibilities, Peace and was awarded Commandeur will be published by Viking in the Fall. des Arts et des Lettres by the French WINTER 2015 Scan for Ann Arbor history! Did you know that the U-M student group Eclipse Jazz presented Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea in concert to a sold-out Hill Auditorium in 1978? Download a free QR code reader app on your smart phone, point your camera at the code, and scan to see multimedia content; or visit www.umslobby.org to find these stories. UMS ARCHIVES This evening’s concert marks Chick Corea’s fourth and Herbie Hancock’s third appearances under UMS auspices. Mr. Corea made his UMS debut with his Quartet (featuring Bob Berg, John Patitucci, and Gary Novak) in October 1994 at the Power Center. He most recently appeared under UMS auspices in April 2009 with Five Peace Band, co-led by guitarist John McLaughlin, at Hill Auditorium. Mr. Hancock made his UMS debut in a duet concert with fellow Miles Davis alum and saxophonist Wayne Shorter in November 2000 at the Michigan Theater. He returned to Ann Arbor with his Quartet (featuring Gary Thomas, Scott Colley, and Terri Lyne Carrington) in November 2002 at the Michigan Theater.