Herbie Hancock : une interview
interviewer
and organizer: Takao Ogawa
{ Quartet }
The
hottest item this year is the Herbie Hancock Quartet which is on a large-scale
tour this summer season. The other members besides Herbie Hancock are Wayne
Shorter, Dave Holland and Brian Blade. This ?super quartet? will be performing
at Tokyo Jazz.
?We only had two days of
rehearsal. That was enough. We had a superb combination right from the
beginning, and it was as if the group had been working together for years. We,
of course, know each other well. But this is the first time that the four of us
have come together. There is a fresh feeling, but it is not that we do not know
each other at all. This is a good set up with good chemistry.?
I heard that while Herbie was
driving back to his hotel after the first rehearsal, he was so happy that he
almost cried.
?At that point we had no idea
what kind of music we were going to do. Each member is a so-called master
musician, so I did not want to be giving them any type of instructions. What I
knew was that the music that we were going to do was going to be something that
no one had done before. I am hoping that in this band we can honestly express
what we are feeling at the moment.?
{ Carnegie Hall Concert }
I
saw the quartet in concert at Carnegie Hall in New York on June 25. The quartet
gave a superb performance overflowing with creativity.
?The repertoire that we
perform on stage is pretty much the same. We may change a few songs depending
on how we are feeling, but I think it was the same at Carnegie Hall as it was
at the Playboy Jazz Festival that we played earlier.?
At Carnegie Hall, the concert
began with Bill Cosby as MC giving a simple introduction of the members. The
quartet played an original by Herbie, Wayne and Dave. I was surprised at the
extremely fresh sound that could be found in the combination between Herbie and
Wayne.
?I am happy you said that.
Wayne and I before the rehearsal talked about if there is a method to get the
same type of freedom even with the inclusion of a drummer and bass player.
While the two of us were talking about this and that, I realized that the
important thing is the process. You will not be able to acquire freedom while
you are performing if you are intent on acquiring it. Freedom is something that
is acquired at some point while you are performing. This was the case with
Wayne and me. The reason we can continue to be fresh is that we have played
together on many occasions. That process is important. The teachings of Buddha
say to take two steps back and three steps forward. That is the way it was with
Wayne and me. If you go forward all at once, somewhere you get stuck. More
importantly, we advance to the next step while we examine our own performances.
That is the process. In our case, we keep coming together and separating again.
I think that this has led to the right process.?
{ Program }
Herbie plans to play the
basic repertoire that he performed at Carnegie Hall and other concerts at Tokyo
Jazz.
?The first song will probably
be ?Sonrisa,? a song that I first recorded in Japan more than 20 years ago. An
additional part was later added to the song and it was rerecorded under the
title ?Trust Me.? This time the song has been arranged for a quartet, but we
returned it to its original format, so we changed the title back to ?Sonrisa.?
That being said, the style of the performance is different every time, so I do
not know which the original version is anymore (laughs).?
Herbie and Wayne went into
full throttle and played beautifully from the very first song. For the second
song, the quartet played DaveŽs original, ?Pathways.? The third song, ?V,? is a
number with a sublime sound.
?This song was released on ?1+1,? and there are two versions. I wrote it
together with Wayne, but he restructured it and arranged it for the quartet. So
far this song as well we have played in a different format every night
(laughs).?
Next the quartet performed
?Footprints? written by Wayne. HerbieŽs solo at a double-time tempo was
outstanding. Next was ?Prometheus Unbound,? another original by Wayne. This is
Herbies quartet, but I get the impression that it is a duo with Wayne. This is
because their performances take place on an equal level, and they play a
certain number of WayneŽs songs.
?I think last we performed
?Manhattan Lorelei.? I also co-composed this song with Wayne, and it was on
?1+1.??
The concert ended with this
song, but there was of course a lively standing ovation with calls for an
encore. The quartet returned to the stage and began to play ?Cantaloupe
Island.?
?On some days we play
?Dolphin DanceŽ for the encore. We have also prepared ?Aung San Suu Kyi,?
?Memory of Enchantment,? ?Wood Sylph? and other songs.??
{ Tokyo Jazz }
?I
think the trend of the festival has become clear from the last two times. My
idea is to have jazz as a base and broaden the range to include similar types
of music and invite a variety of artists from all over the world.?
Herbie talked a lot about
Tokyo Jazz, which will be held for the third time this year.
?There is jazz, and there is
hip hop and vocals. There are a wide range of formats ranging from combos to
orchestras. We have provided a variety of music including Latin and African
music as well as funk and fusion, and we would like to continue to introduce
different music in the future.?
Herbie talked about why he
put together the program in this format.
?Various young people around
the world often ask me, ?I have never listened to jazz before, so what kind
should I listen to?? A lot of my fans are not jazz fans. There are a lot of people
like my music because of my ?Rockit? band. Tokyo Jazz is in no small way made
for people like that. It is a festival that you can enjoy even if you are not a
jazz fan. Then when people go out the gate to go home, they have become jazz
fans. That is the kind of festival and the kind of program that I am aiming
for.?
A big feature of Tokyo Jazz
is the Super Unit, a part of the program that Herbie himself is very much
looking forward to.
?This is what makes this
festival complete. It is totally different from a regular jam session. There
are often face-to-face meetings of stars, but generally they play blues or
standards and take their solos one at a time and that is it. With the Tokyo
Jazz Super Unit, however, I listen to the performances on stage and develop an
idea. I decide on where people will be featured: ?This artist goes here and
that artist goes over there.? We then rehearse before we take the stage. We put
choice musicians gathered from around the world in the right places and perform
a music that can be made only with the particular members at that time. It is
extremely creative. I think that this in itself is enough reason to come and
see the festival.?
(Plaza Athenee, Manhattan,
June 28, 2004)