Herbie Hancock

Herbie Hancock

By Kathryn Stokes

Jazz Icon HERBIE HANCOCK Kicks Off His 2024 North American Fall Tour at the Prestigious Broward Center for the Performing Arts.

The air was electric with excitement as the crowd eagerly entered the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts for jazz, funk, fusion, and hip-hop legend, Herbie Hancock. The theater filled to capacity with an eclectic blend of enthusiastic fans of all ages. To my right sat a seasoned jazz singer, in front of her a young jazz pianist, and to my left sat a music teacher and her daughter. We shared introductions and stories of how we all came to be there, building an electric connection of energy and mutual admiration. I’ve been listening to Herbie Hancock since I was 16, when I added his 1973 Head Hunters album to my growing collection—the first jazz album to sell over a million copies! I saw him when he toured with Chick Corea and was blown away. Since then, his music has captivated new generations of progressive jazz fans. Every cell in my body still percolated with excitement, knowing I was about to hear the songs that have become a part of who I am.

By the time Hancock took the stage, the audience was already thanking him. As he took the microphone, he replied, “Well, thank you! You had to buy the tickets.” His laughter and heartwarming smile set the tone for what came next: an explosion of keys, drums, bass, guitar, and trumpet. Swirling together in syncopated beats, side-by-side soundbending tones filled the venue, mesmerizing the crowd with the unfolding experience. It’s one thing to be in the presence of a musical genius, and another to be transported back to a time when life, though not necessarily easier, was more carefree. We need this musical connection now more than ever. Hancock’s career, spanning over 60 years from his early days with the Miles Davis Quintet, celebrates a legacy that continues to inspire us to live deeply and authentically. His music reminds us that our collective joy, grief, and energy are what bring us together.

I read somewhere that in Herbie Hancock’s Master class he encourages students to learn the technique, play the music, and study, study, study. Then he encourages them, as they step on the stage to forget everything and just be who they are. In some ways that is how his music has always made me feel—as though I have been given permission to be exactly who I am. Moving gracefully through each moment on stage, Hancock exudes a calm explosion of musical mastery. Watching him weave his fingers around every note on each instrument is like watching a master electrician find the exact combination of sounds to open pathways to the future, the past, and beyond. The venue swelled with sound as the beats and tones filled the air, an electric energy connecting us all on an unforgettable musical journey. The band, featuring Terence Blanchard on trumpet and keyboards, James Genus on bass, Lionel Loueke on guitar, and 25-year-old Jaylen Petinaud on drums, was equally extraordinary.

Then, suddenly, there it was—the unmistakable 12-note bassline announcing one of my favorite songs: bum bum bum bum bum bum, bum bum bum bum bum bum! Can you hear it? Can you feel how it makes you smile? As I recall the close of the show, watching an 84-year-old Hancock leap a foot in the air with sheer joy and land with the grace of a jaguar, I’m inspired more than ever to live life with that same enthusiasm. All the while, with a beaming smile, The Chameleon is still playing on the cutting edge of music.