WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799 Welcome to the Deep Dive, where we take the complexity 00:00:02.799 --> 00:00:05.860 of a massive multi -decade career and try to 00:00:05.860 --> 00:00:09.179 boil it down to the essential, fascinating, and 00:00:09.179 --> 00:00:13.099 sometimes... wildly unexpected takeaways. And 00:00:13.099 --> 00:00:15.580 today we are immersing ourselves in the life 00:00:15.580 --> 00:00:18.640 and sound of a musician, a composer, a band leader 00:00:18.640 --> 00:00:22.739 who didn't just define modern jazz. He then sort 00:00:22.739 --> 00:00:25.640 of casually redefined funk, electro and hip hop 00:00:25.640 --> 00:00:27.699 right after. We are, of course, talking about 00:00:27.699 --> 00:00:30.339 Herbert Jeffrey Hancock, born April 12th, 1940. 00:00:30.679 --> 00:00:32.759 And if you need, you know, just a quick metric 00:00:32.759 --> 00:00:34.579 to understand the sheer weight of his talent, 00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:37.579 look no further than a 2024 ranking from the 00:00:37.579 --> 00:00:39.820 Daily Telegraph. I saw this one. They named him 00:00:39.820 --> 00:00:42.049 flat out. the greatest keyboard player of all 00:00:42.049 --> 00:00:44.350 time. Of all time. That's pretty high bar. It 00:00:44.350 --> 00:00:46.229 is. And that's the kind of legacy of continuous 00:00:46.229 --> 00:00:48.350 innovation we're tasked with unpacking today. 00:00:48.570 --> 00:00:50.869 So that's our mission for this deep dive. We're 00:00:50.869 --> 00:00:53.369 going to trace that almost unbelievable arc from 00:00:53.369 --> 00:00:56.149 a classical prodigy to a post -bop architect 00:00:56.149 --> 00:00:59.450 in, I mean, the most famous jazz quintet of the 00:00:59.450 --> 00:01:02.280 20th century. And then all the way through to 00:01:02.280 --> 00:01:04.280 him just blowing up the whole concept of jazz 00:01:04.280 --> 00:01:07.480 by embracing synthesizers and, you know, crossing 00:01:07.480 --> 00:01:10.219 over to the global pop charts. It's really about 00:01:10.219 --> 00:01:12.659 his philosophy, this constant restless drive. 00:01:13.290 --> 00:01:16.109 And how that mind, which was equally good at 00:01:16.109 --> 00:01:18.870 engineering and improvisation, just continuously 00:01:18.870 --> 00:01:21.510 redefined what a keyboard could even do in modern 00:01:21.510 --> 00:01:23.670 music. Right. Whether it was an acoustic piano 00:01:23.670 --> 00:01:26.469 or a wall of synthesizers. And we'll definitely 00:01:26.469 --> 00:01:28.549 be hitting some of those foundational compositions. 00:01:28.989 --> 00:01:30.950 I mean, they're basically part of the language 00:01:30.950 --> 00:01:33.530 of jazz now. Standards like cantaloupe island, 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:37.069 watermelon man, maiden voyage. And of course. 00:01:37.609 --> 00:01:40.670 These aren't just songs. They're more like architectural 00:01:40.670 --> 00:01:43.890 blueprints for entire genres. Okay, so let's 00:01:43.890 --> 00:01:47.269 unpack the foundation of this genius. Hancock 00:01:47.269 --> 00:01:50.409 was born in Chicago, Illinois. His parents, Winnie 00:01:50.409 --> 00:01:53.049 Bell, a secretary, and Wayman Edward Hancock, 00:01:53.209 --> 00:01:55.790 a meat inspector. They named him after the singer 00:01:55.790 --> 00:01:58.629 and actor Herb Jeffries. But the critical starting 00:01:58.629 --> 00:02:00.310 point, the thing that really informs everything 00:02:00.310 --> 00:02:02.670 else, is the classical training. Right from the 00:02:02.670 --> 00:02:04.859 very beginning. Absolutely. Like a lot of the 00:02:04.859 --> 00:02:07.620 great jazz pianists of his generation, thinking 00:02:07.620 --> 00:02:10.139 of giants like Keith Jarrett or Chick Corea, 00:02:10.139 --> 00:02:12.819 he started young, classical piano lessons at 00:02:12.819 --> 00:02:15.819 age seven. But the label Child Prodigy for Hancock, 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:19.699 it wasn't just hype. No, not at all. He had the 00:02:19.699 --> 00:02:21.879 documentation, you know, to prove it. At the 00:02:21.879 --> 00:02:25.680 incredible age of 11 on February 5, 1952, he 00:02:25.680 --> 00:02:27.500 wasn't just playing in a little recital. No, 00:02:27.560 --> 00:02:29.620 this is the big leagues. He performed the first 00:02:29.620 --> 00:02:32.560 movement of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 26 in 00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:36.259 D major, K5 -Z7, the famous Coronation Concerto. 00:02:36.439 --> 00:02:38.419 With the Chicago Symphony Orchestra? With the 00:02:38.419 --> 00:02:41.259 CSO. I mean, that is an enormous stage for a 00:02:41.259 --> 00:02:43.740 preteen. It requires not just the technique, 00:02:43.879 --> 00:02:46.979 but a really profound understanding of classical 00:02:46.979 --> 00:02:50.099 structure. And that experience, that really instills 00:02:50.099 --> 00:02:52.620 in him this... foundational understanding of 00:02:52.620 --> 00:02:55.360 musical architecture, precision, which he would 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:58.900 later just apply to the fluidity of jazz. But 00:02:58.900 --> 00:03:01.080 the academic side gives us an equally important 00:03:01.080 --> 00:03:03.620 clue to his later mastery of electronics. He 00:03:03.620 --> 00:03:05.300 went to Hyde Park High School and then graduated 00:03:05.300 --> 00:03:08.020 from Grinnell College in 1960. And this is the 00:03:08.020 --> 00:03:10.180 part that always gets me. He walks out of college 00:03:10.180 --> 00:03:12.759 not just with a music degree. Right. But with 00:03:12.759 --> 00:03:15.280 degrees in both music and electrical engineering. 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:17.139 Electrical engineering. And this is not just 00:03:17.139 --> 00:03:19.620 a footnote. No, we cannot stress this enough. 00:03:20.009 --> 00:03:22.550 That engineering background seems to inform his 00:03:22.550 --> 00:03:25.030 fascination, his quick adoption, and then his 00:03:25.030 --> 00:03:28.030 eventual mastery of electronic instruments decades 00:03:28.030 --> 00:03:29.889 down the line. It's the perfect combination. 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:31.949 It really is. You have the structure of circuits 00:03:31.949 --> 00:03:34.509 on one hand and the fluidity of sound waves on 00:03:34.509 --> 00:03:36.849 the other. It creates a mind that sees music 00:03:36.849 --> 00:03:39.349 not just as notes, but as systems, as patterns, 00:03:39.509 --> 00:03:43.629 as programmable sonic colors. A mind that understands 00:03:43.629 --> 00:03:46.810 how things work. and therefore how they can be 00:03:46.810 --> 00:03:49.210 broken and rebuilt. Exactly. And just to put 00:03:49.210 --> 00:03:51.490 a physical stamp on that engineering mind early 00:03:51.490 --> 00:03:54.689 on, we should probably mention the car. Ah, yes. 00:03:55.150 --> 00:03:59.870 Yeah. The famous 1963 AC Shelby Cobra. Precisely. 00:03:59.870 --> 00:04:02.110 So this kid who just graduated with an engineering 00:04:02.110 --> 00:04:05.810 degree moves to New York and in 1963 buys a brand 00:04:05.810 --> 00:04:09.729 new Shelby Cobra for $6 ,000. It's serial number 00:04:09.729 --> 00:04:14.159 CSX 2006, the sixth Cobra ever produced. The 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:16.560 sixth one. And the fact that he still owns it 00:04:16.560 --> 00:04:18.199 today, which makes him the longest continuous 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:21.139 owner of a Cobra, that says so much about the 00:04:21.139 --> 00:04:24.360 value he places on mechanism, history, and perfection. 00:04:24.759 --> 00:04:27.180 It's like a physical manifestation of the structure 00:04:27.180 --> 00:04:29.339 and precision that defines his classical and 00:04:29.339 --> 00:04:31.180 his engineering roots. Totally. A phenomenal 00:04:31.180 --> 00:04:33.790 detail. But during those college years, you know, 00:04:33.790 --> 00:04:35.670 he didn't have a formal jazz teacher. He was 00:04:35.670 --> 00:04:37.769 self -taught, just absorbing everything by ear. 00:04:38.029 --> 00:04:40.149 And that reliance on the ear over formal instruction, 00:04:40.370 --> 00:04:42.490 that's so crucial. For sure. He was just soaking 00:04:42.490 --> 00:04:44.970 in the giants, the aggressive rhythms of hard 00:04:44.970 --> 00:04:48.670 bop from Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the coolness 00:04:48.670 --> 00:04:51.730 of Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool, and, of course, 00:04:51.750 --> 00:04:54.470 the intricate piano playing of Bill Evans, George 00:04:54.470 --> 00:04:58.089 Shearing, Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson. It was 00:04:58.089 --> 00:05:02.500 a rigorous, self -curated education. harmonic 00:05:02.500 --> 00:05:06.800 aha moment the one that unlocked his signature 00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:09.759 harmonic sound it came from a place completely 00:05:09.759 --> 00:05:12.160 outside of the jazz world absolutely the turning 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:14.279 point wasn't a horn player it wasn't a famous 00:05:14.279 --> 00:05:16.600 jazz pianist it was this highly sophisticated 00:05:16.600 --> 00:05:19.740 vocal group the high lows and their arranger 00:05:19.740 --> 00:05:22.680 Claire Fisher that's amazing why the high lows 00:05:22.680 --> 00:05:25.629 specifically What was he hearing there that he 00:05:25.629 --> 00:05:28.110 wasn't getting from, say, Bill Evans? He was 00:05:28.110 --> 00:05:31.129 hearing density and ambiguity. Fisher's arrangements 00:05:31.129 --> 00:05:34.430 used what Hancock called much farther out voicings. 00:05:34.430 --> 00:05:37.670 Farther out voicings. OK, so. What does that 00:05:37.670 --> 00:05:40.470 actually mean for a pianist? Well, in jazz terms, 00:05:40.689 --> 00:05:43.829 it means moving beyond the simple, you know, 00:05:43.829 --> 00:05:46.550 the root, third, fifth structures. The basics. 00:05:46.850 --> 00:05:49.250 Exactly, the basics. He started using things 00:05:49.250 --> 00:05:52.269 like chordal harmonies chords built on intervals 00:05:52.269 --> 00:05:55.689 of fourths, or these really complex, often rootless 00:05:55.689 --> 00:05:58.529 voicings that just sort of float above the underlying 00:05:58.529 --> 00:06:00.589 harmony. So he heard that in their vocal arrangements. 00:06:00.930 --> 00:06:03.370 Right. The Heilers used these tight, complex 00:06:03.370 --> 00:06:06.410 vocal cluster chords, and Hancock realized... 00:06:06.439 --> 00:06:08.579 he could translate that dense, shimmering quality 00:06:08.579 --> 00:06:10.980 to the piano. That's the signature sound you 00:06:10.980 --> 00:06:13.220 hear on albums like Speak Like a Child. It gave 00:06:13.220 --> 00:06:15.240 his music this sophisticated, almost cinematic 00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:17.439 quality that was pretty rare in hard bop at the 00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:19.600 time. That's a powerful insight. It really confirms 00:06:19.600 --> 00:06:21.319 he was always a synthesis, right? Taking these 00:06:21.319 --> 00:06:23.920 disparate parts, classical structure, vocal harmony, 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.319 engineering, and just integrating them into his 00:06:26.319 --> 00:06:28.800 own unique thing. And he did try some formal 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:31.660 composition study briefly with Vittorio Giannini 00:06:31.660 --> 00:06:34.660 in New York in 1960. But it was brief. Very brief. 00:06:34.740 --> 00:06:37.600 And he also cited the relatively unknown Chicago 00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:41.680 pianist Chris Anderson as his harmonic guru just 00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:45.259 after hearing him play once in 1960. Wow. It 00:06:45.259 --> 00:06:47.500 just shows that his ear was so refined he could 00:06:47.500 --> 00:06:50.680 absorb this profound career changing insight 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:53.399 from a single session. So all of this grounding 00:06:53.399 --> 00:06:56.939 leads directly to his professional debut. He 00:06:56.939 --> 00:06:59.300 moves back to Chicago after college, works with 00:06:59.300 --> 00:07:01.620 some huge figures like Donald Byrd and Coleman 00:07:01.620 --> 00:07:04.139 Hawkins. Yeah. And then he lands his first major 00:07:04.139 --> 00:07:06.540 record deal. That was the album taken off for 00:07:06.540 --> 00:07:09.259 Blue Note Records in 1962, a really confident 00:07:09.259 --> 00:07:12.100 swinging debut. But the key track on there was 00:07:12.100 --> 00:07:14.600 his composition Watermelon Man. A monster hit. 00:07:14.699 --> 00:07:17.019 Huge success. It crossed into the pop landscape 00:07:17.019 --> 00:07:18.899 when it became a hit single for the Latin jazz 00:07:18.899 --> 00:07:21.860 conga player Mongo Santa Maria. But the truly 00:07:21.860 --> 00:07:24.339 critical moment wasn't the hit single itself. 00:07:24.970 --> 00:07:27.649 It wasn't the commercial success. It was the 00:07:27.649 --> 00:07:30.829 listener it attracted. Exactly. Taken off and 00:07:30.829 --> 00:07:32.970 the melodic strength of Watermelon Man caught 00:07:32.970 --> 00:07:35.350 the attention of Miles Davis. Who at that very 00:07:35.350 --> 00:07:38.189 moment was in the process of dismantling his 00:07:38.189 --> 00:07:40.889 existing band and putting together what would 00:07:40.889 --> 00:07:44.310 become the second great quintet. It was a direct 00:07:44.310 --> 00:07:47.079 consequence of that early mastery. The success 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:49.180 of that debut track didn't just get him attention. 00:07:49.480 --> 00:07:52.800 It got him the most coveted job in jazz, a job 00:07:52.800 --> 00:07:54.500 that would fundamentally change the course of 00:07:54.500 --> 00:07:57.540 jazz history and his own artistic direction forever. 00:07:57.899 --> 00:08:00.699 OK, so as we move into part two, we're in 1963. 00:08:01.540 --> 00:08:04.279 This is a pivot point not just for Hancock, but 00:08:04.279 --> 00:08:06.980 really for the entire progression of jazz. Miles 00:08:06.980 --> 00:08:09.819 Davis seeks him out in May of 63, recognizing 00:08:09.819 --> 00:08:11.860 him as one of the most promising talents. And 00:08:11.860 --> 00:08:13.740 maybe one of the only pianists willing to break 00:08:13.740 --> 00:08:16.000 the rules Miles wanted to break. And what Miles 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:18.120 put together was, by all accounts, one of the 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:19.819 greatest rhythm sections in the history of the 00:08:19.819 --> 00:08:21.980 music. No question. It was Hancock on piano, 00:08:22.240 --> 00:08:25.000 Ron Carter on bass, and a 17 -year -old Tony 00:08:25.000 --> 00:08:28.860 Williams on drums. Just incredible. And when 00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:31.279 Wayne Shorter joined on tenor saxophone, the 00:08:31.279 --> 00:08:33.659 second great quintet was fully formed. They were 00:08:33.659 --> 00:08:35.840 just a great band, though. They fundamentally 00:08:35.840 --> 00:08:38.500 changed the language of the music. The sources 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:41.740 all confirmed this rhythm section. Hancock, Carter, 00:08:41.960 --> 00:08:44.840 and Williams were the primary architects of the 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:46.899 post -bop sound. And this is where we need to 00:08:46.899 --> 00:08:49.139 slow down and really define what post -bop even 00:08:49.139 --> 00:08:52.820 means. Hard bop, the style Miles had previously 00:08:52.820 --> 00:08:55.929 mastered. It relied on these defined chord changes 00:08:55.929 --> 00:08:59.190 and a steady swing. Right. Post -bop, which this 00:08:59.190 --> 00:09:01.870 quintet pioneered, was characterized by radical 00:09:01.870 --> 00:09:04.809 freedom. They moved away from fixed, predetermined 00:09:04.809 --> 00:09:07.330 chord sequences. They were using modal structures 00:09:07.330 --> 00:09:10.470 and they embraced rhythmic displacement. Rhythmic 00:09:10.470 --> 00:09:12.409 displacement. That's the key interaction, isn't 00:09:12.409 --> 00:09:14.649 it? It's everything. Tony Williams, despite his 00:09:14.649 --> 00:09:17.090 age, was a revolutionary. He wasn't just keeping 00:09:17.090 --> 00:09:19.490 time. He was actively breaking it up, constantly 00:09:19.490 --> 00:09:21.669 providing rhythmic commentary. And Rainn Carter. 00:09:22.110 --> 00:09:24.909 His bass lines became melodic and mobile, not 00:09:24.909 --> 00:09:27.649 just playing the root notes for support. And 00:09:27.649 --> 00:09:30.269 Hancock sat right in the middle, using that harmonic 00:09:30.269 --> 00:09:33.830 ambiguity, those Claire Fisher voicings, to allow 00:09:33.830 --> 00:09:37.480 the music to just shift direction suddenly. So 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:40.000 the whole rhythm section was acting like three 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:43.259 independent but hyper -aware voices. Exactly. 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:45.840 Constantly reacting, constantly challenging each 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.620 other. It created a sound that was fluid and 00:09:48.620 --> 00:09:51.320 interactive rather than structured and repetitive. 00:09:51.720 --> 00:09:54.139 That concept of constant interaction must have 00:09:54.139 --> 00:09:57.159 been, I mean... Exhausting, but also incredibly 00:09:57.159 --> 00:10:00.159 fertile for Hancock's compositional mind. Immensely 00:10:00.159 --> 00:10:03.220 fertile. His style under Miles evolved so rapidly, 00:10:03.480 --> 00:10:06.320 he moved away from that busy block chord style 00:10:06.320 --> 00:10:09.419 of bop piano and developed a more spacious, reflective 00:10:09.419 --> 00:10:11.659 approach. Leaving more room for Miles and Shorter. 00:10:11.779 --> 00:10:14.240 Exactly. He learned the value of silence for 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.299 Miles when not to play, which made his contributions 00:10:16.299 --> 00:10:19.129 that much more impactful. And while he's redefining 00:10:19.129 --> 00:10:21.289 the rhythm section on the road with Miles, he's 00:10:21.289 --> 00:10:23.470 simultaneously having this tremendously prolific 00:10:23.470 --> 00:10:26.029 career under his own name at Blue Note. Oh, he 00:10:26.029 --> 00:10:28.590 was recording constantly, both as a leader and 00:10:28.590 --> 00:10:31.750 a sideman, producing albums that really cemented 00:10:31.750 --> 00:10:34.210 his status as a major composer. His Blue Note 00:10:34.210 --> 00:10:37.090 output during this period is just... Yeah. It 00:10:37.090 --> 00:10:39.490 really is. Albums like My Point of View in 63, 00:10:39.809 --> 00:10:42.350 Speak Like a Child in 68, The Prisoner in 69. 00:10:42.529 --> 00:10:45.710 They're all essential. But the absolute compositional 00:10:45.710 --> 00:10:48.529 peak of this era and maybe his entire acoustic 00:10:48.529 --> 00:10:52.429 career is Maiden Voyage from 1965. Maiden Voyage 00:10:52.429 --> 00:10:55.049 is iconic. But how does that album specifically 00:10:55.049 --> 00:10:58.230 reflect the synthesis of his background? You 00:10:58.230 --> 00:11:00.610 know, the engineer meeting the improviser. It's 00:11:00.610 --> 00:11:02.610 the perfect demonstration of controlled structure 00:11:02.610 --> 00:11:05.919 leading to limitless freedom. Maiden Voyage is 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:08.639 a modal jazz piece built around four chords that 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.519 cycle very slowly. So it's sparse. Very sparse. 00:11:11.580 --> 00:11:14.019 It's built primarily on those chordal harmonies 00:11:14.019 --> 00:11:16.200 chords built in fourths, sounding open and cool, 00:11:16.259 --> 00:11:18.320 far from the dense chord changes of traditional 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:21.519 jazz. So this sparse, structured framework, that's 00:11:21.519 --> 00:11:23.539 the engineer side, it creates this incredible 00:11:23.539 --> 00:11:26.419 sense of space. It's just the vast ocean the 00:11:26.419 --> 00:11:29.279 album's concept invokes. And then the improvisers, 00:11:29.299 --> 00:11:31.740 the jazz side, they use that simple, profound 00:11:31.740 --> 00:11:34.960 structure to just... build these expansive emotional 00:11:34.960 --> 00:11:38.820 landscapes exactly it's elegant deceptively simple 00:11:38.820 --> 00:11:41.980 and deeply profound it became one of the most 00:11:41.980 --> 00:11:44.580 played standards in jazz history for a reason 00:11:44.580 --> 00:11:46.600 and he wasn't just limiting himself to the core 00:11:46.600 --> 00:11:49.100 quintet either he was the keyboardist of choice 00:11:49.100 --> 00:11:51.519 for pretty much Everyone coming through Blue 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:54.740 Note. He was everywhere. Grant Green, Eric Dolphy, 00:11:54.840 --> 00:11:57.059 Wayne Shorter on his solo work, Freddie Hubbard. 00:11:57.139 --> 00:12:00.539 I mean, if you were in New York's mid -60s jazz 00:12:00.539 --> 00:12:02.600 scene, you were playing with Herbie Hancock. 00:12:02.759 --> 00:12:05.120 And he got experimental on his own records, too, 00:12:05.200 --> 00:12:07.120 pushing the boundaries of what even Blue Note 00:12:07.120 --> 00:12:09.629 would accept. For sure. Take Inventions and Dimensions 00:12:09.629 --> 00:12:12.529 from 1963. It was an album of almost entirely 00:12:12.529 --> 00:12:15.590 improvised music. Wow. Just him, Paul Chambers 00:12:15.590 --> 00:12:18.769 on bass, and two Latin percussionists. This willingness 00:12:18.769 --> 00:12:21.429 to explore unstructured spur -of -the -moment 00:12:21.429 --> 00:12:23.649 composition was always simmering under the surface, 00:12:23.889 --> 00:12:26.330 a kind of counterpoint to his precise classical 00:12:26.330 --> 00:12:28.710 training. Speaking of structured exploration, 00:12:29.190 --> 00:12:31.370 this is also the period where he started to venture 00:12:31.370 --> 00:12:34.190 into film and commercial music. Right. Bridging 00:12:34.190 --> 00:12:36.950 that gap between sophisticated jazz and commercial 00:12:36.950 --> 00:12:39.690 appeal, which might surprise some people, he 00:12:39.690 --> 00:12:42.389 composed the score for Michelangelo Antonioni's 00:12:42.389 --> 00:12:45.850 seminal 1966 film Blow Up. That was his very 00:12:45.850 --> 00:12:48.889 first feature film soundtrack. It was, but he 00:12:48.889 --> 00:12:51.769 also used his precise musical skill to write 00:12:51.769 --> 00:12:54.269 catchy themes for TV commercials. The things 00:12:54.269 --> 00:12:56.110 you would never associate with a jazz genius. 00:12:56.389 --> 00:12:59.379 Right. Pillsbury Space Food Sticks, Standard 00:12:59.379 --> 00:13:03.340 Oil, Tab Diet Cola, and even Virginia Slims and 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:05.899 Silverthins cigarettes. And this commercial work 00:13:05.899 --> 00:13:08.460 often led to these great insider music anecdotes. 00:13:08.659 --> 00:13:10.960 Tell us the Sylva Thins story because it really 00:13:10.960 --> 00:13:13.299 highlights his adaptability. It's a classic case 00:13:13.299 --> 00:13:15.759 of artistic repurposing. So he wrote this cool 00:13:15.759 --> 00:13:18.860 spy type theme for a series of Sylva Thins commercials 00:13:18.860 --> 00:13:22.200 in 1967. Okay. He genuinely liked the melody 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:24.039 and the harmony so much that he wanted to record 00:13:24.039 --> 00:13:26.980 it as a proper song for an album. But the ad 00:13:26.980 --> 00:13:29.279 agency held the rights to the original arrangement 00:13:29.279 --> 00:13:31.820 and wouldn't let him record it verbatim for commercial 00:13:31.820 --> 00:13:35.980 release. So what did the engineers like? He basically 00:13:35.980 --> 00:13:39.340 self -sampled and rearranged it. he kept the 00:13:39.340 --> 00:13:42.600 core harmonic idea but he significantly rewrote 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:45.759 the piece he changed the harmony the tempo the 00:13:45.759 --> 00:13:49.080 tone and released it as the track he who lives 00:13:49.080 --> 00:13:53.600 in fear on his 1969 album the prisoner that's 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:56.379 incredible it's a remarkable example of adapting 00:13:56.379 --> 00:13:59.700 and reusing complex material and similarly the 00:13:59.700 --> 00:14:02.539 sublime maiden voyage that beautiful tranquil 00:14:02.539 --> 00:14:04.899 standard don't tell me it actually originated 00:14:04.899 --> 00:14:08.159 as a theme for a cologne advertisement he Proved 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:10.580 that genius can be applied to any brief. That 00:14:10.580 --> 00:14:12.639 commercial work just proves he was already bridging 00:14:12.639 --> 00:14:14.659 that gap between sophisticated jazz composition 00:14:14.659 --> 00:14:17.299 and commercial hooks way before he became a pop 00:14:17.299 --> 00:14:19.860 star. For sure. But the biggest structural change 00:14:19.860 --> 00:14:22.620 came right as he was leaving Miles Davis. The 00:14:22.620 --> 00:14:25.259 electric shift. Yes. The transition to electric 00:14:25.259 --> 00:14:28.039 keyboards was forced on him, but it was utterly 00:14:28.039 --> 00:14:30.399 pivotal. Towards the end of his time with Miles, 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:32.659 Davis was pushing the band towards rock and popular 00:14:32.659 --> 00:14:35.000 music elements, a move that would culminate in 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:38.250 Bitches Brew in 1970. And Hancock, coming from 00:14:38.250 --> 00:14:39.889 that acoustic tradition, was initially pretty 00:14:39.889 --> 00:14:42.389 reluctant to play electric piano. But Miles insisted, 00:14:42.610 --> 00:14:45.549 right? He did. Miles convinced Hancock to start 00:14:45.549 --> 00:14:47.889 doubling on electric keyboards, most notably 00:14:47.889 --> 00:14:50.830 the Fender Rhodes electric piano. Which is a 00:14:50.830 --> 00:14:52.490 completely different sound. A totally different 00:14:52.490 --> 00:14:55.190 beast. The Rhodes doesn't have that bell -like 00:14:55.190 --> 00:14:57.590 clarity or dynamic range of an acoustic piano. 00:14:58.049 --> 00:15:01.830 It has this metallic, sustained, slightly gritty 00:15:01.830 --> 00:15:05.309 tone. And that change from the organic sound 00:15:05.309 --> 00:15:08.750 of wood and felt hammers to the sustained, electrified 00:15:08.750 --> 00:15:11.870 tone of tines and pickups, it fundamentally shaped 00:15:11.870 --> 00:15:14.879 the second half of his career. So many jazz purists 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:17.720 felt that the electric keyboard diminished the 00:15:17.720 --> 00:15:19.940 acoustic purity of the music. I mean, that led 00:15:19.940 --> 00:15:23.019 to huge riffs in the jazz world. Did Hancock 00:15:23.019 --> 00:15:25.019 ever talk about that controversy, about Miles 00:15:25.019 --> 00:15:27.740 forcing that shift? He certainly did. He saw 00:15:27.740 --> 00:15:31.000 it initially as an unwelcome intrusion. But later, 00:15:31.179 --> 00:15:33.820 in retrospect, he recognized that Miles was forcing 00:15:33.820 --> 00:15:36.960 him and the entire genre to confront modern technology 00:15:36.960 --> 00:15:39.500 and popular culture. A push he desperately needed. 00:15:39.679 --> 00:15:41.980 Exactly. And he adapted quickly, recognizing 00:15:41.980 --> 00:15:44.139 the possibilities for new textures and sounds 00:15:44.139 --> 00:15:45.879 that the acoustic instrument just couldn't provide. 00:15:46.159 --> 00:15:48.059 And then he formed his own sextet in the summer 00:15:48.059 --> 00:15:50.440 of 68 after being dismissed from Davis's band. 00:15:50.759 --> 00:15:52.820 Yeah, for returning late from his honeymoon in 00:15:52.820 --> 00:15:55.820 Brazil. He was late, Miles was strict, and that 00:15:55.820 --> 00:15:58.299 was that. But even after he was officially fired, 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:01.480 His influence was so crucial that he continued 00:16:01.480 --> 00:16:03.879 to appear on subsequent groundbreaking Davis 00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:07.460 records like In a Silent Way and On the Corner 00:16:07.460 --> 00:16:10.279 for a few more years. The connection wasn't totally 00:16:10.279 --> 00:16:12.639 severed, but the baton had definitely been passed. 00:16:12.940 --> 00:16:15.919 So moving into the 1970s, Hancock's electronic 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:19.000 exploration just accelerates rapidly. This is 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:21.200 driven by the freedom he got after leaving Blue 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:24.139 Note in 1969 and signing with Warner Bros. And 00:16:24.139 --> 00:16:27.080 his first ever was surprisingly R &B inflected. 00:16:27.340 --> 00:16:29.379 He composed the soundtrack for that Bill Cosby 00:16:29.379 --> 00:16:31.440 animated special, Hey Hey Hey, It's Fat Albert. 00:16:31.620 --> 00:16:33.820 Right, with the music included on the album Fat 00:16:33.820 --> 00:16:36.639 Albert Rotunda, it had a strong R &B and jazz 00:16:36.639 --> 00:16:39.379 flavor moving closer to the popular groove. But 00:16:39.379 --> 00:16:42.299 then came the deep, abstract dive into pure electronic 00:16:42.299 --> 00:16:45.399 exploration, heavily influenced by Miles Davis' 00:16:45.639 --> 00:16:47.940 Bitches Brew and this emerging world of modular 00:16:47.940 --> 00:16:50.840 synthesis. This led to his most abstract and 00:16:50.840 --> 00:16:53.639 technically demanding phase, the Mondishi era. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:56.320 Absolutely. This is where the engineering and 00:16:56.320 --> 00:16:59.720 musical minds just collide dramatically. He became 00:16:59.720 --> 00:17:01.899 obsessed with electronic musical instruments. 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:04.059 And the Wandishi period, running roughly from 00:17:04.059 --> 00:17:08.119 71 to 73, was based around this incredible sextet 00:17:08.119 --> 00:17:10.880 or septet. It was a monster band. Buster Williams, 00:17:11.220 --> 00:17:13.519 Billy Hart, Eddie Henderson, Julian Priester, 00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:16.059 and Benny Maupin. And critically, they brought 00:17:16.059 --> 00:17:19.200 in Patrick Gleason specifically to handle the 00:17:19.200 --> 00:17:22.000 complex, state -of -the -art synthesizers. The 00:17:22.000 --> 00:17:24.519 name itself, Wandishi. is a statement of intent 00:17:24.519 --> 00:17:27.420 right it's swahili for writer it implies creation 00:17:28.329 --> 00:17:31.829 Deep conceptual work. And the music was so far 00:17:31.829 --> 00:17:34.470 removed from post -box swing. It was cosmic, 00:17:34.589 --> 00:17:37.029 textural, highly abstract. It was sonic science 00:17:37.029 --> 00:17:39.869 fiction. Totally. Characterized by strong improvisational 00:17:39.869 --> 00:17:42.210 aspects and showing a heavy influence from contemporary 00:17:42.210 --> 00:17:44.569 classical electronic composers like Karlheinz 00:17:44.569 --> 00:17:47.750 Stockhausen. It was deep avant -garde jazz fusion. 00:17:48.150 --> 00:17:50.730 And the specific year here really tells the story 00:17:50.730 --> 00:17:52.349 of the sound. It wasn't just the Fender Rhodes 00:17:52.349 --> 00:17:54.569 anymore. This was a technological fortress. It 00:17:54.569 --> 00:17:57.250 was a massive rig for the early 70s. They used 00:17:57.250 --> 00:18:00.500 the Rhodes. Sure. But they layered in these pioneering 00:18:00.500 --> 00:18:04.200 modular synths, the ARP Odyssey, the huge ARP 00:18:04.200 --> 00:18:06.980 2600. Which was known for its flexibility. Exactly. 00:18:07.240 --> 00:18:11.240 And the ARP Pro Soloist synthesizer and the colossal 00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:14.539 room size Moog synthesizer, the third. The Mellotron 00:18:14.539 --> 00:18:16.599 was also key. For the listener who might not 00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:18.980 be familiar, what does a Mellotron bring to that 00:18:18.980 --> 00:18:22.789 sound compared to a pure synthesizer? The Mellotron 00:18:22.789 --> 00:18:25.549 is an electromechanical keyboard. It uses tape 00:18:25.549 --> 00:18:28.210 loops of recorded instrument strings, brass, 00:18:28.450 --> 00:18:31.650 a choir, to create this lush, eerie, and often 00:18:31.650 --> 00:18:35.130 unstable sonic texture. So in the context of 00:18:35.130 --> 00:18:37.450 Mondishi, it provided those sprawling atmospheric 00:18:37.450 --> 00:18:40.309 textures that made the albums Mondishi, Crossings, 00:18:40.309 --> 00:18:42.589 and Sextant sound so much larger and more ambient 00:18:42.589 --> 00:18:45.329 than traditional jazz records. They truly pushed 00:18:45.329 --> 00:18:47.009 the instruments to their limits. It was high 00:18:47.009 --> 00:18:49.089 art fusion, but high art is often commercially 00:18:49.089 --> 00:18:51.349 challenging. Yeah, the Mondishi era, while... 00:18:51.369 --> 00:18:53.410 artistically fertile was not commercially sustainable. 00:18:53.789 --> 00:18:57.789 So in 1973, Hancock made an abrupt but very calculated 00:18:57.789 --> 00:19:00.829 pivot. He made a deliberate decision to reconnect 00:19:00.829 --> 00:19:03.549 with his Chicago roots and the R &B grooves he 00:19:03.549 --> 00:19:06.059 loved. Right. He argued that he needed to play 00:19:06.059 --> 00:19:08.240 music that people could feel and relate to instantly, 00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:11.099 so he streamlined the band, kept only Benny Martin, 00:19:11.380 --> 00:19:13.960 and formed the Headhunters. Adding the funk masters 00:19:13.960 --> 00:19:16.720 Paul Jackson on bass, Bill Summers on percussion, 00:19:17.059 --> 00:19:19.500 and Harvey Mason on drums. And this change of 00:19:19.500 --> 00:19:22.099 focus resulted in the album Headhunters in 1973. 00:19:22.539 --> 00:19:24.839 This was the revolution that defined the genre 00:19:24.839 --> 00:19:27.339 for a generation. It was instantaneous. Completely. 00:19:28.140 --> 00:19:30.420 Headhunters stripped away the ambient complexity 00:19:30.420 --> 00:19:33.740 of Muandishi and focused instead on rhythmically. 00:19:33.769 --> 00:19:36.789 lock, and deep funk groove, all delivered through 00:19:36.789 --> 00:19:39.970 a precise electronic medium. It became a massive 00:19:39.970 --> 00:19:42.210 commercial hit, crossed over to pop audiences, 00:19:42.490 --> 00:19:45.349 got widespread recognition. But we do have to 00:19:45.349 --> 00:19:47.710 note the critique. For sure. Within the strict 00:19:47.710 --> 00:19:50.450 academic jazz community, it faced a lot of criticism 00:19:50.450 --> 00:19:54.089 for being too commercial, too simple. for prioritizing 00:19:54.089 --> 00:19:57.769 groove over complex harmonic improvisation. So 00:19:57.769 --> 00:20:00.210 how did the success of Headhunters change the 00:20:00.210 --> 00:20:02.529 internal dynamics of the jazz world at that time? 00:20:02.589 --> 00:20:04.890 Was the scene a selling out or innovating? It 00:20:04.890 --> 00:20:07.650 was absolutely divisive. For older jazz musicians, 00:20:08.049 --> 00:20:10.950 it was selling out. It replaced the intellectual 00:20:10.950 --> 00:20:14.250 purity of post -bop with the relentless syncopation 00:20:14.250 --> 00:20:16.890 of funk. But for the younger generation, it was 00:20:16.890 --> 00:20:19.430 pure innovation. A sign that jazz could engage 00:20:19.430 --> 00:20:21.460 with the music of the street. It was a bridge. 00:20:21.700 --> 00:20:24.779 Exactly. And the enduring impact is massive. 00:20:24.859 --> 00:20:27.460 The sources confirm AllMusic noted that it still 00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:30.000 sounds fresh and vital three decades after its 00:20:30.000 --> 00:20:32.380 initial release, and its genre bending proved 00:20:32.380 --> 00:20:35.599 vastly influential on not only jazz, but funk, 00:20:35.740 --> 00:20:38.279 soul, and hip -hop. You just have to listen to 00:20:38.279 --> 00:20:40.859 the track, Chameleon. That bass line, played 00:20:40.859 --> 00:20:42.880 by Paul Jackson, is often cited as one of the 00:20:42.880 --> 00:20:45.559 most foundational funk grooves of the 20th century. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:48.700 It's repetitive, heavily syncopated, and perfectly 00:20:48.700 --> 00:20:51.200 synthesized. It's the engineer's mind applying 00:20:51.200 --> 00:20:54.220 structural rigor to dance music. And they revisited 00:20:54.220 --> 00:20:56.359 Watermelon Man from his debut, but they just 00:20:56.359 --> 00:20:58.460 transformed it. Totally. They added indigenous 00:20:58.460 --> 00:21:01.460 sounds, but kept that core groove. This was fusion 00:21:01.460 --> 00:21:03.960 defined. The success was immediate. They quickly 00:21:03.960 --> 00:21:06.920 released a follow -up thrust in 74, which saw 00:21:06.920 --> 00:21:09.920 Mike Clark replace Harvey Mason on drums. And 00:21:09.920 --> 00:21:12.359 they released that excellent live album from 00:21:12.359 --> 00:21:16.460 Japan, Flood, in 1975. The Headhunters proved 00:21:16.460 --> 00:21:19.180 that electrified, funky jazz was commercially 00:21:19.180 --> 00:21:22.859 viable both in the studio and on stage. Alongside 00:21:22.859 --> 00:21:25.579 this jazz -funk trajectory, he was still balancing 00:21:25.579 --> 00:21:27.960 his scoring work. He composed the score for the 00:21:27.960 --> 00:21:30.119 controversial film The Spook, who sat by the 00:21:30.119 --> 00:21:32.960 door in 73. A work that blended funk and experimental 00:21:32.960 --> 00:21:36.019 sounds, yeah. And the following year, the soundtrack 00:21:36.019 --> 00:21:39.130 for the first Death Wish film. So the transition 00:21:39.130 --> 00:21:41.549 toward more commercial jazz funk sounds continued 00:21:41.549 --> 00:21:44.049 right through the mid 70s with albums like Man 00:21:44.049 --> 00:21:46.759 Child and Secrets. And while these featured members 00:21:46.759 --> 00:21:49.119 of the Headhunters, they weren't billed as the 00:21:49.119 --> 00:21:51.859 full group anymore. Right. Hancock was building 00:21:51.859 --> 00:21:54.420 an empire based on groove and electronic texture. 00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:57.039 This period really represents the pinnacle of 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.000 his shift from the acoustic architect of post 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:01.420 -bop to the electronic innovator of jazz funk. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:04.079 He successfully navigated that really challenging 00:22:04.079 --> 00:22:07.680 terrain between artistic purity and massive commercial 00:22:07.680 --> 00:22:11.039 success. And in doing so, he fundamentally changed 00:22:11.039 --> 00:22:13.400 the expectations of a jazz musician's career. 00:22:14.349 --> 00:22:16.930 As we move into the late 70s and 80s, Hancock's 00:22:16.930 --> 00:22:19.710 career becomes this fascinating exercise in dichotomy. 00:22:19.930 --> 00:22:22.730 He's simultaneously embracing an acoustic revival, 00:22:23.069 --> 00:22:26.299 cementing his jazz legacy. While diving headfirst 00:22:26.299 --> 00:22:29.319 into electronic disco and pioneering hip -hop 00:22:29.319 --> 00:22:31.880 sounds, he was truly living two musical lives. 00:22:32.079 --> 00:22:34.220 Let's look at the acoustic work first, because 00:22:34.220 --> 00:22:36.539 it was so vital to balance all that electronic 00:22:36.539 --> 00:22:39.240 experimentation. For sure. He recorded a significant 00:22:39.240 --> 00:22:42.000 duet album with Chick Corea, which must have 00:22:42.000 --> 00:22:43.720 been a satisfying collaboration, considering 00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:45.720 Corea had replaced him in the Miles Davis band 00:22:45.720 --> 00:22:48.400 years earlier. And he also released the solo 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:51.880 acoustic album The Piano in 1979. And this is 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:54.930 where the VSOP era began. Very special one -time 00:22:54.930 --> 00:22:58.190 performance. It started around 76, and it essentially 00:22:58.190 --> 00:23:00.089 became an acoustic reunion tour for the Miles 00:23:00.089 --> 00:23:02.690 Davis Rhythm Section. It was a beautiful return 00:23:02.690 --> 00:23:05.710 to form, touring with his legendary former partners, 00:23:05.990 --> 00:23:09.230 Tony Williams and Ron Carter. They proved that 00:23:09.230 --> 00:23:11.329 the magic of that rhythm section hadn't faded 00:23:11.329 --> 00:23:14.190 at all. They recorded albums like Herbie Hancock 00:23:14.190 --> 00:23:17.630 Trio in 1981. Right. They were reaffirming the 00:23:17.630 --> 00:23:19.910 integrity of the acoustic tradition at the very 00:23:19.910 --> 00:23:22.069 same time they were defining the electronic future. 00:23:22.619 --> 00:23:26.140 The VSOP concept then expanded into VSOP2 when 00:23:26.140 --> 00:23:28.579 Hancock, Williams and Carter toured internationally 00:23:28.579 --> 00:23:31.579 with the emerging stars of the new traditionalist 00:23:31.579 --> 00:23:34.140 movement, the Marsalis Brothers. Winton and Brantford, 00:23:34.200 --> 00:23:36.839 yeah. That quintet is featured on Wynton Marsalis' 00:23:37.079 --> 00:23:40.460 debut album in 1981. They even performed at the 00:23:40.460 --> 00:23:43.519 Playboy Jazz Festival in 84 as a sextet, adding 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:46.200 the vocal brilliance of Bobby McBaron. So on 00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:48.680 one hand, he's cementing his acoustic jazz legend 00:23:48.680 --> 00:23:50.759 status. But in the other, he's embracing the 00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:53.460 era of disco and synthesized pop with gusto. 00:23:54.039 --> 00:23:57.019 From 78 to 82, he recorded several albums of 00:23:57.019 --> 00:23:58.980 jazz -inflected disco using the technological 00:23:58.980 --> 00:24:01.839 tools he'd perfected in the Melon Dishi and Headhunters 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:04.779 eras for pure commercial appeal. And the album 00:24:04.779 --> 00:24:07.900 Sunlight from 78 is notable because it introduced 00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:10.500 his distinctive use of the vocoder. Right. A 00:24:10.500 --> 00:24:13.160 device that uses a synthesizer to modify the 00:24:13.160 --> 00:24:15.960 human voice. The vocoder allowed him to sing, 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:19.119 but in this totally synthetic robotic way, which 00:24:19.119 --> 00:24:21.960 was extremely novel at the time. And this resulted 00:24:21.960 --> 00:24:24.819 in the British hit, I Thought It Was You. It 00:24:24.819 --> 00:24:27.819 did. And he continued that vocoder sound with 00:24:27.819 --> 00:24:31.799 Feats' Don't Fail Me Now in 79, which gave him 00:24:31.799 --> 00:24:34.640 another UK hit, You Bet Your Love. Critics at 00:24:34.640 --> 00:24:37.980 the time were, let's say, largely unimpressed 00:24:37.980 --> 00:24:40.420 with this commercial direction. But Herbie was 00:24:40.420 --> 00:24:43.079 just exploring the absolute limits of the tools 00:24:43.079 --> 00:24:45.500 at his disposal. He was preparing for the next, 00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:48.910 even larger leap. That exploration paid off massively 00:24:48.910 --> 00:24:51.890 in 1983 with his collaboration with the experimental 00:24:51.890 --> 00:24:55.170 bassist and producer Bill Laswell. This partnership 00:24:55.170 --> 00:24:57.750 truly pushed him into the global pop stratosphere. 00:24:57.930 --> 00:24:59.970 This is where his engineering mind and his sense 00:24:59.970 --> 00:25:01.990 of rhythm found their perfect 80s expression. 00:25:02.250 --> 00:25:04.670 The collaboration resulted in the Future Shock 00:25:04.670 --> 00:25:06.710 trilogy, starting with the album Future Shock 00:25:06.710 --> 00:25:10.349 in 83, and the seismic single Rocket. An international 00:25:10.349 --> 00:25:12.990 pop hit, a Grammy Award winner, and one of the 00:25:12.990 --> 00:25:15.400 defining songs of the decade. And it's historically 00:25:15.400 --> 00:25:18.180 cited as the first jazz hip hop song. It just 00:25:18.180 --> 00:25:20.279 exploded the boundaries of what a jazz musician 00:25:20.279 --> 00:25:22.700 could accomplish. Rocket became an anthem for 00:25:22.700 --> 00:25:25.380 break dancers worldwide and a foundational text 00:25:25.380 --> 00:25:27.579 for the hip hop movement in the 80s. But its 00:25:27.579 --> 00:25:30.019 revolutionary aspect was intensely technical. 00:25:30.259 --> 00:25:33.359 It was the first mainstream non -rap single by 00:25:33.359 --> 00:25:36.200 an established jazz artist, no less to feature 00:25:36.200 --> 00:25:38.599 scratching so prominently. OK, let's clarify 00:25:38.599 --> 00:25:41.130 that for the audience. What exactly was scratching 00:25:41.130 --> 00:25:43.829 and why was it so shocking to hear on a global 00:25:43.829 --> 00:25:47.990 pot hit in 1983? So scratching is the rhythmic 00:25:47.990 --> 00:25:50.690 manipulation of a vinyl record by a turntab list. 00:25:50.869 --> 00:25:53.589 In this case, the great DJ Grand Mixer, DXT, 00:25:53.750 --> 00:25:56.069 while the needle is playing. It creates these 00:25:56.069 --> 00:25:58.809 unique, percussive and often abrasive sounds. 00:25:59.150 --> 00:26:01.410 And before Rocket, this was almost exclusively 00:26:01.410 --> 00:26:03.950 the domain of underground hip hop DJs. Completely. 00:26:03.990 --> 00:26:07.190 So putting that raw, urban, technically demanding 00:26:07.190 --> 00:26:09.809 and entirely new sonic texture front and center 00:26:09.809 --> 00:26:12.210 on a Grammy winning record, it meant Hancock 00:26:12.210 --> 00:26:14.930 instantly legitimized the turntable as a genuine 00:26:14.930 --> 00:26:24.160 musical instrument. And the music video was just 00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:26.900 as revolutionary. Directed by Godley and Krem 00:26:26.900 --> 00:26:29.819 with these incredible, unsettling, robot -like 00:26:29.819 --> 00:26:32.279 artworks by Jim Whiting. A visual masterpiece 00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:35.279 that matched the futurism of the music. It was 00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:38.019 an instant smash on the fledgling MTV network, 00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:40.660 and it won five awards at the very first MTV 00:26:40.660 --> 00:26:43.859 Video Music Awards. A true multimedia phenomenon. 00:26:44.779 --> 00:26:47.380 he wasn't just chasing trends, he was dictating 00:26:47.380 --> 00:26:49.769 them. And his electronic experimentation with 00:26:49.769 --> 00:26:52.569 Laswell continued, cementing his status as a 00:26:52.569 --> 00:26:55.289 sonic futurist on the Grammy -winning Sound System 00:26:55.289 --> 00:26:58.390 in 84 and Perfect Machine in 88. But while he 00:26:58.390 --> 00:27:00.410 was pushing the boundaries of technology, he 00:27:00.410 --> 00:27:02.609 didn't abandon his more traditional musical skills. 00:27:02.869 --> 00:27:05.630 In fact, he achieved his highest non -music industry 00:27:05.630 --> 00:27:08.150 honor during this period by combining his acting 00:27:08.150 --> 00:27:10.329 and scoring abilities. That would be the Academy 00:27:10.329 --> 00:27:12.609 Award. He won the Oscar for Best Original Music 00:27:12.609 --> 00:27:15.990 Score for the film Round Midnight in 1986, a 00:27:15.990 --> 00:27:18.269 beautiful film about... the jazz scene in which 00:27:18.269 --> 00:27:20.549 he also acted, playing the character Eddie Wayne. 00:27:20.869 --> 00:27:23.490 Winning an Oscar in the mid 80s while you have 00:27:23.490 --> 00:27:25.769 top 10 electro funk hits and you're touring with 00:27:25.769 --> 00:27:28.509 Wynton Marsalis is, I mean, that's a staggering 00:27:28.509 --> 00:27:31.109 feat of professional versatility. It's a level 00:27:31.109 --> 00:27:34.029 few artists in history have ever matched. And 00:27:34.029 --> 00:27:36.789 he had a prolific film scoring run during this 00:27:36.789 --> 00:27:40.829 time, including A Soldier's Story. Joe Dancer, 00:27:40.970 --> 00:27:43.930 Your Life is Calling, Action Jackson, and Colors. 00:27:44.049 --> 00:27:46.390 And he was still exploring world music textures, 00:27:46.470 --> 00:27:49.309 which just speaks to his restless nature. He 00:27:49.309 --> 00:27:51.589 recorded Village Life with the Gambian Chora 00:27:51.589 --> 00:27:54.839 player Foday Musasuso. and the live Jazz Africa 00:27:54.839 --> 00:27:57.720 in 87. After the perfect machine tour, having 00:27:57.720 --> 00:27:59.799 pushed the limits of Columbia Records for 15 00:27:59.799 --> 00:28:02.559 years, he decided to leave the label ready for 00:28:02.559 --> 00:28:04.859 the next phase of reinvention. So as we move 00:28:04.859 --> 00:28:07.480 into the 1990s and beyond, Hancock enters this 00:28:07.480 --> 00:28:10.059 phase defined by profound tributes, critical 00:28:10.059 --> 00:28:12.519 institutionalization, and continuous high -profile 00:28:12.519 --> 00:28:14.660 collaborations. Proving he was still determined 00:28:14.660 --> 00:28:17.279 to reinvent himself every few years, even as 00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:19.519 he entered his 50s and 60s. The decade started 00:28:19.519 --> 00:28:21.700 with a major touring group. He toured with Jack 00:28:21.700 --> 00:28:24.450 D. Jeanette, Dave Colin, and Pat Metheny on the 00:28:24.450 --> 00:28:28.150 1990 Parallel Realities Tour, a powerhouse quartet 00:28:28.150 --> 00:28:30.750 of modern virtuosos. But the most significant 00:28:30.750 --> 00:28:34.609 reunion came in 1994. That was the A Tribute 00:28:34.609 --> 00:28:37.150 to Miles album. He reunited with the surviving 00:28:37.150 --> 00:28:39.569 members of the second great quintet Ron Carter, 00:28:39.849 --> 00:28:42.569 Tony Williams, and Wayne Shorter, with Wallace 00:28:42.569 --> 00:28:44.849 Roney playing Davis' trumpet part. That must 00:28:44.849 --> 00:28:46.609 have been a critical moment for the jazz world. 00:28:46.750 --> 00:28:49.349 Oh, it was huge. It demonstrated the enduring 00:28:49.349 --> 00:28:51.730 power and structural integrity of that original 00:28:51.730 --> 00:28:54.730 rhythm section. It won a Grammy for Best Group 00:28:54.730 --> 00:28:57.750 Album. But true to form, after this return to 00:28:57.750 --> 00:29:00.690 acoustic jazz royalty, he immediately swung back 00:29:00.690 --> 00:29:03.670 to genre bending. Right. Releasing the acid jazz 00:29:03.670 --> 00:29:07.549 album This Is Da Drum in 1994, fully integrating 00:29:07.549 --> 00:29:09.950 the complex rhythmic structures of hip hop and 00:29:09.950 --> 00:29:12.930 electronica into his compositional ideas. He 00:29:12.930 --> 00:29:15.009 was never content to stay in one lane for long. 00:29:15.210 --> 00:29:17.430 And he proved his willingness to engage with 00:29:17.430 --> 00:29:19.549 contemporary popular music from a compositional 00:29:19.549 --> 00:29:22.990 standpoint, too. In 1995, his album The New Standard. 00:29:23.329 --> 00:29:25.490 Right. It featured an all -star band interpreting 00:29:25.490 --> 00:29:28.069 pop songs by giants like Nirvana. They did all 00:29:28.069 --> 00:29:30.569 apologies. Stevie Wonder, Prince, and The Beatles. 00:29:31.150 --> 00:29:33.069 That's a radical way of looking at what constitutes 00:29:33.069 --> 00:29:36.109 a standard. He was basically arguing that musical 00:29:36.109 --> 00:29:38.890 longevity isn't just confined to Broadway tunes 00:29:38.890 --> 00:29:41.930 or old jazz classics. Exactly, that it's inherent 00:29:41.930 --> 00:29:45.009 in quality pop composition. Then he released 00:29:45.009 --> 00:29:48.190 a significant duet album in 97, One Plus One, 00:29:48.410 --> 00:29:50.869 with his longtime collaborator Wayne Shorter. 00:29:51.089 --> 00:29:53.730 Their musical connection had always been profound. 00:29:54.089 --> 00:29:56.630 And one of the compositions, Aung San Suu Kyi, 00:29:56.910 --> 00:29:59.650 was recognized with a Grammy for Best Instrumental 00:29:59.650 --> 00:30:02.400 Composition. just showcasing their continued, 00:30:02.559 --> 00:30:05.440 nuanced, compositional output. And he closed 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:07.700 out the decade with a massive commercial and 00:30:07.700 --> 00:30:10.660 critical hit, Gershwin's World, in 98. It achieved 00:30:10.660 --> 00:30:13.579 great success by featuring this wide array of 00:30:13.579 --> 00:30:15.839 guest stars, Stevie Wonder, Kathleen Battle, 00:30:16.059 --> 00:30:18.619 Joni Mitchell, linking his classical and jazz 00:30:18.619 --> 00:30:21.359 roots to the great American songbook. Moving 00:30:21.359 --> 00:30:24.299 into the 21st century, he continued his electronica 00:30:24.299 --> 00:30:27.940 focus. Future 2 Future in 2001 reunited him with 00:30:27.940 --> 00:30:30.690 Bill Laswell. And brought in the modern turntablist 00:30:30.690 --> 00:30:33.329 Rob Swift, demonstrating that he was still adapting 00:30:33.329 --> 00:30:35.569 to new sound technology and staying relevant, 00:30:35.750 --> 00:30:37.869 not just becoming a jazz traditionalist resting 00:30:37.869 --> 00:30:40.049 on his laurels. But the straight jazz tradition 00:30:40.049 --> 00:30:43.650 wasn't forgotten. Also in 2001, he partnered 00:30:43.650 --> 00:30:46.069 with Michael Brecker and Roy Hargrove for the 00:30:46.069 --> 00:30:49.170 live album Directions in Music, live at Massey 00:30:49.170 --> 00:30:51.710 Hall. A tribute to Miles Davis and John Coltrane. 00:30:52.190 --> 00:30:54.950 It won a Grammy for best jazz instrumental album. 00:30:55.170 --> 00:30:57.589 He was proving he could move effortlessly between 00:30:57.589 --> 00:30:59.829 the most demanding acoustic jazz and cutting 00:30:59.829 --> 00:31:02.869 -edge electronic sounds. Then came the high -profile 00:31:02.869 --> 00:31:06.910 pop duets of the mid -2000s. The 2005 album Possibilities 00:31:06.910 --> 00:31:09.950 featured duets with commercial powerhouses. Carlos 00:31:09.950 --> 00:31:12.470 Santana, Paul Simon, Annie Lennox, Christina 00:31:12.470 --> 00:31:15.710 Aguilera, Sting. This was a clear strategy to 00:31:15.710 --> 00:31:17.650 reach the broadest possible audience with his 00:31:17.650 --> 00:31:20.839 unique musicality and compositional rigor. The 00:31:20.839 --> 00:31:23.180 pinnacle of his modern success has to be his 00:31:23.180 --> 00:31:25.160 tribute to his friend and collaborator, Joni 00:31:25.160 --> 00:31:28.559 Mitchell. Oh, River. The Joni Letters from 2007 00:31:28.559 --> 00:31:30.900 was a masterpiece of restraint and interpretation. 00:31:31.339 --> 00:31:34.220 It featured vocalists like Nora Jones, Tina Turner, 00:31:34.420 --> 00:31:36.440 and Corinne Bailey Ray, with Mitchell herself 00:31:36.440 --> 00:31:39.259 appearing, and Leonard Cohen contributing a spoken 00:31:39.259 --> 00:31:42.140 piece. He approached Mitchell's intensely personal 00:31:42.140 --> 00:31:45.200 and complex compositions with the same harmonic 00:31:45.200 --> 00:31:47.900 sophistication he used in Post Bop. And this 00:31:47.900 --> 00:31:51.470 album was history -making. It won the 2008 Grammy 00:31:51.470 --> 00:31:53.589 for Album of the Year. Which is critical to remember. 00:31:53.730 --> 00:31:55.630 It made it only the second time in history a 00:31:55.630 --> 00:31:59.069 jazz album had won that prestigious cross -genre 00:31:59.069 --> 00:32:01.589 award. Right. It speaks volumes about the universality 00:32:01.589 --> 00:32:04.130 and the structural appeal of his musicianship. 00:32:04.210 --> 00:32:06.470 He continued that collaborative, global focus 00:32:06.470 --> 00:32:10.210 with the Imagine Project in 2010. And beyond 00:32:10.210 --> 00:32:12.950 recording, his legacy is now cemented in the 00:32:12.950 --> 00:32:16.000 academic world. For sure. Since 2012, Hancock 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:18.539 has been a professor at the UCLA Herb Alpert 00:32:18.539 --> 00:32:21.119 School of Music. And he holds a foundational 00:32:21.119 --> 00:32:23.299 leadership role as the chairman of the Herbie 00:32:23.299 --> 00:32:25.880 Hancock Institute of Jazz, which was formerly 00:32:25.880 --> 00:32:28.720 known as the Thelonious Monk Institute until 00:32:28.720 --> 00:32:31.759 2019. He was also named a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador 00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:34.740 for Intercultural Dialogue in 2011. These aren't 00:32:34.740 --> 00:32:37.019 just honorary titles. They're active roles in 00:32:37.019 --> 00:32:39.240 shaping the future of music education. But for 00:32:39.240 --> 00:32:41.880 those truly interested in the intellectual scaffolding 00:32:41.880 --> 00:32:44.200 behind his music, his most... significant academic 00:32:44.200 --> 00:32:47.220 contribution might be those Charles Eliot Norton, 00:32:47.359 --> 00:32:49.539 professor of poetry lectures he delivered at 00:32:49.539 --> 00:32:52.920 Harvard in 2014. Yeah, focused entirely on the 00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:55.700 theme, the ethics of jazz. This is where he really 00:32:55.700 --> 00:32:57.940 formalized that philosophical connection between 00:32:57.940 --> 00:33:00.720 his engineering mind, his Buddhist practice, 00:33:00.880 --> 00:33:03.299 and his improvisational music. And he's still 00:33:03.299 --> 00:33:06.599 actively creating and looking forward. His upcoming 00:33:06.599 --> 00:33:08.880 album is being produced by modern heavyweights 00:33:08.880 --> 00:33:10.980 like Terrace Martin. And it's stacked with the 00:33:10.980 --> 00:33:13.460 vanguard of contemporary music, Kendrick Lamar, 00:33:13.660 --> 00:33:16.460 Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Flying Lotus, 00:33:16.740 --> 00:33:19.720 Snoop Dogg. It just shows he is still connecting 00:33:19.720 --> 00:33:22.339 with new generations and new sonic textures. 00:33:22.640 --> 00:33:25.059 His career awards snapshot is just staggering. 00:33:25.319 --> 00:33:28.900 14 Grammy Awards, the 86 Academy Award, Kennedy 00:33:28.900 --> 00:33:32.019 Center Honors in 2013. And he was even named 00:33:32.019 --> 00:33:34.980 a 2025 laureate for the prestigious Polar Music 00:33:34.980 --> 00:33:37.960 Prize. He is one of the very few artists whose 00:33:37.960 --> 00:33:40.619 influence is recognized. across every major field 00:33:40.619 --> 00:33:42.960 of performance and composition, from the concert 00:33:42.960 --> 00:33:45.359 hall to the DJ booth. We've covered the music, 00:33:45.480 --> 00:33:48.079 the technology, and the academic legacy, but 00:33:48.079 --> 00:33:50.380 the deep dive always looks beyond the discography 00:33:50.380 --> 00:33:52.859 for the personal stories and philosophies that 00:33:52.859 --> 00:33:54.880 ground the legend. Right. Herbie Hancock has 00:33:54.880 --> 00:33:57.240 been married to Gigi Meixner since 1968, and 00:33:57.240 --> 00:34:00.099 they have a daughter. And Gigi is clearly a vital 00:34:00.099 --> 00:34:02.579 pillar of his life and career. He described her 00:34:02.579 --> 00:34:05.180 in his memoir as deeply compassionate, but also 00:34:05.180 --> 00:34:07.400 as someone who won't let you get away with anything, 00:34:07.660 --> 00:34:10.179 noting that she was the one who kept him honest. 00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:13.000 That suggests a crucial source of grounding and 00:34:13.000 --> 00:34:16.000 accountability in a life full of creative upheaval 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:19.280 and professional pressures. Absolutely. Tragedy 00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:21.260 did strike, however, during his commercial peak. 00:34:21.440 --> 00:34:23.760 We should mention the loss of his sister, Jean. 00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:26.400 She's a computer consultant and a really talented 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:29.960 lyricist who wrote for him, for Earth, Wind and 00:34:29.960 --> 00:34:32.539 Fire, and others. And she was tragically killed 00:34:32.539 --> 00:34:35.840 in the 1985 Delta Airlines Flight 191 crash. 00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:39.219 That kind of sudden loss is just immense. And 00:34:39.219 --> 00:34:42.340 speaking of immense personal struggles, his 2014 00:34:42.340 --> 00:34:45.239 memoir Possibilities revealed a very difficult 00:34:45.239 --> 00:34:48.260 period in the 1990s where he bravely discussed 00:34:48.260 --> 00:34:51.079 his battle with crack cocaine addiction. He detailed 00:34:51.079 --> 00:34:53.440 that his wife and daughter orchestrated an intervention 00:34:53.440 --> 00:34:56.019 to get him help. He described the moment not 00:34:56.019 --> 00:34:58.579 just as embarrassing, but also as a massive relief. 00:34:58.840 --> 00:35:01.340 Realizing the struggle and the secret were finally 00:35:01.340 --> 00:35:04.099 going to end. Exactly, allowing him to get sober. 00:35:04.460 --> 00:35:07.519 This resilience and ability to confront massive 00:35:07.519 --> 00:35:10.340 personal challenges is often overlooked, but 00:35:10.340 --> 00:35:12.539 it perfectly mirrors the philosophical basis 00:35:12.539 --> 00:35:15.920 of his art. Continuous, radical self -transformation. 00:35:16.260 --> 00:35:19.010 And this resilience. This capacity for change 00:35:19.010 --> 00:35:21.969 is so strongly connected to his spiritual life. 00:35:22.230 --> 00:35:26.090 Since 1972, Hancock has practiced Nichiren Buddhism 00:35:26.090 --> 00:35:28.190 as a member of the Soka Gakkai International. 00:35:28.670 --> 00:35:31.110 Part of his practice includes the daily recitation 00:35:31.110 --> 00:35:33.829 of the Buddhist chant Nam -myoho -renge -kyo. 00:35:34.269 --> 00:35:36.889 So how does this spiritual focus connect with 00:35:36.889 --> 00:35:38.750 the restless innovator we've been discussing? 00:35:38.989 --> 00:35:41.949 The connection is central to his worldview. Nichiren 00:35:41.949 --> 00:35:44.710 Buddhism emphasizes the concept of changing poison 00:35:44.710 --> 00:35:47.309 into medicine, turning personal struggle into 00:35:47.309 --> 00:35:50.150 positive action, and the inherent interconnectedness 00:35:50.150 --> 00:35:52.510 of cause and effect. And crucially, it promotes 00:35:52.510 --> 00:35:54.389 the idea that you contain everything you need 00:35:54.389 --> 00:35:56.150 to transform your life and your environment. 00:35:56.530 --> 00:35:59.230 So for an artist who constantly rejects stagnation 00:35:59.230 --> 00:36:01.889 and embraces new genres every five years, the 00:36:01.889 --> 00:36:03.909 philosophy of continuous self -transformation 00:36:03.909 --> 00:36:06.949 and pushing one's own perceived limits is a perfect 00:36:06.949 --> 00:36:10.059 spiritual anchor. It makes complete sense. The 00:36:10.059 --> 00:36:11.980 relentless pursuit of the next phase is driven 00:36:11.980 --> 00:36:14.820 by an internal philosophical mandate, not just 00:36:14.820 --> 00:36:17.059 commercial ambition. And the dialogue between 00:36:17.059 --> 00:36:19.860 Hancock, Wayne Shorter and Soka Gakkai International 00:36:19.860 --> 00:36:23.780 President Daisaku Akeda on jazz, Buddhism and 00:36:23.780 --> 00:36:27.219 life was published in 2013, which formalized 00:36:27.219 --> 00:36:29.519 this link. He also explicitly connected these 00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:32.840 ideas in his 2014 Harvard lecture titled Buddhism 00:36:32.840 --> 00:36:35.880 and Creativity. Now, for the final detail that 00:36:35.880 --> 00:36:38.219 perfectly encapsulates this blend of mechanical 00:36:38.219 --> 00:36:41.139 structure and pure cool. Let's go back to the 00:36:41.139 --> 00:36:43.340 car we mentioned earlier. It's more than just 00:36:43.340 --> 00:36:45.619 a rich man's hobby. It's a symbol of his. early 00:36:45.619 --> 00:36:49.739 engineering focus the 1963 ac shelby cobra he 00:36:49.739 --> 00:36:51.940 bought it at age 23 for six thousand dollars 00:36:51.940 --> 00:36:54.119 and he still owns it it's legendary among car 00:36:54.119 --> 00:36:57.960 collectors it is serial number csx 2006 the sixth 00:36:57.960 --> 00:37:00.860 cobra ever produced that alone is rare but the 00:37:00.860 --> 00:37:03.739 details make it unique it's one of only 75 originally 00:37:03.739 --> 00:37:06.679 produced with a smaller 260 cubic inch engine 00:37:06.679 --> 00:37:08.960 and it is the only cobra ever equipped with a 00:37:08.960 --> 00:37:11.179 two barrel carburetor that level of uniqueness 00:37:11.179 --> 00:37:13.400 and detail the absolute one -off configuration 00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:16.349 is extraordinary The fact that he recognized 00:37:16.349 --> 00:37:19.650 that detail, bought that machine, kept it running, 00:37:19.789 --> 00:37:22.909 and still appreciates its mechanical singularity 00:37:22.909 --> 00:37:25.230 today, it perfectly aligns with the electrical 00:37:25.230 --> 00:37:27.550 engineer side of his personality. Someone who 00:37:27.550 --> 00:37:29.610 understands and cherishes the inner workings 00:37:29.610 --> 00:37:32.329 of a complex, groundbreaking machine. That car 00:37:32.329 --> 00:37:34.150 is now estimated to be worth more than $2 million. 00:37:34.670 --> 00:37:37.469 And he plans to give the vehicle, which has been 00:37:37.469 --> 00:37:39.829 with him through the Miles Davis Quintet, the 00:37:39.829 --> 00:37:42.489 Mondishi era, the Headhunters revolution, and 00:37:42.489 --> 00:37:45.380 the hip -hop phenomenon. to his grandson. Wow. 00:37:45.900 --> 00:37:48.679 It passing on not just an asset, but a piece 00:37:48.679 --> 00:37:50.940 of history and a symbol of his life's journey. 00:37:51.539 --> 00:37:54.000 When you look back at Herbie Hancock's extraordinary 00:37:54.000 --> 00:37:57.139 multifaceted journey, what stands out is his 00:37:57.139 --> 00:38:00.139 relentless, almost philosophical commitment to 00:38:00.139 --> 00:38:02.719 continuous radical change. He took classical 00:38:02.719 --> 00:38:05.300 piano precision and applied it to post -bop innovation. 00:38:06.059 --> 00:38:08.059 Then he harnessed the structural rigor of his 00:38:08.059 --> 00:38:10.559 engineering mind to master complex electronic 00:38:10.559 --> 00:38:13.219 synthesizers, fusing them flawlessly with funk, 00:38:13.340 --> 00:38:15.840 hip -hop, and pop. His legacy isn't defined by 00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:18.920 one genre or one era, but by his unique ability 00:38:18.920 --> 00:38:21.039 to integrate these seemingly disparate elements. 00:38:21.420 --> 00:38:24.480 From the modal calm of Maiden Voyage to the deep 00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:27.059 groove of Headhunters and the technological shock 00:38:27.059 --> 00:38:30.019 of Rocket, he never stopped pushing the sonic 00:38:30.019 --> 00:38:33.019 envelope. He always saw the keyboard as an endless 00:38:33.019 --> 00:38:35.480 palette of possibilities. So what does this all 00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:38.019 mean for you, the learner? The fact that he was 00:38:38.019 --> 00:38:40.099 trained in electrical engineering, the fact that 00:38:40.099 --> 00:38:42.480 he practices a form of Buddhism focused on cause 00:38:42.480 --> 00:38:44.679 and effect and internal change, and the fact 00:38:44.679 --> 00:38:46.920 that he built a career on improvisation and structure. 00:38:47.719 --> 00:38:50.440 These three elements are inextricably linked 00:38:50.440 --> 00:38:53.519 in his art. They define him as the ultimate synthesist. 00:38:53.619 --> 00:38:55.820 Which raises an important question for you, the 00:38:55.820 --> 00:38:59.190 listener, to mull over. What creative power lies 00:38:59.190 --> 00:39:01.710 in Hancock's synthesis of rigid structure like 00:39:01.710 --> 00:39:04.889 engineering or classical music and constant intentional 00:39:04.889 --> 00:39:07.610 change like his Buddhist philosophy and his commitment 00:39:07.610 --> 00:39:09.929 to improvisation? And how does that approach, 00:39:10.110 --> 00:39:12.710 that refusal to stagnate, continue to shape the 00:39:12.710 --> 00:39:15.590 evolution of jazz and popular music today, influencing 00:39:15.590 --> 00:39:17.730 everyone from Flying Lotus to Kendrick Lamar? 00:39:17.929 --> 00:39:20.210 It's a deep dive that keeps going. We highly 00:39:20.210 --> 00:39:22.590 recommend exploring his Charles Elliot Norton 00:39:22.590 --> 00:39:25.320 Professor of Poetry lectures at Harvard. particularly 00:39:25.320 --> 00:39:27.960 the ethics of jazz, to delve further into that 00:39:27.960 --> 00:39:30.400 complex connection between philosophy and performance. 00:39:30.760 --> 00:39:33.159 Thank you for joining us for the deep dive into 00:39:33.159 --> 00:39:36.059 the extraordinary life and machines of Herbie 00:39:36.059 --> 00:39:36.480 Hancock.