Herbie Hancock
Herbie Hancock
Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancockis an American pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, composer and actor. Starting his career with Donald Byrd, he shortly thereafter joined the Miles Davis Quintet where Hancock helped to redefine the role of a jazz rhythm section and was one of the primary architects of the post-bop sound. He was one of the first jazz musicians to embrace synthesizers and funk music. Hancock's music is often melodic and accessible; he has had many songs "cross over" and achieved success...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPianist
Date of Birth12 April 1940
CityChicago, IL
CountryUnited States of America
See, there were certain rules I'd always used, and people like Trane, they would break those rules.
When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn't I couldn't do my best.
What's music supposed to be about anyway? Is it a means for a musician to masturbate, or is it for people to listen to?
It might be something as simple as saying the right word to the right person at the right time-and that could change the course of history. You never really know. But the whole thing is to work at the process of being in sync with the universe, so that everything will align at the proper time so that you can deliver that which is your life mission. And that's why we're here as individuals. And then there's our contribution to the collective. It makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?
I am not fundamentally a musician, I am fundamentally a human being.
I don't view myself as a musician anymore - I view myself as a human being that functions as a musician when I'm functioning as a musician, but that's not 24 hours a day. That's really opened me up to even more perspectives because now I look at music, not from the standpoint of being a musician, but from the standpoint of being a human being.
Being a musician is what I do, but it's not what I am.
At a certain point, I became a kind of musician that has tunnel vision about jazz. I only listened to jazz and classical music.
I don't look at music from the standpoint of being a musician; I look at it from the standpoint of being a human being.
A jazz musician is not a jazz musician when he or she is eating dinner or when he or she is with his parents or spouse or neighbors. He's above all a human being . . . the true artform is being a human being.
Jazz is a music that translates the moment into a sense of inspiration for not only the musicians but for the listeners.
I am still a jazz musician and not a pop star in terms of money and so I have to take care of my family first, then my extended family and my country.