The University of Michigan’s campus has a dazzling, starry double-header of jazz programmed for the coming weekend, anchored by the mighty Count Basie Orchestra on Friday, Oct. 24, and 14-time Grammy-winning titan Herbie Hancock on Saturday, Oct. 25.
In Ann Arbor’s Hill Auditorium, Hancock will perform with a hugely impressive slate of musicians, including trumpeter Terence Blanchard.
“He’s also a bandleader,” Hancock said of Blanchard. “But we usually work things out so that he can work with me and do his own tours with his band. He’s got a pretty full plate, because he also does movie scores and he’s also an educator. I have James Genus on bass, Lionel Loueke on guitar and Jaylen Petinaud on drums. He’s a young drummer – in his twenties – and he’s amazing. A very strong player, very creative.
“We’ll be playing a lot of songs that I’ve recorded over the years, and also playing one of Wayne Shorter’s compositions (‘Footprints’) and a couple of new things that kind of combine bits and pieces of songs from the past. Like, we have a new arrangement that has three songs that are put together in a whole new way, so that they interlock. Lionel Loueke made the arrangement, and that has ‘Hang Up Your Hang Ups’ and ‘Rockit’ and another one of our tunes. I play a keytar on that, and then it feeds into ‘Chameleon,’ which is usually the closing song that we use in our show.”
Unlikely beginnings
Before he helped shape and reshape the future of jazz, pop and R&B, Hancock was a teenager who admittedly “didn’t pay much attention” to the jazz his parents played around the house.
“Once I started playing piano,” he began, “I took classical lessons. There was jazz at home, but I never tried to play it. I was in high school at this particular time, and there was a show that the senior class would put on. And one of the performances was a jazz trio: a piano, acoustic bass and drums. When I saw one of my classmates playing piano and improvising on my instrument, and the other kids were loving what they were doing and moving to the music … I said, ‘I want to learn how to do that.’
“So I went backstage and talked to him, and he said, ‘If you want to learn to play like I’m doing, you should get some George Shearing records. I asked my mother to go out and get me some George Shearing records. She said, ‘You have George Shearing records.’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? No, I don’t,’ and she said, ‘Yes, look in the record cabinet.’ She had tried to give them to me the year prior to that and they weren’t the records I was looking for at that time.”
Young Hancock took the records for a spin and began learning songs he heard, which led to seeking out other piano giants, such as Oscar Peterson.
“That was the real beginning,” he said.
The future is now
Always at the forefront of music technology, he has found himself embracing AI software recently to assist his work and open new ideas.
“Right now,” he said, “I’m working on learning some new technologies. I’ve got some new software that I’ve purchased, like Moises and Suno – those are two music softwares that use AI for music. It’s pretty amazing how these new things are working in this age of technology. That’s really a very attractive thing for me, because I’m an old nerd from way back. I’ve been using UNIFI for a few years, and they’re just about to launch a newer version of that.
“In just the last two weeks, I’ve begun working with AI to assist me with developing my ideas. Not my actual writing, but developing my ideas. It’s like, the older I get, the more I realize that this hard drive inside my head is pretty full; I can’t remember things like I used to. So, I need help, and I’m able to get help from a lot of the new software that’s coming up.”
The biggest takeaway
A lifetime of lessons learned onstage, on the road and in the studio are now a deep well of resources within Hancock, but he singled out one that’s proven particularly meaningful to him.
“One of the important things is I cannot be judgmental about players, because they’re people, like me. And they play what they play because it comes from their life. And jazz is a music that comes from the life you live and how you feel about things. Yes, there’s a chord structure, and there’s rhythm to be concerned with, and there’s a technique involved, but it’s really about expressing one’s own personal feelings in the moment and not just playing notes that somebody else wrote.
“It’s playing your own notes. Once you finish playing the song that you start with, then your improvisation is playing. This is playing your own notes and your own discoveries based off the song you’re playing, and that, to me, is releasing yourself in a way which is, in itself, rewarding. You’re able to pour out your sadness and/or your joy, or whatever feelings you may have. That’s what keeps me able to express myself, and I think that’s what people want to do in their lives – be able to be expressive of themselves, no matter what their chosen profession.”
The Hancock concert is presented by U-M’s University Musical Society (UMS). UMS president Matthew VanBesien had words of enthusiasm and pride ahead of this weekend’s performance.
“Herbie Hancock is not merely a jazz legend,” said VanBesien, “he is a foundational architect of modern music, and an icon of American culture. His unparalleled career — spanning jazz, funk, classical, and electronica — has consistently defined and redefined artistic possibility for over five decades. UMS is truly honored to host this great artist, one whose unmistakable voice continues to shape the future of sound.”
Herbie Hancock
Date: Saturday, Oct. 25
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Hill Auditorium, 825 North University Ave., Ann Arbor
More info: ums.org
Basie’s back!
The night before Hancock’s performance, a massive performance will take place on the same campus, featuring the legendary Count Basie Orchestra, directed by Scotty Barnhart.
The Power Center for the Performing Arts will also host the U-M Jazz Ensemble, the Michigan Youth Jazz Orchestra, members of the University Symphony Orchestra, select U-M jazz faculty and special guests Carla Cook, as well as U-M grad and former Michigan Poet Laureate Nandi Comer.
A special concert led by associate professor Dennis Wilson – renowned for his deep ties to the Count Basie Orchestra – will spotlight original compositions paying tribute to the beloved bandleader. Among the featured works is “Dark Morning,” Wilson’s poignant piece written on the day of Count Basie’s passing, performed by both the Michigan Youth Orchestra and the Count Basie Orchestra. The song will also include a newly commissioned poem by Comer. “Jazz from Detroit” author and former Free Press reporter Mark Stryker will emcee the event.
“I first joined the Basie band in 1977,” Wilson recalled. “The following year, we came out to Ann Arbor and did a concert with Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie at Hill Auditorium. The university does this thing called the Collage Concert, where we take almost a whole school of music, our symphony orchestra, our symphony band, the jazz ensemble, small groups, the choir – and it’s been going on for nearly 40 years. So, this is called Basie’s Mélange Concert, because it’s just jazz, and it’s using almost all of the same people. I decided to write it, and they gave me a sabbatical to compose all the music, so I went to Japan and wrote it all. It’s something very special.”
Count Basie Mélange Concert
Date: Friday, Oct. 24
Time: 8 p.m.
Location: Power Center, 121 Fletcher St., Ann Arbor
Tickets: start at $34, tickets.smtd.umich.edu/6724
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Herbie Hancock, Count Basie Orchestra performing in Ann Arbor this weekend
Reporting by Duante Beddingfield, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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