Chicago-born artist Herbie Hancock (83) is a legend not only in his chosen field of jazz but in music in general.
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Whether his classic piano lines are being sampled, as in US3’s “Cantaloop,” or he’s sitting in with legends like Miles Davis, Joni Mitchell, or Kamasi Washington, Hancock’s name is synonymous with talent and productivity.
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These days, Hancock is also associated with higher learning, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and its Herb Alpert School of Music. The keys player is also the chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz.
But with all this wisdom and acclaim, one might wonder what Hancock, who has received an Oscar and 14 Grammy Awards, has to say about the world at large, about his craft, life, and love.
Without further ado, here are the 20 best Herbie Hancock quotes.
1. “I’ve always been interested in science. I used to take watches apart and clocks apart, and there’s little screws, and a little this and that, and I found out if I dropped one of them, that thing ain’t gonna work.”
2. “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.”
3. “Back in the day for me was a great time in my life – I was in my 20s. Most people refer to their experiences in their twenties as being a highlight in their life. It’s a period of time where you often develop your own way, your own sound, your own identity, and that happened with me when I was with a great teacher—Miles Davis.”
4. “When I was six, my best friend’s parents bought him a piano. My mother noticed that every time I would go to his house, the first thing I would say to him was ‘Levester’—His name was Levester—I said, ‘Levester, can I go play your piano?’ So, on my 7th birthday, my parents bought me a piano.”
5. “Forget about trying to compete with someone else. Create your own pathway. Create your own new vision.”
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6. “One of the most important functions of jazz has been to encourage a hope for freedom, for people living in situations of intolerance or struggle.”
7. “I’ve had a life that has taken many interesting paths. I’ve learned a lot from mentors who were instrumental in shaping me, and I want to share what I’ve learned.”
8. “When you talk about ‘doing the work’, that’s the work I’m interested in. What can I contribute as a human being?”
9. “One thing that sticks in my mind is that jazz means freedom and openness. It’s a music that, although it developed out of the African American experience, speaks more about the human experience than the experience of a particular people.
10. “Being vulnerable is allowing yourself to trust. That’s hard for a lot of people to do. They feel a lot more secure if they kind of put walls around themselves. Then they don’t have to trust anybody but themselves.”
11. “In World War II, jazz absolutely was the music of freedom, and then in the Cold War, behind the Iron Curtain, same thing. It was all underground, but they needed the food of freedom that jazz offered.
12. “Music happens to be an art form that transcends language.”
13. “Jazz is about being in the moment.”
14. “It’s not the style that motivates me, as much as an attitude of openness that I have when I go into a project.”
15. “Most people define themselves by what they do—’I’m a musician.’ Then one day it occurred to me that I’m only a musician when I’m playing music—or writing music, or talking about music. I don’t do that 24 hours a day. I’m also a father, a son, a husband, a citizen—I mean, when I go to vote, I’m not thinking of myself as a musician.”
16. “You make different colors by combining those colors that already exist.”
17. “The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique.”
18. “One of the greatest experiences I ever had was listening to a conversation with Joni Mitchell and Wayne Shorter. Just to hear them talking, my mouth was open. They understand each other perfectly, and they make these leaps and jumps because they don’t have to explain anything.”
19. “I like to be on the edge, on the cutting edge, or be into the unknown, into the territory where I have to depend on being in the moment and depending on my instincts.”
20. “I’ve been curious ever since I was a little kid.”
Photo by Josh Brasted/WireImage
