Music isn't about music, it's about life.
Herbie HancockRead
Jazz is about being in the moment.
Interpretation
Jazz emphasizes living in the present and embracing spontaneity.
Herbie Hancock's quote underscores the essence of jazz music, which is centered around improvisation and being fully engaged in the moment. This reflects a broader life philosophy of appreciating the now, rather than being overly concerned with past or future.
In practice
During a music workshop, I quoted Herbie Hancock to emphasize the importance of improvisation.
Music isn't about music, it's about life.
I don't mind being classified as a jazz artist, but I do mind being restricted to being a jazz artist. My foundation has been in jazz, though I didn't really start out that way. I started in classical music, but my formative years were in jazz, and it makes a great foundation.
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.
I think people have learned that Herbie Hancock can be defined as someone that you won't be able to figure out what he's going to do next. The sky is the limit as far as I'm concerned.
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.
I started off with classical music, and I got into jazz when I was about 14 years old. And I've been playing jazz ever since.
My other family is Fleetwood Mac. I don't need the money, but there's an emotional need for me to go on the road again. There's a love there; we're a band of brothers.
I'm going to be singing Dreams and Rhiannon when I'm 75 - and that's just fine with me. I just hope my chiffon doesn't get tangled in my rocking chair.
The one thing I do have is good ears. I don't mean perfect pitch, but ears for picking things up. I developed my ear through piano theory, but I never had a guitar lesson in my life, except from Eric Clapton off of records.
Humans are imperfect. That's one of the reasons that classical and jazz are in trouble. We're on the quest for the perfect performance and every note has to be right. Man, every note is not right in life.
When the band plays fast, you play slow; when the band plays slow, you play fast.
Videos destroyed the vitality of rock and roll. Before that, music said, "Listen to me." Now it says, "Look at me."
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