“King of jazz”: practice piano – or watch YouTube? Pianist Hancock becomes 85

Herbie Hancock has been one of the most influential, most successful and best pianists in music history for decades – but even he may not practice piano. “I see it like this: it is something I don’t want to do, but I have to do it. And when I really come in, I feel like I have overcome an obstacle in my life,” said Hancock, who will be 85 this Saturday (April 12th), recently the BBC. “I don’t always win this fight, but I have made it to this way. So I haven’t lost so many fights, I guess.”

If things go really well when practicing or composing, tears even ran over the face because the piano game then moves him like that, says Hancock. Sometimes he does not come to practice because he sticks to something else: “I dive deep into different topics on YouTube – new music software and things about health and tech.” Among other things, he has not released a new album for around 15 years. “But that’s how life is.” Hancock is still on tour. Concerts have been announced again by autumn, including some in Germany.

Hancock is considered the “King of Jazz”

The pianist has been one of the most successful composers and interpreters of jazz for decades, many even refer to him as “king of jazz”. At the same time, he always makes excursions in classical, folklore, rhythm and blues, rock, pop and rap on his more than 200 albums and countless concerts. He ignores criticism by purist. “I always like to discover new rules and then break them. I look around and see what has become in the music for the convention. And then I think about how I can break. Innovation is created, it keeps me running.”

As a small child, he was curious and that was still part of his being today. “I always look for a way to develop myself, to take things apart and to put it together, and not just do the same thing again and again.” Countless prices – including numerous Grammys, an Oscar and the Polar Music Prize this year – has already brought him that. “I have to be loyal to my own beliefs, that’s the only way to respect yourself.”

Made a breakthrough with debut album

Herbert Jeffrey Hancock was born in 1940 in an African -American medium -sized family in Chicago as the son of a food dealer and a secretary. He already took piano lessons as a little young. Soon afterwards he gave concerts and made his breakthrough with his debut album “Takin ‘Off” in 1962. The song “Watermelon Man” published on it is still considered one of the most influential and most important jazz pieces.

In 1963 he joined the quintet of the legendary Miles Davis. At that time he himself was “a real jazz snob”, a purist, recalls Hancock. But because Davis heard everything – Jimi Hendrix, Manitas de Plata, Cream and the Rolling Stones – also opened Hancock other influences “because I wanted to be as hip and cool as Miles”. The curious jazz trumpeter Davis is the “King of Cool” for Hancock.

Music with Miles Davis made “life worth living”

Playing with Davis was always “intimidating” for him, says Hancock. “I always wanted to do my best because I admired it so. He played such a big role in my own development as a musician.” If everything went well – “Life made life worth living”.

Even before the setting of commercials, films and TV series, Hancock did not shy away. He composed the music for the action strip “A man sees red” (1974) with Charles Bronson and got an Oscar for the soundtrack of Bertrand Tavernier’s jazz film “Round Midnight” (1986). In the mid-1980s, he successfully docked the hip-hop with “Future Shock”. Most recently, he published the album “The Imagine Project” in 2010, with which he linked John Lennon and stars like Seal, Pink, Anoushka Shankar, which brought Dave Matthew’s band and Juanes together.

But his curiosity did not always bring him good. In the 1990s she also led him to a crack addiction, as the practicing Buddhist admitted in his memoirs. “I wanted to see what everyone was talking about. So I tried it. When I inhaled it for the first time, I knew that I had made a big mistake,” he told the radio station NPR.

German wife helped him from drug addiction

Hancock tries to hide his addiction and slips deeper and deeper. Finally, his German wife Gudrun Meixner, with whom he has been married since 1968, and his daughter would have helped him.

Hancock sees the future optimistic – thanks to artificial intelligence. He firmly believe that it will help mankind. “When I use chatt or siri on my iPhone, I always say” thank you “and you mostly” like to happen “. I try to treat the AI ​​as if it is human and that manifests itself in an extremely positive way and leads me to feel better.”