Jazz legend Herbie Hanco*ck on why 'variety is the spice of life' ahead of Australian tour (2024)

Describing a career spanning more than 70 years as a journey would be an understatement when referring to jazz legend Herbie Hanco*ck.

After finding national attention in the 1960s as a member of Miles Davis' second quintet, Hanco*ck, who had already written the hit jazz standard Watermelon Man, went on to win 14 Grammy Awards for his piano and keyboard playing along with his compositions.

He also carved out a reputation for innovation — embracing synthesisers and electric pianos as they emerged — and helped pioneer the fusion between jazz, funk and rock.

"I'm an explorer. That will describe me," Hanco*ck said.

Ahead of his national tour in October, the 84-year-old recounted how he was discovered in his hometown of Chicago during the 1960s by trumpet player Donald Byrd and was asked to play with him at a club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

"There was a blizzard and his piano player had somehow gotten stranded," he told ABC Radio Adelaide.

"I played these two or three days with Donald. Then he fired his piano player and gave me the gig."

He played venues in New York and toured while under the wing of Byrd, who also encouraged Hanco*ck to establish a company to release his own music.

"That helped pay a lot of bills, I tell you," Hanco*ck said.

"It helped me buy the AC Cobra … [although] I wanted to buy a station wagon because the song Watermelon Man was such a huge hit I thought I might have to take a band out with me and tour it."

Hanco*ck's famed 1963 Shelby Cobra is timeless in itself due to being one of just 75 produced with a 260-cubic inch, 4.3-litre V8 engine, and the only one with a two-barrel carburettor.

Hanco*ck is believed to be longest continual owner of an original Cobra.

Noticed by 'fantastic' Miles Davis

In 1962 Hanco*ck was noticed by Miles Davis, who sought him out to become a part of his second quintet.

He played in Davis' jazz outfit for the next five years, continuing to write and record his own music along the way.

"He [Miles Davis] was fantastic. He really loved and cared about his musicians," Hanco*ck said.

"I remember getting sick one time. I had the flu or something, and I played a gig at this venue.

"I went back to my hotel, it was late at night, but he still called me in my room and asked how I was doing — he always had concern for his musicians."

Herbie Hanco*ck also played on Davis' era-defining experimental 1970 jazz double album, Bitches Brew, which had a mix of acoustic and electric instruments.

Utilising technology

Hanco*ck was an early embracer of electric pianos, having been encouraged by Davis to experiment with them.

He later became one of first jazz musicians to make extensive use of synthesisers and drum machines as they emerged, and his interest in finding new ground led to his 1983 album, Future Shock.

Its hit single, Rockit, harnessed what had been an emerging sound in breakbeat — a style utilising looped drumbeat samples that would have a massive presence in hip-hop and dance music.

Hanco*ck said he still found it "exciting" to operate with new approaches to music form and style.

"Variety is the spice of life," Hanco*ck said.

"I don't like staying in the same place forever, playing the same arrangement, the same way, the same line. I like to explore.

"Even if I have the same song, I might change the arrangement so it's different, or I might combine the song with some chords from some other song and go back and forth between the two."

Hanco*ck described living in the 21st century and its innovations in music technology as both "being in heaven" and one of the most "difficult times the world has had to face".

"In America and in many countries of the world … there's a lot of issues that we have to deal with," he said.

"But I'm so happy that I'm a Buddhist and one of the things we believe is that it's possible to turn poison into medicine."

He brings his medicine to Australia in October, playing shows in Adelaide, Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane, Melbourne and Perth.

"The art of music is that you're playing and creating something new right in front of the audience, right in the moment, so that's one of the reasons why I love this art," Hanco*ck said.

"I think that's why a lot of people are attracted to the music, because it's in the moment."