Spirit. It’s a crucial element in any show that attempts to be as broad-ranging as the 70th birthday celebration the Hollywood Bowl threw for Herbie Hancock on Wednesday night (9/1).
All the right guests were on hand — musicians he had worked with for four decades and the folks who appear on his latest album — and the material was equally expansive and inclusive, covering nearly every phase of his career from the early 1960s to today. Spirit, which was abundantly evident, was the key.
Hancock and a band of alto saxophonist Wayne Shorter, trumpeter Terence Blanchard, bassist Esperanza Spalding and drummer Jack De Johnette kept the first 45 minutes focused on not just Hancock’s early acoustic classics — “Maiden Voyage” and “Cantaloupe Island” were part of the four-song set — they demonstrated how the pianist works as a bandleader and improviser.
Which is where the spirit element comes in. There was no deferring to Hancock, no kid glove treatment in the improvisation or reining in of the soloists. Shorter went in stream-of-conscious directions where he is completely comfortable and Blanchard, known more for controlled atmospheres, followed with enthusiasm, Spalding and De Johnette providing a muscular and free-swinging rhythm section. It was exhilarating music, the sort usually limited to clubs and small theaters, that captured not just the tunes of Hancock’s post-Miles Davis work, but the adventurousness of his acoustic projects over the last two decades.
Part two of the evening, with a supporting band of guitarist Lionel Loueke, drummer Vinnie Colaiuta, bassist Pino Palladino and keyboardist-singer Greg Phillinganes, covered his plugged-in years and his latest album, “The Imagine Project.” Both were achieved admirably.
To record “The Imagine Project,” Hancock traveled to seven different countries to gather collaborators, so it was something of a coup that this party featured five of the artists who appear on the album and a few exceptional replacements — congueras Alex Acuna and Paulinho Da Costa, tablaist Zakir Hussain and sitarist Niladri Kumar. Kristina Train, whose debut was released by Blue Note a year ago, took on parts sung by Pink on the new album and Norah Jones on the Grammy Winner “River: The Joni Letters”; Phillinganes filled in for John Legend and James Morrison on Peter Gabriel’s “Don’t Give Up” and Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come.”
Amid the eight selections from “Imagine Project,” Hancock also worked in the landmark fusion tune “Actual Proof,” the funk classic from his Headhunters days “Watermelon Man,” and, for a finale, “Chameleon.” The musicians took their bows while a recording of “Rockit” played.
Considering that Hancock’s involvement with many of the musicians was limited to a single track on record, the interplay onstage was consistently focused and — here comes that word again — spirited. Hancock, who moved between two synthesizers, acoustic piano and a portable keyboard strapped around his neck, had a powerful duel with the slide guitarist Derek Trucks and displayed a telepathic command of the shape the music was about to take with Hussain, Kumar and Shorter on “The Song Goes On.” Da Costa brought sizzle and levity to a tambourine-synthesizer duet on “Watermelon Man”; Acuna’s hand percussion solo during Juanes’ performance of “La Tierra” was one of the evening’s highlights.
The medley of Tinariewen’s “Tamatant” and Bob Marley’s “Exodus” exploded with colorful movement from the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Hancock’s version of Bob Dylan’s “The Times They Are A’Changin'” with singer Lisa Hannigan was shortchanged from the rich and textured rendition on the album, but it’s quite possible the ticking of the clock was growing louder — the Bowl is adamant about not going past its 11 p.m. curfew — and Hancock was clearly aware of how many acts he needed to get onstage based on the number of times he peeked at his watch.
All in all, regardless of the reason each of the 12,000 people on hand showed up to wish Herbie a happy 70th, it would be hard to ask for a more fulfilling celebration. Though I do look forward to the day the innovative “Mwandishi” is fully embraced, that overlooked classic’s spirit could definitely be felt in many places throughout Wednesday’s show. – Phil Gallo, SoundSpike Contributor
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